Is social media bad for mental health and wellbeing? Exploring the perspectives of adolescents

Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Michelle O'ReillyPaul Reilly

Abstract

Despite growing evidence of the effects of social media on the mental health of adolescents, there is still a dearth of empirical research into how adolescents themselves perceive social media, especially as knowledge resource, or how they draw upon the wider social and media discourses to express a viewpoint. Accordingly, this article contributes to this scarce literature. Six focus groups took place over 3 months with 54 adolescents aged 11-18 years, recruited from schools in Leicester and London (UK). Thematic analysis suggested that adolescents perceived social media as a threat to mental wellbeing and three themes were identified: (1) it was believed to cause mood and anxiety disorders for some adolescents, (2) it was viewed as a platform for cyberbullying and (3) the use of social media itself was often framed as a kind of 'addiction'. Future research should focus on targeting and utilising social media for promoting mental wellbeing among adolescents and educating youth to manage the possible deleterious effects.

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Citations

Jun 25, 2019·Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology·Reem M A ShafiPaul E Croarkin
Nov 2, 2019·Academic Psychiatry : the Journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry·Harrison HillJung Won Kim
Jan 29, 2020·Journal of Mental Health·Michelle O'Reilly
Oct 2, 2020·Perspectives in Public Health·E Sanger
Oct 15, 2018·Current Psychiatry Reports·Nicole Sussman, Sandra M DeJong
Sep 12, 2020·Wellcome Open Research·Nina H Di CaraClaire M A Haworth
Sep 15, 2020·Frontiers in Psychology·Viktor SchønningJens Christoffer Skogen
Feb 2, 2021·Annals of Behavioral Medicine : a Publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine·Chih-Hsiang YangGenevieve F Dunton
Feb 4, 2021·Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care·Nagavaishnavi V BhaskaraSuchandra Ghosh
Apr 6, 2021·Frontiers in Psychiatry·Asmaa Al-ZawaadiReem Kayyali
Jun 18, 2021·Frontiers in Sports and Active Living·Stéphane BermonToomas Timpka
Mar 27, 2021·The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery·Sarah KilcoyneDavid Johnson

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