the psychology essay example

the psychology essay example

The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health: A Psychological Perspective

1. Introduction

In this study, we follow an older and more traditional approach in arguing that SNS would be proposed to exert a greater impact on humanity through their mediation of larger scale social interactions: here in promoting loneliness and social emergency than on mental ill health. The aim is to show that the types of supportive communicative functions on Media and, in particular, the more privacy-driven non-commercial media found in Physiologically Relevant Media, support deeper and more fulfilling social relationships. Thus, these technologies pose considerable threats with human needs such as esteem needs (approval and recognition by peers) and social needs (belonging, love and physical and emotional support). The first goal focuses on access to direct and quick, all day and all night, computer-mediated communication with information about the activity, mood, and potential availability of one’s social circle for communication at any hour. By providing a directed kind of exchange, it is expected that SNS activity can support self-esteem needs with digital approval.

Considerable attention has been paid in the past half-decade to the impact of online social networking (in particular, the most successful commercial platforms of Facebook, Google+ and Twitter) on health problems such as cyberbullying, internet addiction, and other excessive or damaging behaviors. In the future, with rapidly growing technology, we expect to see the creation of increasingly sophisticated SNSs that will expand the depth and range of technological mediation for social interactions. Clearly, this has the potential to have larger and more multifaceted impacts on human physical and psychological health as well as social relations. A recent National Bureau of Economic Research working paper examines the impact of new SNSs on mental health across college students and younger children. In addition to the substantial sample size and reach of the people in the study, a major strength was its longitudinal study design.

2. Theoretical Framework: Social Comparison Theory and Fear of Missing Out

Fear of missing out (FoMO), a relatively new social anxiety disorder born for Generation Y, represents an oft-negative trait or gamble syndrome, encompassing elements of anxiety, social agent, dysthymic sensation, and boredom. With the increasing importance of social interaction and the evolution of smartphone technology, individualists manifest fear in case of missed experiences, opportunities, and social partnerships and hence maintain an assumption about being at the cloud of activities. Together with other negative experiences, such as excessive unproductive viewing and confusion about the development of good conversational skills and language, individuals with FoMO try to break personal loneliness and stimulate the struggle for physical companionship, which is possibly conducive to mental health problems. Thus, it can be said that coping with the fear of missing out and experiencing a more rewarding real-world experience arrangement would be constructive both at a personal and a community level. With the extension of SNS, most people might regularly experience the fear of missing out.

Developed by the social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1954, the social comparison theory postulates that we determine our self-worth based on how we stack up against others, engaging in self-evaluation in order to maintain a perception of our own belief about positivity and stability. The existence of the reference system is the easiest way to achieve self-evaluation accurately. On the one hand, we engage in upward comparison, comparing ourselves with those who are better, stronger, more proficient, and wealthier, to elevate our self-esteem and hope for future success. On the other hand, we engage in downward comparison, comparing ourselves with less fortunate to be satisfied with our current status by providing comfort and positive feedback. Festinger further holds that the comparison with those perceived as similar is regarded as most useful because it can affect their behavior in the best way and lead to the greatest comfort or adjustment.

3. Effects of Social Media on Mental Health

The relationship between social media and mental health is complex because of the variety of stakeholders involved. Social media is defined as “computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communication and communities”. Despite recognizing that engagement with technology is a multifaceted phenomenon, stakeholders from various disciplinary backgrounds face difficulties in exchanging knowledge effectively, and the interdisciplinary literature often lacks conceptual clarity. To clarify and enrich interdisciplinary understanding, we present a psychological perspective that explains how the platforms of social media have related to mental health issues, the usage of social media with specific contexts, and how psychological attributes foster the impact of social media on mental health. Our focus is on the impact of social media on mental health in terms of emotional, psychological, and social well-being.

Social media’s ability to foster online social interactions is beneficial to many people in their interpersonal relationships. Social media can also provide help and support for people in need through online services, such as suicide prevention hotlines, forums sharing stories about confronting adversity, and campaigns focusing on well-being or motivational behavior. However, negative effects of social media use on mental health are being increasingly documented. These effects can be both direct and indirect from the mechanics of online activities afforded to individuals, which in turn increase their exposure to traditional risk factors for mental health. How these various online risks work to influence mental health might be understood from a developmental perspective of what fosters good mental health in offline relationships. Here, we outline a psychological perspective of how social media’s influences on mental health could vary across populations of different psychological attributes and when the technology is being used in specific contexts.

4. Strategies for Promoting Positive Mental Health in the Digital Age

When such activation ensues, perhaps longer-term marked reductions in reported harm will present themselves. In their comparison of the internet generation with their predecessors, provide users with some sound advice on how to promote balanced social media engagement. For scholars, there are a number of further questions to address; for example, longitudinal research—particularly interventions—will be necessary to yield a clearer lens on the casual relationships at hand. That is, we need to know what the most effective prevention and rehabilitation strategies are, rather than focusing only on the identification of specific patient presentation.

Managing a positive mental health status in the digital age brings its own unique challenges. Given the ubiquity of social media use, a number of recommendations concerning best use practices have been made in the literature. Here, we identify several strategies which are promoted as ways to extract the benefits of social media while minimizing the harms. These are guidelines for healthy social media use, which high-profile developers, including Facebook and Google, have been called upon to consider when crafting and refining their platforms. On a basic level, these are common sense recommendations which, if adhered to, certainly diminish the likelihood of negative outcomes. However, whether guidelines can really control how the majority of users are engaging with social media requires adult, psychological responsibility and a willingness to grow digital citizenship in the most positive of ways.