Communication Through Social Media: Effects on Teenagers

Over the years, social media has become popular for most teens and some of many adults. People who tend to use social media have more than two apps of it and spend most of their day online. This event has become a routine in many people’s life either for work, school relations or over all social use and is addicting. Many people who speak about this topic have found that time and what is experienced on these social media sites have caused some teens to have anxiety, stress and other mental health issues. Overuuse of communication through social media has lead to drastic outcomes. The essay reveals why teens that have been more active on social media have experienced stages of anxiety and stress due to a good amount of time spent on social media and their experiences with it.

Social media is still new along with the investigation on its effect. The earliest study Handcock found examining social media use and people’s well-being was done in 2006. In the 2019 article, the author presents information on the alarming rate of anxiety in teens from social media. According to Hancock, “when having a higher well- being, you use social media less, which suggests that well- being is driving [how much use is made of] social media is to some degree”. Parents have worried more about what social media is doing to their children rather than what they are doing with that time spent on it. Studies are showing that teens who use social media time to time are fine but heavy use can lead to problems. The research provided in the article shows that their gathering of information doesn’t seem to find a huge amount of connections with anxiety in teens because of their use on social media but too much time will result in mental health problems.

In the 2019 article parents are asked about their teens and social media usage. Evidence was found with social media being a cause anxiety of anxiety along with other issues. Apart from too much time being spent on social media the author discusses ways the parents can avoid conflict and helping their teens cut time on social media usage and being online. One idea is social and emotional well- being, it promotes community participation and civic engagement, if not taken into consideration one risk could be cyberbullying, anxiety linked to social media use and problematic internet use disorder. Parents of teens that are concerned for their teen’s mental health should consider setting limits that they can benefit from. Limit on how much hours are spent online throughout the day, balanced with schoolwork and time with family, avoid phone before bed or in common use areas, and limit video, games, and games. If parents beware of their time spent online and what they do online, it will help their teens. This research revealed that parents should make more of an effort by doing research and setting limits.

Negative Effects of Communication Through Social Media on Teens

Overuse of social media being used as a way in attempting to seek attention and belongingness online, you will see higher levels of problematic social media usage and that leads to anxiety. Some information that has been gathered shows that young teens tend to use social media to build relationships. Teens also look to relate to people online whether it be with people who are older or other teens. As the attachment system underlies the formation and maintenance of relational bonds in adolescence and adulthood, attachment anxiety influences problematic social media may use indirectly through feelings of psychological well-being. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to find the contributions of attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and psychological well-being to explain problematic social media use. This information showed the relations between the problematic social media usage and the way teens use social media to build relationships. Teen’s time on social media has been seen to use it for a feeling of belonging.

Things viewed on social media for young people have affected their outlooks on how they live and perceive themselves. In the ted talk Curran said, “By far, the most problematic element of perfectionism is socially prescribed perfectionism. That sense that everyone wants to me to perfect”. Mental illness has been found to relate to the element of social perfectionism. As society changes people feel the need to become harder on themselves and change themselves completely to fit in or even be better than others. In 1989 just nine percent of young people report levels of socially prescribed perfectionism, by 2017 it had double to eighteen percent and by 2050 it is expected by the test that has been conducted to be seen in one in every three people. The information provided shows how young people feel the need to be perfect for people online, through society and incredibly hard and perfect for themselves. Along with socially prescribed perfectionism is self-oriented and other-orientated perfectionism that has also shown to be many causes of mental illnesses with anxiety.

Studying some of the effects of social media on someone’s mental health has found that there are both negative and positive findings. Social media like Facebook can increase people’s stress levels, produce anxiety and negatively affect a person’s sense of self. The impulse to check the news feed on social media sites has later seen that once you leave that app or cite people get a sense of relief. Another study found that Facebook increases anxiety levels by making people feel inadequate and generate an excess feeling of stress and worry. It has been studied that if someone is to post a gloomy, angry text or photo that around the world or with people the picture is shared with others will be in that same mood. If there is something positive shared, then everyone’s mood will be positive. Minimizing the use of social media to maintain a level of detachment can be beneficial. This information that was given implies that Facebook is a big source of social media that has shown the way it has affected people’s anxiety and stress.

Studies found that identified self-esteem as a universal human phenomenon that may provide a transdiagnostic platform on which to develop effective interventions for anxiety based on data from 169,998 people from 53 countries. Anxiety has been exposed to school experiences. Other studies argued that those without enough psychological buffers, defined as self-worth and meaning in life, were more likely to develop debilitating anxiety and poor psychological wellbeing. These studies have been gathered through other resources and the authors have a survey that 445 women took. The research found that 72 undergraduate students with high or low levels of social anxiety were exposed to either death reminders or thoughts of dental pain. The findings supported the idea that mortality salience affects social anxiety as death reminders resulted in social avoidance, indicated by greater hypervigilance towards social threat and withdrawal into social isolation. The research provided showed that you can be exposed to anxiety from what is shown, given and by what others say to one another. One example that hasn’t been given that often was religion and different beliefs.

Social Media as a Positive Side of Modern Communication

One argument that opposes this topic is that social media has many benefits to help with someone’s mental health issues. Another argument that goes against this topic is that social media is so commonly used for things other than people’s life, such as research and communication with friends and family. Social media navigates us to information and communication through social media, particularly Facebook, email, blackboard and other socially complex technology. In a study technology has been important and critical for young people’s education and social media is considered to help people’s learning to be more organic and more suitable for their needs. Other opposing arguments against teens experiencing anxiety from social media would be that it’s a place where others can enjoy themselves. Some research that has been conducted has given examples of how anxiety and stress can be found in relation to social media but have found that there is only a little percent that can be related. With little relation will cause many to avoid the topic.

Social media can be a great source of communication in a collaboration group if someone may not want to give out their number. Even though social can be a great place to conduct research or communicate on, it’s not always reliable. With communication online, it shows how anxiety can build over time from not communicating face-to-face. Stress can also come from waiting for someone to respond to an important message. Using social media is advised only through certain assignments and teachers and even then, some teachers don’t think it’s a good idea.

Conclusion

Social media serves as a sense of satisfaction for social validation and belonging for some teens. Overusing social media takes away from the interactions with family, friends and meeting new people. It becomes an addiction if you start to use more than 2 social media platforms and leads people to want and become what is seen online to fit what everyone likes and is interested in. How social media is used and how long on those certain things is what affects how levels of anxiety, stress and other mental health issues.

Works Cited

• Curran, Thomas, director. Our Dangerous Obsession with Perfectionism Is Getting Worse. TED, 2018, www.ted.com/talks/thomas_curran_our_dangerous_obsession_with_perfectionism_is_getting_worse?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare. Accessed December 1, 2019.
• Denworth, Lydia. “The Kids Are All Right.” Scientific American, vol. 321, no. 5, Nov. 2019, pp. 44–49. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=139246768&site=ehost-live. Accessed December 1, 2019.
• EMERICK, EMILY, et al. “Benefits and Distractions of Social Media as Tools for Undergraduate Student Learning.” College Student Journal, vol. 53, no. 3, Fall 2019, pp. 265–276. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=138805551&site=ehost-live. Accessed December 1, 2019.
• Lowe, Juanita, and Lynne M. Harris. “A Comparison of Death Anxiety, Intolerance of Uncertainty and Self-Esteem as Predictors of Social Anxiety Symptoms.” Behaviour Change, Sept. 2019, pp. 165–179. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1017/bec.2019.11. Accessed December 1, 2019.
• Maldonado, Marissa. “The Anxiety of Facebook.” Psych Central, 8 Oct. 2018, psychcentral.com/lib/the-anxiety-of-facebook/. Accessed December 1, 2019.
• Rocha, Sarah. “Talking with Teens and Families about Digital Media Use.” Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter, vol. 35, no. 3, Mar. 2019, pp. 1–7. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/cbl.30361. Accessed December 1, 2019.
• Worsley, Joanne D., et al. “Attachment Anxiety and Problematic Social Media Use: The Mediating Role of Well-Being.” CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, vol. 21, no. 9, Sept. 2018, pp. 563–568. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1089/cyber.2017.0555. Accessed December 1, 2019.