With increased advances in technology, there is also an increased availability of it to all age groups, through cell phones and social media apps. Most people today, including teenagers, spend a significant amount of their time using social media, which is a cause of mental illness among users, including depression and suicidal thoughts. The purpose of this research is to find out how the use of social media increases mental illness, self-injurious behaviour and suicidal thoughts among teenagers. The research also discusses the dose-response relationship and its impact on both girls and boys. This is a matter of significance as the use of social media is very common among teenagers as well as adolescents, and it is also a factor causing depression among these groups. There has been a rise in mental health issues in youth due to excessive use of social media. According to O’Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson (2011), the rise in depression among children, adults and teenagers is primarily due to social media as it tends to create a false reality of life in front of others. The outcomes of the research would help in understanding the issue and how it is impacting the people at large. In addition, several recommendations would also be given so people can take better care of themselves and properly use social media, without making it a threat to themselves. There are several important definitions, and these can be of help in different ways in better explaining the project in the real world. For instance, there is often a single word associated with mental health, which is getting mad or crazy; however, mental health tends to be a situation where an individual needs help, and there are different reasons why an individual gets mental health problems (Guinta, & John, 2018). These need to be properly understood in order to help the youth better live their lives and not be dependent on social media for their happiness. It is important to define mental illness and depression. Mental illness can be defined as anything that affects the mental stability of a person in any way. It may or may not be associated with physical symptoms like fatigue, insomnia, etc. Depression is a state where an individual constantly has a low mood, inability to feel pleasure and loss of interest in activities. This could be associated with anorexia (loss of appetite) and insomnia (inability to sleep). Another significant definition is of anxiety. Anxiety is a state that renders an individual unable to stay calm. Anxiety is associated with the presumption of the worst, along with physical symptoms like increased heart rate (palpitations), inability to sit still, fear and difficulty in breathing. Social media can directly or indirectly lead to these disorders. Social media distorts a person’s view of achievement and success and often leaves them thinking that they are not good enough, which creates a sense of demotivation and failure among its users. The research here looks into the depth of this issue and how it is affecting the mental health of teenagers.
We have two research questions and consequently, two hypotheses that are stated below:
- (RQ1) Is there a relation between today’s generation of adolescent depression and the use of social media?
- (H1) Browsing social media can lead to mental illness, and feeling neglected can lead to negative feelings. Anxiety and depression are not the only mental health problems associated with social media use. Research on adolescents has found that for girls and boys, body image is damaged by social media use.
- (RQ2) Why do people with mental illness associate with social media?
- (H2) When people search the Internet and see that they are excluded from any activity, it can affect their thoughts and feelings, and it can affect them physically. Social media use also decreases, disrupts, and delays sleep, which is linked to depression, memory loss, and poor academic performance.
This study aims to find out the impact of social media on mental health and determine how to limit and modify the use to avoid depression and other mental health issues. The main reason to conduct this research is to create an insight into the problem and then raise awareness about it in order to save our young and upcoming generations from the damaging consequences of using too much social media. In this research, readers will find the research methods, data collected and the final results of the study.
The study here shows that there is a relationship between social media and mental illness. The research was based on two questions. (RQ1) Is there a relation between today’s generation of adolescents’ depression and the use of social media? According to the data obtained, there was increased depression among people with increased use of social media. People who spent more time browsing social media apps had a more distorted view of themselves and a higher incidence of depression than those who did not. (RQ2) Why do people with mental illness associate with social media? According to the data, people considered their social media peers to be leading a happier and successful life than themselves, leading to a feeling of emptiness and incapability. This reveals the important fact that social media is a major cause of mental illness among its users. The fact is important because our young generations are growing up in a world of social media, which leaves them vulnerable to its effects, including mental health. To save teenagers and upcoming generations from these adverse effects of social media, there is a need to create insight and awareness about the issue, which is possible only by extensive research.
There were certain limitations to the study which are mainly because of personal distortion of facts by the participating individuals. Mental health symptoms are mainly subjective and cannot be justified so we had to mainly rely on the word of the people with no specific way to prove it. However, there is still nothing that would make us trust the results of the research any less, as no study is always perfect. The perfect study would be one where every fact and figure would be rechecked to make sure is accurate, which is not possible in this study.
The research here opens up a platform for discussion and leads to further questions about the use of social media. Further research needs to be done about how to use social media to our benefit and how to avoid the harmful effects on mental health. Is there any harmful effect on the physical health of the user? What are the long-term impacts of depression caused by social media use, and is there a need to limit the availability on national, global or wider levels in order to avoid the adverse effects? All these questions could be answered by further research and evaluation to create a better understanding of the problem.