Negative Impacts

With the growing number of adolescents having access to smartphones in their room at night, social media has increasingly been found to affect the sleep habits of adolescents. Using screens before bed is proven to delay the onset of sleep and melatonin secretion, and combined with social media usage, these effects can be worsened. In a survey conducted by several French college professors, more than half of adolescents reported using electronic devices after their bedtime. 25% of those teens used their device to text and browse social media. Additionally, some teens woke up during the night to continue these activities (such as send texts and use social media).

This change in sleep pattern negatively impacts their daily functioning at school and their mood. The lack of sleep leads to irritability and feelings of sadness. This may have other consequences such as negatively affecting their academics and relationships with friends and family.

How does this connect to mental health specifically? Sleep is essential to a healthy life style and good mental health. Therefore, social media's negative effect on adolescent's sleep patterns can worsen their mental health and intensify problems caused by mental health disorders.

Social media encourages students to collaborate outside of the classroom and allows them to have access to more information than ever before. However, social media can have a negative impact on students’ learning if used improperly. According to the pediatric nurse, Maggie Guinta, many adolescents report using social media during class or learning time. She also notes that social media usage correlates negatively with scholastic outcomes. This means that as social media usage increases, academic success decreases.

One of the main reasons for this is because social media encourages students to divide their attention between social media and their school work. Psychiatric professor Bernadka Dubicka states that this significantly reduces their focus and attention capabilities. She also points out that although Internet searching increases the speed of information gathering, “it may not sufficiently recruit brain regions for storing information in the long term.” Social media can negatively impact the focus and learning of many students. It draws their attention away from classes and encourages quick information gathering rather than finding and remembering credible information.

How does this connect to mental health specifically? If students are being distracted from their school work, then they may not achieve their highest potential and their mental health could be impacted. Success in school improves adolescents' mental health, while struggling in school may worsen underlying mental health conditions.

Today, an overwhelming majority of today’s adolescents owns smartphones. However, using this easily accessible technology has affected adolescent behavior and amplified pre-existing mental health conditions. Nurse Maggie R. Guinta claims that adolescents are more prone to the negative effects of using social media due to their “vulnerability to peer pressure and reduced ability for self-regulation.”

As mentioned before, children and adolescents with mental health conditions are more prone to being negatively affected by social media usage. Dr. Igor Pantic states that this group also turns to social media as a coping mechanism. According to an article from the National Center for Health Research, Facebook and other social media sites impact those with underlying mental health conditions because it amplifies insecurities about the number of friends they have and how their day is going compared to someone else’s. Their friends’ profiles act as a highlight reel (see common stressors below), and this can create illusions of perfection that can be detrimental to these adolescents who might be experiencing anxiety or depression.

This is proven in a study conducted at Texas State University where the participants who displayed signs of depression were more likely to make unhealthy comparisons and also be self-conscious about photographs taken of them. Another study conducted at a state university in Utah found that the sentiment of ‘life is not fair’ or thinking that others are more successful or happier could affect Facebook users who have already shown depressive symptoms and could worsen their mental health.