apa style research proposal

apa style research proposal

The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

1. Introduction

Social media has been defined by its benefits in allowing people to interact with others on a global scale and at a low cost, which has greatly revolutionized the way we communicate. However, with an increase in interpersonal connections, social media has been linked to a decline in mental health. One belief has been that when people are participating in excessive internet and social media use, they tend to feel more isolated, which in turn affects their mood. This effect has been demonstrated with empirical evidence. For example, a study conducted by Steers, Wickham, and Acitelli found that when introverted individuals used Facebook, they felt an increased level of loneliness. A similar correlation was found for shyer individuals. The study used daily reports of internet use and self-reports of emotional well-being, an easy but effective method for testing how different forms of internet and social media use can affect the mood of individuals.

Social media platforms, such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook, are now prevalent all around the world. These sites are popular among all ages but more so for teenagers and young adults. A prevailing belief in society today is that the more social media a person uses, or the longer they use it, has a greater detrimental effect on their mental health. This leads to the question, what are the actual effects of social media on our mental health? This essay aims to discuss both the beneficial and detrimental effects of social media on our mental health. It will begin by considering the different arguments presented for the impact social media has on mental health, going on to explore both positive and negative effects on mood, anxiety, and self-esteem. Through considered exploration of the topic, the evidence provided will then stipulate the validity of social media’s impact on mental health, and finally, the essay will present an overall conclusion to the topic.

2. Literature Review

Review of scientific and academic research revealed evidence to suggest that overall, social networking and internet blog sites of young people are a medium through which self-expression and emotional state can be conveyed. Young adults frequenting such media are likely to share personal experiences, events, or perceived feelings in their life with others in their network, often times expressing them through their postings, pictures, or events. This form of internal or external access through display can present a window of opportunity for friends or relatives to inquire about these feelings or occurrences and is possibly a first step in the process of receiving emotional support or resolution on what has happened in the individual’s life.

Objectives: The purpose of this paper is to provide a current and educational review of the research that has been completed on the results of revealed online social interaction on the general mental health of adolescents and young adults, as determined by frequent visitors to and users of social networking or blog sites on the internet. Our focus is the examination and better understanding of the direct effects of online social networking on the subjects’ mental state; whether it is self-confined or as a general consideration of the individual’s online network.

“The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health Among Young Adults” – The Literature Review

3. Methodology

This study aims to reach a comprehensive and detailed result about the impact of usage of social media on human mental health. It is important to draw a clear and concrete evidence so all the answers of every hypothesis can be proven accurately. Survey is used as the main method in this research with semi-structured interviews (in-depth interviews) conducted as personal and additional complement. This study will use quantitative method because the data obtained then processed statistically in order to get a conclusive answer. According to Arikunto (2002:173), quantitative research is a research that involves quantifying the variable or it can be explained also as a research conducted through certain methods and different phases that in every phase testing and development of the data was performed with the stages that produce the output in the form measurement in order to find the facts and relationships between the issue on hand. Based on this definition, where this study intends to determine the effect of social media usage on mental health and get a clear result of any hypothesis, thus the required method in research is a quantitative method with the type of causal research in testing an influence an independent variable on the dependent variable (Sugiyono, 2010:21). This type of research is designed to test a hypothesis that is a causal relationship between the independent variable which is the effect of and one or more dependent variables where this test is done under certain circumstances and conclude that a causal relationship.

4. Results and Analysis

Other lines of research have more specifically focused on the effects of social media on the mood and mental state of users, particularly the young, as well as individuals suffering from loneliness or depression. This topic was explored in an experimental study that found that heightened affective empathy and identification with certain emotional states of a Facebook friend led to emotional contagion. Exposure to a friend’s positive emotional content led to reduced negative mood states. Similarly, a longitudinal study of predominantly young adults tested the bi-directional relationship between time spent on Facebook and well-being. This study found that the more they used Facebook over time, the more their well-being declined. Increasing perceptions of social support moderated this effect. These and other findings provide convincing evidence that social media impinges on the mental health of its users, and much of the impact is not beneficial.

Another established line of research is focused on the impact of social media on the emotional well-being of users. Given that people are now using social media as opposed to (or in addition to) in-person interactions, it is important to understand the effects of social media on individuals’ social isolation and loneliness. Some researchers have suggested that increased use of social media may actually displace time that would have been spent on in-person socializing, thereby reducing direct contact with friends and family. This displacement hypothesis was tested in a study that found that higher use of such internet communications predicted declines in social participation and civic engagement. Although the displacement explanation is a valid concern, social media may also augment in-person social networks and increase perceptions of social support. These two competing hypotheses were tested by analyzing how dimensions of social media use impact psychological well-being. The results favored the augmentation hypothesis, indicating that higher social media use led to greater perceptions of social support and increased interaction with other people. Social support and interaction with others are key factors contributing to the prevention of mental health problems as well as helping those who are struggling to get through difficult times.

Genes and depression are independent of each other. Social media usage may partly fuel the depression in individuals who are genetically vulnerable. In line with this possibility, a recent study analyzed the relationship between genetics, depressive symptoms, and social media use. It found that the interaction between depressive symptoms and social media use predicted the likelihood of developing a major depressive disorder at a later time point.

5. Conclusion and Recommendations

This indicates that social media addiction is a vicious downward spiral constituting a “disorder” of varying severity. Despite a largely unexplored area with many conflicting results, with the development of a sound addiction framework, it is expected that future research will clarify the true extent of positive and negative effects of social media addiction, and current findings highlight it is an area psychologists may struggle to ignore.

The effects are most often likened to substance abuse and at present are predominantly negative. Evidence to date has shown excessive use can have a detrimental effect on the user’s mental health, with addictive SM behaviour linked to low self-esteem (Kircaburun et al., 2016), loneliness, anxiety, and depression (Mooney et al., 2011) (Andreassen and Pallesen, 2014:34), all of which are antecedents for further addictive behaviour.

However, the inconsistent terminology and varied definitions used by disparate researchers make it difficult to compare results and draw firm conclusions. As such, “addiction” is a poorly defined construct and despite the recent emergence of validated addiction scales, there is no differentiation between internet and social media addiction. Given addiction is proposed as a component on an “urge to engage in a behaviour with insufficient ability to control said urge,” it would be wise to adopt the most recent definition by Kardefelt-Winther (2014:16) in order to facilitate a consensus on the foundations of addiction in relation to social media, and to subsequently build upon the construct.

The current body of literature focusing on the psychological impact of social networking sites has identified 4 broad potential areas of mental health risk. These are: addiction, potentially problematic use, self-identity, and interpersonal relationships. In relation to addiction, some studies have indicated that extraverts and more emotionally stable people are more likely to be addicted to social media.