There is not a simple direct link between social media use and mental health; social media use or social networking site use (SNSs) is associated with positive effects and negative effects on mental health.
There are four broad areas where social media can help with mental health:
- Social media use allows young people (YP) to interact with each other in a positive way through being supported and feeling connected to others.
Fact: Young adults use SNS regularly: 91% of 16-24 yr olds used SNSs in 2014 (ONS, 2014), and 83% visited these sites more than once a day. Across different sites, 71% of adolescents report having a Facebook account, 52% have an Instagram account and 41% have a Snapchat account.
2. Young adults use status updates to share with others how they are feeling through the online environment.
Fact: 51% of YP reported that the most frequent use of the status feature is to “convey one’s current emotional state” (Manago et al., 2012).
3. Young people mainly use social media to stay better connected with their offline friends, so they chat with those friends that they know in person to stay better connected.
Fact: Having more friends labelled as maintained connections and having a larger network size is associated with more positive attitudes towards using Facebook as a way of getting social support. Those with more friends from the past on their network and those with larger networks are more likely to feel supported through Facebook (Reich, 2012).
4. Young people are motivated to use different types of social media for a variety of reasons.
Fact: Most young people mention social reasons for why they have a profile on an SNS. For example, 84% YP said they wanted ‘to stay in touch with friends they do not see often’, and 52% explained using FB/SNSs to ‘stay in touch with relatives’. 53% of YP reported using instant messaging alongside Facebook as ways of staying in touch.
Using social media has positive benefits for maintaining relationships and accessing social support. However, social media can also hinder wellbeing.
- More negative interactions and fewer positive interactions on SNSs is linked to greater depressive symptoms and low mood.
Fact: Of children who were online for more than 3 hours a day, 27% reported high/very high scores for poor mental health (high scores on overall strengths & difficulties score). Facebook use, impression management and friendship are the best predictors of clinical disorders in sample of 1100 young people.
2. Negative quality of interactions on SNSs is linked to decreasing self-esteem and lower life satisfaction.
Fact: Study of almost 900 adolescents found that negative tone of feedback on facebook profiles contributed to lower self-esteem in adolescents. Quality of social networking intractions are related to depression, not quantity so more negative and less positive interactions relate to more depressive symptoms.
3. Young people who use social media more frequently are more dissatisfied with their bodies and appearance, and they tend to interalise our society’s cultural norm for being thin and have other body image concerns.
Fact: Young people viewing their own social media sites as opposed to neutral websites report wanting to change their appearance – face hair and skin in particular. For example, if adolescents who are concerned with their appearance use Facebook more frequently, they have greater body image concerns and dissatisfaction.
4. From the eating disorders evidence, young people who spend greater time on SNSs have more disordered eating behaviours, and the more time spent on managing photos on FB, the greater desire to be thin. Furthermore, studies have shown seeing negative feedback on FB leads to more disordered eating later.
Fact: Rates of eating disorders in university women are common at 11-20%. Greater online appearance exposure - time devoted to managing photos and applications on Facebook – is linked with greater belief that thin bodies are more attractive and of higher status (internalisation of thin ideal), as well as a greater desire to be thin (Meier & Grey, 2014).
Dr Haase’s recent research has shown that irrespective of the type of site, from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, more time on the SNS is linked to a greater need to conform to society’s thin ideal and higher drive for thinness, and that these in combination lead to university women feeling more dissatisfied with their bodies and encourages more disordered eating. We have also shown that the more adolescent girls internalise the thin ideal, the lower the self-esteem they have for themselves, and this is particularly strong in girls attending mixed gender schools.
Here is what we don’t know and what we might be able to do now:
- We do not have a full understanding of how young people’s thoughts, feelings and motivations interact within social networking sites.
- We do not know the extent to which different forms and applications of social media (twitter, instagram, snapchat, tumblr, online support chatrooms, online individual programmes or apps) can be used to most effectively support students and staff.
- How can we best promote the positive mental health benefits of social media use?
- How can we develop supportive SNS to reduce stress and anxiety within current unviersity student populations?
There have been rapid increases in the requirement for support for mental health issues within university students and staff. As such this has pushed the current provision to the limit and staff are under stress to manage greater mental health issues within their yearly cohorts.
Using SNSs to strengthen offline relationships and connect with known others could help to alleviate and perhaps manage some of the anxiety and negative effects on mental wellbeing in university students.