Impact of Social Media on Mental Health of Adolescents

Abstract

Adolescents throughout the country regularly use internet, cellphones and videogames to gather information and communicate with each other. This ability to interact with each other’s is the unique features of social media which provides powerful new ways for adolescent to create and navigate their social environments. Social media use has been climbing sharply in recent years, especially in younger populations such as adolescents. Any website that allows social interactions considered a social media site, including social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Line, MySpace, Skype, Wechat, Instragam, gaming sites and video sites such as YouTube and blogs. These sites offer adolescents for communication and entertainment and have grown exponentially in recently years. The current body of literature on social media presents conflicting views about social media’s effects on one’s mental health and well-being. While most research indicates that social media has some effect on one’s mental health, contradictory reports indicate both positive and negative effects. Such as positive effects are socialization and communication, enhanced learning opportunities, accessing health information while negative are Facebook depression, cyberbullying, online harassment, sexting/texting, lack of concentration, decline in intellectual abilities, stress, fatigue and emotion suppression.