Study Offers New Information on How Social Media Affects Girls' Mental Health

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There is no doubt that social media is not interesting for mental health – studies have been reporting for several years that more time spent on social media is related to mental health issues, lack of self-esteem and from loneliness to depression and even suicidal behavior. A new study from University College London and Imperial College London raise a new argument as to why the link may exist: it may not be what social media is talking about, but from what he drives away a person.

The researchers followed about 10,000 adolescents in Britain for two years: participants were 13-14 years old when the study started in 2013 and 15-16 years old when it ended in 2015. In the first survey, the team only asked participants how many times / day they connected to social media applications, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and WhatsApp. In the second year of the study, they asked about their experiences with cyberbullying, sleep, and physical activity. In the third year, participants were asked about their well-being, their satisfaction with life and their level of anxiety. The researchers looked at whether variables such as cyberbullying and sleep loss could explain a link between social media use and psychological distress.

The use of social networks by teenagers has increased fairly steadily over the years, with 43% of boys and 51% of girls using social media several times a day in the first year, compared to 69% boys and 75% of girls using third year of study.

Adolescents who used social media extensively (three times a day or more) were more likely to report psychological distress than those who used them once a day. This was especially true for girls, who reported psychological distress almost twice as high as boys.

But once researchers have adapted to cyberbullying, sleep, and physical activity, the connection has disappeared. The team stated that cyberbullying had the most significant effects, while lack of sleep was second. Together, these two variables were responsible for about 60% of the link between social media and psychological distress.

In addition, in girls only, a connection was observed for well-being, where the use of social media was inversely related to well-being – but again, when cyberbullying and sleep were taken in fact, the connection has practically disappeared.

The results led the authors to suggest that the impact of social media on mental health is largely due to its presence moving us away: for example, it takes us away from sleep and exercise, both of which are essential to mental health.

"Our results suggest that social media does not cause harm, but that frequent use can disrupt activities that have a positive impact on mental health, such as sleeping and exercising, while increasing the number of times that people spend their time. Youth exposure to harmful content, especially the negative experience of cyber-bullying, "said author of the study, Russell Viner, in a statement.

It also distances people from face-to-face contact, which is an important part of mental health and well-being. But the study did not address that.

And there are almost certainly other variables at play …previous studies We have repeatedly found that the very essence of social media is what is damaging: watching the lives of others and making comparisons between us is fundamentally painful. Social media can move people, especially teens, away from other more beneficial activities such as physical activity and sleep (and socialization), but it is also the nature of social media that can be harmful. In reality, there are probably multiple elements and interactions that all occur together.

It should be noted that one of the limitations of the study is that it did not capture how much time In fact, teens used social media daily, how often they accessed it. Making this differentiation would be important and could change the results in a revealing way.

While other work is undoubtedly ongoing, it is probably safe to say that there are many things that are better for us than being on social media. It is probably wise to return to these activities and use social media intelligently when we participate.

There is no doubt that social media is not interesting for mental health – studies have been reporting for several years that more time spent on social media is related to mental health issues, lack of self-esteem and from loneliness to depression and even suicidal behavior. A new study from University College London and Imperial College London advances a new argument in favor of the possible existence of this link: it may not be about this what social media is about, but what's driving away a person.

It also distances people from face-to-face contact, which is an important part of mental health and well-being. But the study did not address that.

And there are almost certainly other variables at play – previous studies have repeatedly revealed that the very essence of social media is what is detrimental: watching the lives of others and making comparisons between us is fundamentally painful . Social media can move people, especially teens, away from other more beneficial activities such as physical activity and sleep (and socialization), but it is also the nature of social media that can be harmful. In reality, there are probably multiple elements and interactions that all occur together.