• Anonymity can help individuals with stigmatizing conditions connect with others
• Young adults with mental illness commonly form online relationships
• Social media use in individuals with serious mental illness associated with greater community and civic engagement
• Individuals with depressive symptoms prefer communicating on social media than in-person
• Online conversations do not require iimnediate responses or non-verbal cues
Social media platforms offer near continuous opportunities to connect and interact with others, regardless of time of day or geographic location. This on demand ease of communication may be especially important for facilitating social interaction among individuals with mental disorders experiencing difficulties interacting in face-to-face settings. For example, impaired social functioning is a common deficit in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and social media may facilitate communication and interacting with others for these individuals ( Torous & Keshavan, 2016 ). This was suggested in one study where participants with schizophrenia indicated that social media helped them to interact and socialize more easily ( Miller et al., 2015 ). Like other online communication, the ability to connect with others anonymously may be an important feature of social media, especially for individuals living with highly stigmatizing health conditions ( Berger, Wagner, & Baker, 2005 ), such as serious mental disorders ( Highton-Williamson, Priebe, & Giacco, 2015 ).
Studies have found that individuals with serious mental disorders ( Spinzy, Nitzan, Becker, Bloch, & Fennig, 2012 ) as well as young adults with mental illness ( Gowen, Deschaine, Gruttadara, & Markey, 2012 ) appear to form online relationships and connect with others on social media as often as social media users from the general population. This is an important observation because individuals living with serious mental disorders typically have few social contacts in the offline world, and also experience high rates of loneliness ( Badcock et al., 2015 ; Giacco, Palumbo, Strappelli, Catapano, & Priebe, 2016 ). Among individuals receiving publicly funded mental health services who use social media, nearly half (47%) reported using these platforms at least weekly to feel less alone ( Brusilovskiy, Townley, Snethen, & Salzer, 2016 ). In another study of young adults with serious mental illness, most indicated that they used social media to help feel less isolated ( Gowen et al., 2012 ). Interestingly, more frequent use of social media among a sample of individuals with serious mental illness was associated with greater community participation, measured as participation in shopping, work, religious activities or visiting friends and family, as well as greater civic engagement, reflected as voting in local elections ( Brusilovskiy et al., 2016 ).
Emerging research also shows that young people with moderate to severe depressive symptoms appear to prefer communicating on social media rather than in-person ( Rideout & Fox, 2018 ), while other studies have found that some individuals may prefer to seek help for mental health concerns online rather than through in-person encounters ( Batterham & Calear, 2017 ). In a qualitative study, participants with schizophrenia described greater anonymity, the ability to discover that other people have experienced similar health challenges, and reducing fears through greater access to information as important motivations for using the Internet to seek mental health information ( Schrank, Sibitz, Unger, & Amering, 2010 ). Because social media does not require the immediate responses necessary in face-to-face communication, it may overcome deficits with social interaction due to psychotic symptoms that typically adversely affect face-to-face conversations ( Docherty et al., 1996 ). Online social interactions may not require the use of non-verbal cues, particularly in the initial stages of interaction ( Kiesler, Siegel, & McGuire, 1984 ), with interactions being more fluid, and within the control of users, thereby overcoming possible social anxieties linked to in-person interaction ( Indian & Grieve, 2014 ). Furthermore, many individuals with serious mental disorders can experience symptoms including passive social withdrawal, blunted affect and attentional impairment, as well as active social avoidance due to hallucinations or other concerns ( Hansen, Torgalsbøen, Melle, & Bell, 2009 ); thus, potentially reinforcing the relative advantage, as perceived by users, of using social media over in person conversations.
There is growing recognition about the role that social media channels could play in enabling peer support ( Bucci et al., 2019 ; Naslund, Aschbrenner, et al., 2016b ), referred to as a system of mutual giving and receiving where individuals who have endured the difficulties of mental illness can offer hope, friendship, and support to others facing similar challenges ( Davidson, Chinman, Sells, & Rowe, 2006 ; Mead, Hilton, & Curtis, 2001 ). Initial studies exploring use of online self-help forums among individuals with serious mental illnesses have found that individuals with schizophrenia appeared to use these forums for self-disclosure, and sharing personal experiences, in addition to providing or requesting information, describing symptoms, or discussing medication ( Haker, Lauber, & Rössler, 2005 ), while users with bipolar disorder reported using these forums to ask for help from others about their illness ( Vayreda & Antaki, 2009 ). More recently, in a review of online social networking in people with psychosis, Highton-Williamson et al (2015) highlight that an important purpose of such online connections was to establish new friendships, pursue romantic relationships, maintain existing relationships or reconnect with people, and seek online peer support from others with lived experience ( Highton-Williamson et al., 2015 ).
Online peer support among individuals with mental illness has been further elaborated in various studies. In a content analysis of comments posted to YouTube by individuals who self-identified as having a serious mental illness, there appeared to be opportunities to feel less alone, provide hope, find support and learn through mutual reciprocity, and share coping strategies for day-to-day challenges of living with a mental illness ( Naslund, Grande, Aschbrenner, & Elwyn, 2014 ). In another study, Chang (2009) delineated various communication patterns in an online psychosis peer-support group ( Chang, 2009 ). Specifically, different forms of support emerged, including ‘informational support’ about medication use or contacting mental health providers, ‘esteem support’ involving positive comments for encouragement, ‘network support’ for sharing similar experiences, and ‘emotional support’ to express understanding of a peer’s situation and offer hope or confidence ( Chang, 2009 ). Bauer et al. (2013) reported that the main interest in online self-help forums for patients with bipolar disorder was to share emotions with others, allow exchange of information, and benefit by being part of an online social group ( Bauer, Bauer, Spiessl, & Kagerbauer, 2013 ).
For individuals who openly discuss mental health problems on Twitter, a study by Berry et al. (2017) found that this served as an important opportunity to seek support and to hear about the experiences of others ( Berry et al., 2017 ). In a survey of social media users with mental illness, respondents reported that sharing personal experiences about living with mental illness and opportunities to learn about strategies for coping with mental illness from others were important reasons for using social media ( Naslund et al., 2017 ). A computational study of mental health awareness campaigns on Twitter provides further support with inspirational posts and tips being the most shared ( Saha et al., 2019 ). Taken together, these studies offer insights about the potential for social media to facilitate access to an informal peer support network, though more research is necessary to examine how these online interactions may impact intentions to seek care, illness self-management, and clinically meaningful outcomes in offline contexts.
Many individuals living with mental disorders have expressed interest in using social media platforms for seeking mental health information ( Lal, Nguyen, & Theriault, 2018 ), connecting with mental health providers ( M. L. Birnbaum et al., 2017 ), and accessing evidence-based mental health services delivered over social media specifically for coping with mental health symptoms or for promoting overall health and wellbeing ( Naslund et al., 2017 ). With the widespread use of social media among individuals living with mental illness combined with the potential to facilitate social interaction and connect with supportive peers, as summarized above, it may be possible to leverage the popular features of social media to enhance existing mental health programs and services. A recent review by Biagianti et al (2018) found that peer-to-peer support appeared to offer feasible and acceptable ways to augment digital mental health interventions for individuals with psychotic disorders by specifically improving engagement, compliance, and adherence to the interventions, and may also improve perceived social support ( Biagianti, Quraishi, & Schlosser, 2018 ).
Among digital programs that have incorporated peer-to-peer social networking consistent with popular features on social media platforms, a pilot study of the HORYZONS online psychosocial intervention demonstrated significant reductions in depression among patients with first episode psychosis ( Alvarez-Jimenez et al., 2013 ). Importantly, the majority of participants (95%) in this study engaged with the peer-to-peer networking feature of the program, with many reporting increases in perceived social connectedness and empowerment in their recovery process ( Alvarez-Jimenez et al., 2013 ). This moderated online social therapy program is now being evaluated as part of a large randomized controlled trial for maintaining treatment effects from first episode psychosis services ( Alvarez-Jimenez et al., 2019 ).
Other early efforts have demonstrated that use of digital environments with the interactive peer-to-peer features of social media can enhance social functioning and wellbeing in young people at high risk of psychosis ( Alvarez-Jimenez et al., 2018 ). There has also been a recent emergence of several mobile apps to support symptom monitoring and relapse prevention in psychotic disorders. Among these apps, the development of PRIME (Personalized Real-time Intervention for Motivational Enhancement) has involved working closely with young people with schizophrenia to ensure that the design of the app has the look and feel of mainstream social media platforms, as opposed to existing clinical tools ( Schlosser et al., 2016 ). This unique approach to the design of the app is aimed at promoting engagement, and ensuring that the app can effectively improve motivation and functioning through goal setting and promoting better quality of life of users with schizophrenia ( Schlosser et al., 2018 ).
Social media platforms could also be used to promote engagement and participation in in-person services delivered through community mental health settings. For example, the peer-based lifestyle intervention called PeerFIT targets weight loss and improved fitness among individuals living with serious mental illness through a combination of in-person lifestyle classes, exercise groups, and use of digital technologies ( Aschbrenner, Naslund, Shevenell, Kinney, & Bartels, 2016 ; Aschbrenner, Naslund, Shevenell, Mueser, & Bartels, 2016 ). The intervention holds tremendous promise as lack of support is one of the largest barriers toward exercise in patients with serious mental illness ( Firth et al., 2016 ) and it is now possible to use social media to counter such. Specifically, in PeerFIT, a private Facebook group is closely integrated into the program to offer a closed platform where participants can connect with the lifestyle coaches, access intervention content, and support or encourage each other as they work towards their lifestyle goals ( Aschbrenner, Naslund, & Bartels, 2016 ; Naslund, Aschbrenner, Marsch, & Bartels, 2016a ). To date, this program has demonstrate preliminary effectiveness for meaningfully reducing cardiovascular risk factors that contribute to early mortality in this patient group ( Aschbrenner, Naslund, Shevenell, Kinney, et al., 2016 ), while the Facebook component appears to have increased engagement in the program, while allowing participants who were unable to attend in-person sessions due to other health concerns or competing demands to remain connected with the program ( Naslund, Aschbrenner, Marsch, McHugo, & Bartels, 2018 ). This lifestyle intervention is currently being evaluated in a randomized controlled trial enrolling young adults with serious mental illness from a variety of real world community mental health services settings ( Aschbrenner, Naslund, Gorin, et al., 2018 ).
These examples highlight the promise of incorporating the features of popular social media into existing programs, which may offer opportunities to safely promote engagement and program retention, while achieving improved clinical outcomes. This is an emerging area of research, as evidenced by several important effectiveness trials underway ( Alvarez-Jimenez et al., 2019 ; Aschbrenner, Naslund, Gorin, et al., 2018 ), including efforts to leverage online social networking to support family caregivers of individuals receiving first episode psychosis services ( Gleeson et al., 2017 ).
The science on the role of social media for engaging persons with mental disorders needs a cautionary note on the effects of social media usage on mental health and well being, particularly in adolescents and young adults. While the risks and harms of social media are frequently covered in the popular press and mainstream news reports, careful consideration of the research in this area is necessary. In a review of 43 studies in young people, many benefits of social media were cited, including increased self-esteem, and opportunities for self-disclosure ( Best, Manktelow, & Taylor, 2014 ). Yet, reported negative effects were an increased exposure to harm, social isolation, depressive symptoms and bullying ( Best et al., 2014 ). In the sections that follow (see Table 1 for a summary), we consider three major categories of risk related to use of social media and mental health. These include: 1) Impact on symptoms; 2) Facing hostile interactions; and 3) Consequences for daily life.
Studies consistently highlight that use of social media, especially heavy use and prolonged time spent on social media platforms, appears to contribute to increased risk for a variety of mental health symptoms and poor wellbeing, especially among young people ( Andreassen et al., 2016 ; Kross et al., 2013 ; Woods & Scott, 2016 ). This may partly be driven by the detrimental effects of screen time on mental health, including increased severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms, which have been well documented ( Stiglic & Viner, 2019 ). Recent studies have reported negative effects of social media use on mental health of young people, including social comparison pressure with others and greater feeling of social isolation after being rejected by others on social media ( Rideout & Fox, 2018 ). In a study of young adults, it was found that negative comparisons with others on Facebook contributed to risk of rumination and subsequent increases in depression symptoms ( Feinstein et al., 2013 ). Still, the cross sectional nature of many screen time and mental health studies makes it challenging to reach causal inferences ( Orben & Przybylski, 2019 ).
Quantity of social media use is also an important factor, as highlighted in a survey of young adults ages 19 to 32, where more frequent visits to social media platforms each week were correlated with greater depressive symptoms ( Lin et al., 2016 ). More time spent using social media is also associated with greater symptoms of anxiety ( Vannucci, Flannery, & Ohannessian, 2017 ). The actual number of platforms accessed also appears to contribute to risk as reflected in another national survey of young adults where use of a large number of social media platforms was associated with negative impact on mental health ( Primack et al., 2017 ). Among survey respondents using between 7 and 11 different social media platforms compared to respondents using only 2 or fewer platforms, there was a 3 times greater odds of having high levels of depressive symptoms and a 3.2 times greater odds of having high levels of anxiety symptoms ( Primack et al., 2017 ).
Many researchers have postulated that worsening mental health attributed to social media use may be because social media replaces face-to-face interactions for young people ( Twenge & Campbell, 2018 ), and may contribute to greater loneliness ( Bucci et al., 2019 ), and negative effects on other aspects of health and wellbeing ( Woods & Scott, 2016 ). One nationally representative survey of US adolescents found that among respondents who reported more time accessing media such as social media platforms or smartphone devices, there was significantly greater depressive symptoms and increased risk of suicide when compared to adolescents who reported spending more time on non-screen activities, such as in-person social interaction or sports and recreation activities ( Twenge, Joiner, Rogers, & Martin, 2018 ). For individuals living with more severe mental illnesses, the effects of social media on psychiatric symptoms have received less attention. One study found that participation in chat rooms may contribute to worsening symptoms in young people with psychotic disorders ( Mittal, Tessner, & Walker, 2007 ), while another study of patients with psychosis found that social media use appeared to predict low mood ( Berry, Emsley, Lobban, & Bucci, 2018 ). These studies highlight a clear relationship between social media use and mental health that may not be present in general population studies ( Orben & Przybylski, 2019 ), and emphasize the need to explore how social media may contribute to symptom severity and whether protective factors may be identified to mitigate these risks.
Popular social media platforms can create potential situations where individuals may be victimized by negative comments or posts. Cyberbullying represents a form of online aggression directed towards specific individuals, such as peers or acquaintances, which is perceived to be most harmful when compared to random hostile comments posted online ( Hamm et al., 2015 ). Importantly, cyberbullying on social media consistently shows harmful impact on mental health in the form of increased depressive symptoms as well as worsening of anxiety symptoms, as evidenced in a review of 36 studies among children and young people ( Hamm et al., 2015 ). Furthermore, cyberbullying disproportionately impacts females as reflected in a national survey of adolescents in the United States, where females were twice as likely to be victims of cyberbullying compared to males ( Alhajji, Bass, & Dai, 2019 ). Most studies report cross-sectional associations between cyberbullying and symptoms of depression or anxiety ( Hamm et al., 2015 ), though one longitudinal study in Switzerland found that cyberbullying contributed to significantly greater depression over time ( Machmutow, Perren, Sticca, & Alsaker, 2012 ).
For youth ages 10 to 17 who reported major depressive symptomatology, there was over 3 times greater odds of facing online harassment in the last year compared to youth who reported mild or no depressive symptoms ( Ybarra, 2004 ). Similarly, in a 2018 national survey of young people, respondents ages 14 to 22 with moderate to severe depressive symptoms were more likely to have had negative experiences when using social media, and in particular, were more likely to report having faced hostile comments, or being “trolled”, from others when compared to respondents without depressive symptoms (31% vs. 14%) ( Rideout & Fox, 2018 ). As these studies depict risks for victimization on social media and the correlation with poor mental health, it is possible that individuals living with mental illness may also experience greater hostility online compared to individuals without mental illness. This would be consistent with research showing greater risk of hostility, including increased violence and discrimination, directed towards individuals living with mental illness in in-person contexts, especially targeted at those with severe mental illnesses ( Goodman et al., 1999 ).
A computational study of mental health awareness campaigns on Twitter reported that while stigmatizing content was rare, it was actually the most spread (re-tweeted) demonstrating that harmful content can travel quickly on social media ( Saha et al., 2019 ). Another study was able to map the spread of social media posts about the Blue Whale Challenge, an alleged game promoting suicide, over Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, Tumblr and other forums across 127 countries ( Sumner et al., 2019 ). These findings show that it is critical to monitor the actual content of social media posts, such as determining whether content is hostile or promotes harm to self or others. This is pertinent because existing research looking at duration of exposure cannot account for the impact of specific types of content on mental health and is insufficient to fully understand the effects of using these platforms on mental health.
The ways in which individuals use social media can also impact their offline relationships and everyday activities. To date, reports have described risks of social media use pertaining to privacy, confidentiality, and unintended consequences of disclosing personal health information online ( Torous & Keshavan, 2016 ). Additionally, concerns have been raised about poor quality or misleading health information shared on social media, and that social media users may not be aware of misleading information or conflicts of interest especially when the platforms promote popular content regardless of whether it is from a trustworthy source ( Moorhead et al., 2013 ; Ventola, 2014 ). For persons living with mental illness there may be additional risks from using social media. A recent study that specifically explored the perspectives of social media users with serious mental illnesses, including participants with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder, or major depression, found that over one third of participants expressed concerns about privacy when using social media ( Naslund & Aschbrenner, 2019 ). The reported risks of social media use were directly related to many aspects of everyday life, including concerns about threats to employment, fear of stigma and being judged, impact on personal relationships, and facing hostility or being hurt ( Naslund & Aschbrenner, 2019 ). While few studies have specifically explored the dangers of social media use from the perspectives of individuals living with mental illness, it is important to recognize that use of these platforms may contribute to risks that extend beyond worsening symptoms and that can affect different aspects of daily life.
In this commentary we considered ways in which social media may yield benefits for individuals living with mental illness, while contrasting these with the possible harms. Studies reporting on the threats of social media for individuals with mental illness are mostly cross-sectional, making it difficult to draw conclusions about direction of causation. However, the risks are potentially serious. These risks should be carefully considered in discussions pertaining to use of social media and the broader use of digital mental health technologies, as avenues for mental health promotion, or for supporting access to evidence-based programs or mental health services. At this point, it would be premature to view the benefits of social media as outweighing the possible harms, when it is clear from the studies summarized here that social media use can have negative effects on mental health symptoms, can potentially expose individuals to hurtful content and hostile interactions, and can result in serious consequences for daily life, including threats to employment and personal relationships. Despite these risks, it is also necessary to recognize that individuals with mental illness will continue to use social media given the ease of accessing these platforms and the immense popularity of online social networking. With this in mind, it may be ideal to raise awareness about these possible risks so that individuals can implement necessary safeguards, while also highlighting that there could also be benefits. For individuals with mental illness who use social media, being aware of the risks is an essential first step, and then highlighting ways that use of these popular platforms could also contribute to some benefits, ranging from finding meaningful interactions with others, engaging with peer support networks, and accessing information and services.
To capitalize on the widespread use of social media, and to achieve the promise that these platforms may hold for supporting the delivery of targeted mental health interventions, there is need for continued research to better understand how individuals living with mental illness use social media. Such efforts could inform safety measures and also encourage use of social media in ways that maximize potential benefits while minimizing risk of harm. It will be important to recognize how gender and race contribute to differences in use of social media for seeking mental health information or accessing interventions, as well as differences in how social media might impact mental wellbeing. For example, a national survey of 14- to 22-year olds in the United States found that female respondents were more likely to search online for information about depression or anxiety, and to try to connect with other people online who share similar mental health concerns, when compared to male respondents ( Rideout & Fox, 2018 ). In the same survey, there did not appear to be any differences between racial or ethnic groups in social media use for seeking mental health information ( Rideout & Fox, 2018 ). Social media use also appears to have a differential impact on mental health and emotional wellbeing between females and males ( Booker, Kelly, & Sacker, 2018 ), highlighting the need to explore unique experiences between gender groups to inform tailored programs and services. Research shows that lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals frequently use social media for searching for health information and may be more likely compared to heterosexual individuals to share their own personal health experiences with others online ( Rideout & Fox, 2018 ). Less is known about use of social media for seeking support for mental health concerns among gender minorities, though this is an important area for further investigation as these individuals are more likely to experience mental health problems and more likely to experience online victimization when compared to heterosexual individuals ( Mereish, Sheskier, Hawthorne, & Goldbach, 2019 ).
Similarly, efforts are needed to explore the relationship between social media use and mental health among ethnic and racial minorities. A recent study found that exposure to traumatic online content on social media showing violence or hateful posts directed at racial minorities contributed to increases in psychological distress, PTSD symptoms, and depression among African American and Latinx adolescents in the United States ( Tynes, Willis, Stewart, & Hamilton, 2019 ). These concerns are contrasted by growing interest in the potential for new technologies including social media to expand the reach of services to underrepresented minority groups ( Schueller, Hunter, Figueroa, & Aguilera, 2019 ). Therefore, greater attention is needed to understanding the perspectives of ethnic and racial minorities to inform effective and safe use of social media for mental health promotion efforts.
Research has found that individuals living with mental illness have expressed interest in accessing mental health services through social media platforms. A survey of social media users with mental illness found that most respondents were interested in accessing programs for mental health on social media targeting symptom management, health promotion, and support for communicating with health care providers and interacting with the health system ( Naslund et al., 2017 ). Importantly, individuals with serious mental illness have also emphasized that any mental health intervention on social media would need to be moderated by someone with adequate training and credentials, would need to have ground rules and ways to promote safety and minimize risks, and importantly, would need to be free and easy to access.
An important strength with this commentary is that it combines a range of studies broadly covering the topic of social media and mental health. We have provided a summary of recent evidence in a rapidly advancing field with the goal of presenting unique ways that social media could offer benefits for individuals with mental illness, while also acknowledging the potentially serious risks and the need for further investigation. There are also several limitations with this commentary that warrant consideration. Importantly, as we aimed to address this broad objective, we did not conduct a systematic review of the literature. Therefore, the studies reported here are not exhaustive, and there may be additional relevant studies that were not included. Additionally, we only summarized published studies, and as a result, any reports from the private sector or websites from different organizations using social media or other apps containing social media-like features would have been omitted. Though it is difficult to rigorously summarize work from the private sector, sometimes referred to as “gray literature”, because many of these projects are unpublished and are likely selective in their reporting of findings given the target audience may be shareholders or consumers.
Another notable limitation is that we did not assess risk of bias in the studies summarized in this commentary. We found many studies that highlighted risks associated with social media use for individuals living with mental illness; however, few studies of programs or interventions reported negative findings, suggesting the possibility that negative findings may go unpublished. This concern highlights the need for a future more rigorous review of the literature with careful consideration of bias and an accompanying quality assessment. Most of the studies that we described were from the United States, as well as from other higher income settings such as Australia or the United Kingdom. Despite the global reach of social media platforms, there is a dearth of research on the impact of these platforms on the mental health of individuals in diverse settings, as well as the ways in which social media could support mental health services in lower income countries where there is virtually no access to mental health providers. Future research is necessary to explore the opportunities and risks for social media to support mental health promotion in low-income and middle-income countries, especially as these countries face a disproportionate share of the global burden of mental disorders, yet account for the majority of social media users worldwide ( Naslund et al., 2019 ).
As we consider future research directions, the near ubiquitous social media use also yields new opportunities to study the onset and manifestation of mental health symptoms and illness severity earlier than traditional clinical assessments. There is an emerging field of research referred to as ‘digital phenotyping’ aimed at capturing how individuals interact with their digital devices, including social media platforms, in order to study patterns of illness and identify optimal time points for intervention ( Jain, Powers, Hawkins, & Brownstein, 2015 ; Onnela & Rauch, 2016 ). Given that most people access social media via mobile devices, digital phenotyping and social media are closely related ( Torous et al., 2019 ). To date, the emergence of machine learning, a powerful computational method involving statistical and mathematical algorithms ( Shatte, Hutchinson, & Teague, 2019 ), has made it possible to study large quantities of data captured from popular social media platforms such as Twitter or Instagram to illuminate various features of mental health ( Manikonda & De Choudhury, 2017 ; Reece et al., 2017 ). Specifically, conversations on Twitter have been analyzed to characterize the onset of depression ( De Choudhury, Gamon, Counts, & Horvitz, 2013 ) as well as detecting users’ mood and affective states ( De Choudhury, Gamon, & Counts, 2012 ), while photos posted to Instagram can yield insights for predicting depression ( Reece & Danforth, 2017 ). The intersection of social media and digital phenotyping will likely add new levels of context to social media use in the near future.
Several studies have also demonstrated that when compared to a control group, Twitter users with a self-disclosed diagnosis of schizophrenia show unique online communication patterns ( Michael L Birnbaum, Ernala, Rizvi, De Choudhury, & Kane, 2017 ), including more frequent discussion of tobacco use ( Hswen et al., 2017 ), symptoms of depression and anxiety ( Hswen, Naslund, Brownstein, & Hawkins, 2018b ), and suicide ( Hswen, Naslund, Brownstein, & Hawkins, 2018a ). Another study found that online disclosures about mental illness appeared beneficial as reflected by fewer posts about symptoms following self-disclosure (Ernala, Rizvi, Birnbaum, Kane, & De Choudhury, 2017). Each of these examples offers early insights into the potential to leverage widely available online data for better understanding the onset and course of mental illness. It is possible that social media data could be used to supplement additional digital data, such as continuous monitoring using smartphone apps or smart watches, to generate a more comprehensive ‘digital phenotype’ to predict relapse and identify high-risk health behaviors among individuals living with mental illness ( Torous et al., 2019 ).
With research increasingly showing the valuable insights that social media data can yield about mental health states, greater attention to the ethical concerns with using individual data in this way is necessary ( Chancellor, Birnbaum, Caine, Silenzio, & De Choudhury, 2019 ). For instance, data is typically captured from social media platforms without the consent or awareness of users ( Bidargaddi et al., 2017 ), which is especially crucial when the data relates to a socially stigmatizing health condition such as mental illness ( Guntuku, Yaden, Kern, Ungar, & Eichstaedt, 2017 ). Precautions are needed to ensure that data is not made identifiable in ways that were not originally intended by the user who posted the content, as this could place an individual at risk of harm or divulge sensitive health information ( Webb et al., 2017 ; Williams, Burnap, & Sloan, 2017 ). Promising approaches for minimizing these risks include supporting the participation of individuals with expertise in privacy, clinicians, as well as the target individuals with mental illness throughout the collection of data, development of predictive algorithms, and interpretation of findings ( Chancellor et al., 2019 ).
In recognizing that many individuals living with mental illness use social media to search for information about their mental health, it is possible that they may also want to ask their clinicians about what they find online to check if the information is reliable and trustworthy. Alternatively, many individuals may feel embarrassed or reluctant to talk to their clinicians about using social media to find mental health information out of concerns of being judged or dismissed. Therefore, mental health clinicians may be ideally positioned to talk with their patients about using social media, and offer recommendations to promote safe use of these sites, while also respecting their patients’ autonomy and personal motivations for using these popular platforms. Given the gap in clinical knowledge about the impact of social media on mental health, clinicians should be aware of the many potential risks so that they can inform their patients, while remaining open to the possibility that their patients may also experience benefits through use of these platforms. As awareness of these risks grows, it may be possible that new protections will be put in place by industry or through new policies that will make the social media environment safer. It is hard to estimate a number needed to treat or harm today given the nascent state of research, which means the patient and clinician need to weigh the choice on a personal level. Thus offering education and information is an important first step in that process. As patients increasingly show interest in accessing mental health information or services through social media, it will be necessary for health systems to recognize social media as a potential avenue for reaching or offering support to patients. This aligns with growing emphasis on the need for greater integration of digital psychiatry, including apps, smartphones, or wearable devices, into patient care and clinical services through institution-wide initiatives and training clinical providers ( Hilty, Chan, Torous, Luo, & Boland, 2019 ). Within a learning healthcare environment where research and care are tightly intertwined and feedback between both is rapid, the integration of digital technologies into services may create new opportunities for advancing use of social media for mental health.
As highlighted in this commentary, social media has become an important part of the lives of many individuals living with mental disorders. Many of these individuals use social media to share their lived experiences with mental illness, to seek support from others, and to search for information about treatment recommendations, accessing mental health services, and coping with symptoms ( Bucci et al., 2019 ; Highton-Williamson et al., 2015 ; Naslund, Aschbrenner, et al., 2016b ). As the field of digital mental health advances, the wide reach, ease of access, and popularity of social media platforms could be used to allow individuals in need of mental health services or facing challenges of mental illness to access evidence-based treatment and support. To achieve this end and to explore whether social media platforms can advance efforts to close the gap in available mental health services in the United States and globally, it will be essential for researchers to work closely with clinicians and with those affected by mental illness to ensure that possible benefits of using social media are carefully weighed against anticipated risks.
Dr. Naslund is supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (U19MH113211). Dr. Aschbrenner is supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (1R01MH110965-01).
Publisher's Disclaimer: This Author Accepted Manuscript is a PDF file of a an unedited peer-reviewed manuscript that has been accepted for publication but has not been copyedited or corrected. The official version of record that is published in the journal is kept up to date and so may therefore differ from this version.
Conflict of Interest
The authors have nothing to disclose.
1. introduction.
Given today's culture of online digital interactions, it is becoming increasingly important to foster our ability to understand and analyze the effects of social media on our relationships and modern communication. As millions of people across the globe use social media, it has become a significant driver of how we, as individuals, behave towards others and how others behave towards us. It is through social media that we create friendships and relationships and share personal information, making it an important medium that we must understand to comprehend how we interact with others. Social media is used to stay in touch with friends and family as well as to meet new people. But how does the presence and usage of social media and social networking affect our lives and communications? What ethical factors should we consider when examining our relationships and communication? This report, whose purpose is to analyze the impact of social media on our modern communication behaviors and relationships, is laid out as follows: In section 2, we explore who uses social media and social networking; in section 3, we explain the different ways in which we use social media; and in section 4, we ask if social media creates or improves romantic relationships. Then, in section 5, we inquire whether social media increases our connection to our social network; in section 6, we examine if social media enhances well-being and subjective life satisfaction; in section 7, we address attention-seeking behaviors on social media. In section 8, we investigate social media and how it affects informal communication; in section 9, we look into comparisons with others through social media. Finally, in sections 10 and 11, we explain the ethical factors and consequences surrounding how social media affects us.
In the early days of the internet, people selected online platforms designed to facilitate connection and relationship building. Initial sites typically supported asynchronous conversations about specific issues. Over time, these platforms expanded into asynchronous, text-based social networks, including blogs, email, chat sites, and forums dedicated to user interests. During the mid-2000s, the social web began an evolution that transformed it into the social media universe with which today's users are very familiar. Chatrooms, forums, and other user-generated content sites became significant contributors to the evolving World Wide Web, and many internet users spent hours of their day regularly interacting online. Social media platforms reflected these emerging behaviors and developed sites designed to support user engagement. Since the beginning of the 21st century, online users have deployed a large number of new sites to form connections, exchange information, and engage in transactions with others. During this era, numerous social media platforms appeared and rapidly gained popularity. These networks provide prominent online features, including unfriend, like, follow, share, or tag. Online users started embracing this new capability, creating and consuming user-generated content. This created a self-reinforcing loop in the growth of available social sites. By the mid-2000s, leading platforms on the evolving social web had become prominent. In increasing numbers, people started spending time on the internet to develop and maintain relationships with friends and family and to connect with others sharing similar interests. Social media platforms continued to grow and multiply into various specific dimensions. Each has assumed a noticeable role in the ecosystem of tools dedicated to personal, social, or business activities.
Having considered the impact the digital age has had on our private and professional lives, one of the most substantial factors is in the means by which we can communicate with others. In the past, when one moved to another part of the country or even abroad, communication was typically conducted by letter, and it often was the case that relationships were lost. The expense of international phone calls made any form of elongated conversation increasingly difficult to maintain. Today we don't seem able to have a conversation with real people without checking our phone or computer – we might not even take our eyes off them until something beeps to tell us that we have a message. The novelty of instant communication seems to have been hijacked and turned into a never-ending might of communications. Work can follow us home through email; social networking sites update us instantaneously with what our friends are doing, and news channels make sure we know everything the moment it happens or even before. Will instant communication improve relationships, or is it so often that we wonder whether it is an intrusion on our lives? There are those who feel their lives are incomplete without it, to the extent that they have difficulty tearing themselves away to experience reality – is this just another form of addiction? Is our urgency to be connected with each other related to the fact that we are never truly present with each other? And by drawing us away from the present, does it rob us of experiencing life to its fullest? Can we function without being part of the online world, or are we incapacitated by the feeling of disconnection from society as a whole? Is there an ironic solitude in a world that is globally wired? Does it all come down to the idea that the more connected we are, the more disengaged we may become and that true happiness is to be found away from the computer screen?
Instant messaging has, in a variety of ways, revolutionized the way we deal with communication in the online world. Not only are they a convenient way of keeping in touch with friends, family, and colleagues, but they are also powerful marketing and sales tools, particularly in relation to the development of online communities. IM systems and chat apps have come a long way from the origin of Internet Relay Chat and web interfaces to proprietary IM systems that would only work with the service provider’s client, up to the emergence of open protocol, multiprotocol, and federated chat apps. 3.1.1. IRC, Instant Messaging, and Internet Chat Applications Internet Relay Chat is the world’s first online chat application that originated in 1988. IRC was free and open source and people needed to connect to an IRC server to chat with other users. This generated free and decentralized communities of users worldwide. While IRC allows real-time conferences of large numbers of people, real-time private conversation is typically not an integrated feature of the IRC protocol but is available through other forms of user-to-user communication after a user has joined a given channel. Throughout the years, many unrelated chat applications would become popular without RSVP by becoming part of technology news and lifestyle worldwide. Many thanks to various messaging platforms, millions of users would talk to each other in real-time using their favorite Internet browsers. Due to leisure and Internet café computer specifications, web clients would become the most popular for non-technical users since little or no effort was needed to install browser-based chat clients. Along its life cycle, vendors of proprietary chat applications took different paths. Each would either start using various messaging protocols until Instant Messenger from Microsoft would become the dominant chat client in the East.
Facebook is another social media platform being utilized across the world. It plays a critical role in the lives of many. It allows people to communicate with long-lost family members, friends, and acquaintances on the other side of the world. The extent of Earth's geography is no match for the vastness and presence of Facebook. Facebook is a place where people come to share matters about their daily lives. It can be, and usually is, harmful and a direct threat to many relationships, whether they are work-based or personal. It can mix up information from the present with events of the past because everyone shares personal information without realizing the impact it can cause. In this case, as a global society, we should make one's identity actual with respect to how they interact and work through the effects of social media. On the go, with no time to read or look at the video from a friend of a friend that was taken firsthand... Users post things a day or two after they happen, which is short-lived at best. However, this is not constructive enough to utilize and take into consideration Facebook. Choosing who they are friends with to share information will only create an echo chamber of like-minded individuals. Unfortunately, this often results in ignoring more controversial material.
The role social media plays in modern relationships is fascinating and often trouble-laden. The ubiquity of social media today has had a significant impact on modern communication, writing, spoken word, and interpersonal relationships. Both positive and negative, these communication tools have changed the way we look at courtship and marriage, adolescent and young adult relationships, the creation of and impact on friendships at school and work, casual and serious commitments, the strength of relationships, and breakups. Today's generation has come of age with a new form of associated life emotion, spawned through a simple response button or clicked icon found on social media sites. Where immediate feedback can be found about whom one's spouse's friends are, what people ate for dinner, where they travel, their political and religious beliefs, sexual characteristics, and preparatory willingness accompanied by graphic sexual tendencies, the revealing of emotions, and where conversations, gossip, and slander have taken precedence over face-to-face interaction. The ease of meeting anyone using cyberspace platforms has changed dating. In the not too distant past, formal social gatherings once took the spotlight when it came to meeting someone special for a first date; when it meant that one's family was treating the man with the utmost respect and consideration to ensure he was the right match for their daughter. However, individuals are now becoming aware of cyber criminality, paranoia, imposture, as well as various linguistic and behavior patterns; their atmosphere has changed. Concepts that would stir curiosity sooner or later are cyber relationship-driven, originating from and through various electronic means, and as relationships escalate and congregate, more truths and stability secrets are disclosed. Social media has become an inseparable part of man's life surrounding courtship, marriage, love commitment, relationships, and breakups, causing problems that a simple spoken conversation once solved. The question is how much technology intervention in communication, secrecy, disclosure, discussion, and relationship support should be utilized to maintain a healthy relationship and to trust the immutable values of a relationship.
Nowadays, all the social media features tend to dramatically simplify long-distance communication, effectively reduce the stress levels linked to such relationships due to improved communication, and increase the pleasure of talking with a partner who, although not actually with you, can still communicate with you by text and video chat. People today can talk all the time and say everything they want to say in seconds thanks to many apps, which help not to forget and miss an important person in one’s life and feel still close to the significant other despite the distance that separates you. Such "text talks" can also help to maintain the deep emotional connection and improve psychological well-being instead of creating a feeling of loneliness. Moreover, these tools allow behavior that would be unlikely or more difficult, as embarrassment can be avoided and everything is more natural rather than creating a moment and losing the spontaneity of that moment. It is the way to live these moments as "the two" of us and do something together, despite the distance. Maybe watch a movie or enjoy a dinner together, all things that make the partner feel close to one another and make a difference in relieving the perceived distance.
Online dating offers increased privacy and security, and the opportunity to try new technologies, such as augmented reality and new forms of deceptive communication. It is also associated with reduced business for the online dating industry. Despite this, considerations of online dating are largely absent in discussions of social media. There is an alternative way of looking at online dating that is little discussed. Online dating not only interacts closely with a range of other social media, but it is also associated with more general concerns about virtual sociality. It has particularly direct relevance to questions of identity, but also extends into the ways people build and maintain relationships. More broadly, in this era of relationships, when intimate relationships may appear conspicuously on the web, should dating in some senses be seen as a subset of a wider practice of managing relationships online? How might such a division distort what is otherwise resonant with other relationship practices? And do they in turn suggest new ways of managing the experience of online dating? Such considerations point to important dimensions of modern identity and sociality.
Today, the new conventional wisdom is that social media is bad. We are in the midst of a social media backlash. The backlash of today's backlash is that no, the problem isn't with social media; the problem is with us, with our moral and intellectual weakness in the face of social media. These critics like to point out that television was once blamed for similar societal ills. In short: share if you think something is wrong with social media. Don't share if you want to be part of the solution. The unique problem in this battle is that this is social media, and so nobody will take my advice to heart, let alone figure out how hypocritical it is of me to be dispensing such advice while posting it onto the very platforms I'm criticizing. Raising awareness is, of course, necessary but trivial work. It differentiates the virtuous from the unconcerned, but does little to solve the actual problem. The use of social media has been categorized as contributing to depression, and this is far from the only study to have done so. The scales tip heavier. So, can social media practices encourage or deepen lasting happiness? Can social media become a positive tool for our mental well-being? Can we somehow feel good about using social media? The problem is with how social media is used. "It is not the technology; it's how it's used." In the intimacy of real life, we encounter the realities of everyday living. And this contact touches us. Loneliness is on the rise. Let me correct that. Loneliness is already high, so we are not just discovering it now. But loneliness seems to be accelerating. Some worry that social media might accelerate loneliness, and so we share more. But this is not confined to social media platforms. And so we share, in the hope of doing something, anything, to stop that accelerating isolation. That provided us with a possible downside that social media might deepen isolation.
In conclusion, social media challenge traditional power structures of the media world and provide the public with opportunities to redefine power balances as well as general values. In addition to the way it transforms the public sphere, social media also represent a powerful channel through which individuals express thoughts and share opinions, and through which the full scale of collective behavior in contemporary society becomes visible. Today, multiple practices of digital sharing have become inextricably related to modern living, but despite this, social media use remains a contested issue. Prejudicial lay perspectives, political turbulence, claims that it causes addiction, and an assumption of credibility problems have paved the way for public as well as scholarly debate and concern. During the past decade, predefined public negative assumptions have generated a wave of research activities based on which people's reasons for using social media the way they do. Another wave of studies has added new layers of meaning to concerns for research into effects. However, we have primarily been focusing on the benefits that social media bring in the form of change and remediation for vulnerable social groups as well as other public goods. This is because the academic discussion has been promoting the positive aspects of social media. Future perspectives suggest that in order to discuss and readdress digital and networked media, and to form an understanding of people's resolutions for their use, it is necessary to go beyond extrapolating from a debate on the extent to which social media results in dangers or opportunities.
Potential risks of content, features, and functions: The science of how social media affects youth
Almost a year after APA issued its health advisory on social media use in adolescence, society continues to wrestle with ways to maximize the benefits of these platforms while protecting youth from the potential harms associated with them
Psychological scientists examine potential beneficial and harmful effects of social media a use on adolescents’ social, educational, psychological, and neurological development. This is a rapidly evolving and growing area of research with implications for many stakeholders (e.g., youth, parents, caregivers, educators, policymakers, practitioners, and members of the tech industry) who share responsibility to ensure adolescents’ well-being. b Officials and policymakers including the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy have documented the importance of this issue and are actively seeking science-informed input . c
The recommendations below are based on the scientific evidence to date, and the following considerations.
A. Using social media is not inherently beneficial or harmful to young people. Adolescents’ lives online both reflect and impact their offline lives. In most cases, the effects of social media are dependent on adolescents’ own personal and psychological characteristics and social circumstances—intersecting with the specific content, features, or functions that are afforded within many social media platforms. In other words, the effects of social media likely depend on what teens can do and see online, teens’ preexisting strengths or vulnerabilities, and the contexts in which they grow up. 3
B. Adolescents’ experiences online are affected by both 1) how they shape their own social media experiences (e.g., they choose whom to like and follow); and 2) both visible and unknown features built into social media platforms.
C. Not all findings apply equally to all youth. Scientific findings offer one piece of information that can be used along with knowledge of specific youths’ strengths, weaknesses, and context to make decisions that are tailored for each teen, family, and community. 4
D. Adolescent development is gradual and continuous, beginning with biological and neurological changes occurring before puberty is observable (i.e., approximately beginning at 10 years of age), and lasting at least until dramatic changes in youths’ social environment (e.g., peer, family, and school context) and neurological changes have completed (i.e., until approximately 25 years of age). 5 Age-appropriate use of social media should be based on each adolescent’s level of maturity (e.g., self-regulation skills, intellectual development, comprehension of risks) and home environment. 6 Because adolescents mature at different rates, and because there are no data available to indicate that children become unaffected by the potential risks and opportunities posed by social media usage at a specific age, research is in development to specify a single time or age point for many of these recommendations. In general, potential risks are likely to be greater in early adolescence—a period of greater biological, social, and psychological transitions, than in late adolescence and early adulthood. 7,8
E. As researchers have found with the internet more broadly, racism (i.e., often reflecting perspectives of those building technology) is built into social media platforms. For example, algorithms (i.e., a set of mathematical instructions that direct users’ everyday experiences down to the posts that they see) can often have centuries of racist policy and discrimination encoded. 9 Social media can become an incubator, providing community and training that fuel racist hate. 10 The resulting potential impact is far reaching, including physical violence offline, as well as threats to well-being. 11
F. These recommendations are based on psychological science and related disciplines at the time of this writing (April 2023). Collectively, these studies were conducted with thousands of adolescents who completed standardized assessments of social, behavioral, psychological, and/or neurological functioning, and also reported (or were observed) engaging with specific social media functions or content. However, these studies do have limitations. First, findings suggesting causal associations are rare, as the data required to make cause-and-effect conclusions are challenging to collect and/or may be available within technology companies, but have not been made accessible to independent scientists. Second, long-term (i.e., multiyear) longitudinal research often is unavailable; thus, the associations between adolescents’ social media use and long-term outcomes (i.e., into adulthood) are largely unknown. Third, relatively few studies have been conducted with marginalized populations of youth, including those from marginalized racial, ethnic, sexual, gender, socioeconomic backgrounds, those who are differently abled, and/or youth with chronic developmental or health conditions.
a These recommendations do not address the use of all technology among youth, including educationally-based platforms or digital interventions that use evidence-based approaches to promote adaptive health outcomes. Rather, these recommendations reflect the literature on social media specifically, which is defined as technologically-based applications, platforms, or communication systems using online architecture that promotes asynchronous, unilateral, permanent, public, continually-accessible, social cue-restricted, quantifiable, visually-based, or algorithmic-based social interactions. 1,2
b These recommendations enact policies and resolutions approved by the APA Council of Representatives including the APA Resolution on Child and Adolescent Mental and Behavioral Health (PDF, 72KB) and the APA Resolution on Dismantling Systemic Racism in contexts including social media. These are not professional practice guidelines but are intended to provide information based on psychological science.
c The U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory in 2021 (PDF, 1MB) focused on protecting youth mental health that recognizes the importance of examining the impacts of social media on children.
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1. youth using social media should be encouraged to use functions that create opportunities for social support, online companionship, and emotional intimacy that can promote healthy socialization.
Data suggest that youths’ psychological development may benefit from this type of online social interaction, particularly during periods of social isolation, when experiencing stress, when seeking connection to peers with similar developmental and/or health conditions, and perhaps especially for youth who experience adversity or isolation in offline environments. 12, 13,14,15
Youth with symptoms of mental illness, such as adolescents with social anxiety, depression, or loneliness, for instance, may benefit from interactions on social media that allow for greater control, practice, and review of social interactions. 16 Unfortunately, these populations may also be at higher risk for some of the negative facets of social media use as discussed below. 17
Social media offers a powerful opportunity for socialization of specific attitudes and behaviors, encouraging adolescents to follow the opinions and prosocial acts of others. 18 The discussion of healthy behaviors online can promote or reinforce positive offline activity and healthy outcomes.
Social media may be psychologically beneficial particularly among those experiencing mental health crises, 19 or members of marginalized groups that have been disproportionately harmed in online contexts. For instance, access to peers that allows LGBTQIA+ and questioning adolescents to provide support to and share accurate health information with one another is beneficial to psychological development, and can protect youth from negative psychological outcomes when experiencing stress. 20 This may be especially important for topics that adolescents feel reluctant to or are unable to discuss with a parent or caregiver.
Specific features (e.g., the “like” button, recommended content, unrestricted time limits, endless scrolling) and notices/alerts (e.g., regarding changes to privacy policies) should be tailored to the social and cognitive abilities and comprehension of adolescent users. 21 As one example, adolescents should be informed explicitly and repeatedly, in age-appropriate ways, about the manner in which their behaviors on social media may yield data that can be used, stored, or shared with others, for instance, for commercial (and other) purposes.
Brain regions associated with a desire for attention, feedback, and reinforcement from peers become increasingly sensitive beginning in early adolescence, and regions associated with mature self-control are not fully developed until adulthood. 5 Parental monitoring (i.e., coaching and discussion) and developmentally appropriate limit-setting thus is critical, especially in early adolescence.
Adults’ own use of social media in youths’ presence should also be carefully considered. Science demonstrates that adults’ (e.g., caregivers’) orientation and attitudes toward social media (e.g., using during interactions with their children, being distracted from in-person interactions by social media use) may affect adolescents’ own use of social media.
Preliminary research suggests that a combination of 1) social media limits and boundaries, and 2) adult–child discussion and coaching around social media use, leads to the best outcomes for youth. 22
Evidence suggests that exposure to maladaptive behavior may promote similar behavior among vulnerable youth, and online social reinforcement of these behaviors may be related to increased risk for serious psychological symptoms, even after controlling for offline influences. 24
Reporting structures should be created to easily identify harmful content, and ensure it is deprioritized or removed.
Research demonstrates that adolescents’ exposure to online discrimination and hate predicts increases in anxiety and depressive symptoms, even after controlling for how much adolescents are exposed to similar experiences offline. 25 Similarly, research indicates that as compared to offline bullying, online bullying and harassment can be more severe, and thus damaging to psychological development. 26–28 In other words, both online cyberhate and offline bullying can increase risk for adolescent mental health problems. Research suggests elevated risks both for the perpetrators and victims of cyberhate. 29,30
Adolescents should be trained to recognize online structural racism and critique racist messages. Research shows that young people who are able to critique racism experience less psychological distress when they witness race-related traumatic events online. 25 As noted above, adults’ monitoring and active discussion of online content can also reduce the effects of exposure to cyberhate on adolescents’ psychological adjustment. 22
Indicators of problematic social media use include
Social media use should not restrict opportunities to practice in-person reciprocal social interactions, and should not contribute to psychological avoidance of in-person social interactions.
Research recommends adolescents get at least eight hours of sleep each night 32 and maintain regular sleep-wake schedules. Data indicate that technology use particularly within one hour of bedtime, and social media use in particular, is associated with sleep disruptions. 33,34 Insufficient sleep is associated with disruptions to neurological development in adolescent brains, teens’ emotional functioning, 35,36 and risk for suicide. 37,38
Adolescents’ social media use also should not interfere with or reduce adolescents’ opportunities for physical activity and exercise. 39 Research demonstrates that physical activity is essential for both physical and psychological health (i.e., lower rates of depression). 40
Research suggests that using social media for social comparisons related to physical appearance, as well as excessive attention to and behaviors related to one’s own photos and feedback on those photos, are related to poorer body image, disordered eating, and depressive symptoms, particularly among girls. 41,42,43,44,45,46
Emerging science offers preliminary support for the efficacy of Digital Citizenship and Digital Literacy 47 to increase the frequency of positive interactions online; however, more research is needed in this area. 48
Additional competencies could also include:
A substantial investment in research funding is needed, including long-term longitudinal research, studies of younger children, and research on marginalized populations.
Access to data among independent scientists (including data from tech companies) to more thoroughly examine the associations between social media use and adolescent development is needed.
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APA panel issues recommendations for adolescent social media use
Keeping teens safe on social media: What parents should know to protect their kids
How to teach social media literacy to teens: A Q&A with Mitch Prinstein, PhD
How social media affects teens’ mental health, with Jacqueline Nesi, PhD
We wish to acknowledge the outstanding contributions to this report made by Corbin Evans, JD, senior director of congressional and federal relations, American Psychological Association.
The illinois attorney general joins 41 other attorneys general in the effort to mitigate the harmful effects of addictive social media..
A letter from 42 state attorneys general to Congress says social media that uses algorithms can contribute to depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and disrupted sleep.
Kiichiro Sato/AP
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and 41 other attorneys general have called on Congress to pass legislation aimed at protecting children from the harmful effects of social media.
The 42 attorneys general ask Congress to require a warning label on “algorithm-driven” social media platforms in a letter dated Sept. 9 and sent to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“By mandating a surgeon general’s warning on algorithm-driven social media platforms, Congress can help abate this growing crisis and protect future generations of Americans,” the letter reads.
The attorneys general outlined harmful psychological effects of that type of social media, arguing certain platforms are fueling a concerning mental health crisis among younger generations. Social media that uses algorithms can contribute to depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and disrupted sleep, the letter says.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wrote an op-ed in the New York Times pushing for the same type of warning label.
“A warning would not only highlight the inherent risks that social media platforms presently pose for young people, but also complement other efforts to spur attention, research and investment into the oversight of social media platforms,” the letter says. “We urge Congress to consider such measures and continue the search for innovative solutions to protect our children in the face of emerging technologies.”
Some states and leaders have already taken other routes to push back against social media platforms. Raoul and others joined a lawsuit against Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta for its strategies targeting children on the apps.
“Our children should be aware that social media platforms utilize features to make their platforms more addictive to young people. These algorithm-driven platforms can interfere with sleep and education, enable cyberbullying and contribute to depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia and thoughts of self-harm,” Raoul said in a news release. “I am committed to holding responsible actors accountable for putting profits ahead of mental health and well-being of our children.”
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Social media has also facilitated the democratization of information and the empowerment of individuals to participate in public discourse. In conclusion, social media has had a profound impact on society, influencing the way we communicate, interact, and consume information. While it has brought about many benefits, it also raises significant ...
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A 2018 Common Sense Media report found that 81 percent of teens use social media, and more than a third report using social media sites multiple times an hour. These statistics have risen dramatically over the past six years, likely driven by increased access to mobile devices. Rising along with these stats is a growing interest in the impact ...
200 Words Essay on The Impact of Social Media. The development and widespread use of social media represented one of the biggest revolutions in mass communication. Social media has had and continues to have a profound impact, ushering in a brand-new era. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Linkedin, WhatsApp, and others are some notable ...
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Introduction. Social media has become a prominent fixture in the lives of many individuals facing the challenges of mental illness. Social media refers broadly to web and mobile platforms that allow individuals to connect with others within a virtual network (such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or LinkedIn), where they can share, co-create, or exchange various forms of digital ...
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Social media. The term 'social media' refers to the various internet-based networks that enable users to interact with others, verbally and visually (Carr & Hayes, Citation 2015).According to the Pew Research Centre (Citation 2015), at least 92% of teenagers are active on social media.Lenhart, Smith, Anderson, Duggan, and Perrin (Citation 2015) identified the 13-17 age group as ...
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1. Introduction Given today's culture of online digital interactions, it is becoming increasingly important to foster our ability to understand and analyze the effects of social media on our relationships and modern communication. As millions of people across the globe use social media, it has become a significant driver of how we, as individuals, behave towards others and how others behave ...
a These recommendations do not address the use of all technology among youth, including educationally-based platforms or digital interventions that use evidence-based approaches to promote adaptive health outcomes. Rather, these recommendations reflect the literature on social media specifically, which is defined as technologically-based applications, platforms, or communication systems using ...
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and 41 other attorneys general have called on Congress to pass legislation aimed at protecting children from the harmful effects of social media.
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