EXAMINING THE PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH

Abstract

With social media becoming ever more central to teenage life, the challenge to practitioners is now enhanced, and being able to conduct risk assessment becomes an important tool. There has been little research, yet the teenagers and also professionals are immensely powerful in dictating the reputation of using social media as linked to mental wellbeing. Teenager use of social media comes with risks, namely privacy invasion, cyberbullying, and poor impacts on psychological wellbeing and study. But responsibly, social media has the ability to create connections, dialogue, and exposure to important health messages, which contribute to improved well-being, self-esteem, and health benefits. Even as there is increasing alarm over the influence of social media on the mental well-being of adolescents, a gap exists in the knowledge of how teens view social media and how they use general media discourses to represent themselves.   The extensive use of cell phones and other media among adolescents has caused them to become chronically sleep-deprived, affecting their cognitive abilities, academic achievement, and social relations. There is extensive research conducted using cross-sectional, longitudinal, and empirical research that has identified teen cell phone and social media use with greater mental distress, self-injury, and suicidal thoughts. These risks can be reduced by clinicians through working with young people and their families, using open, non-judgmental, and developmentally specific approaches, including education and hands-on problem-solving.