Social media ‘pressuring’ mental health

These results have been backed by further studies that went into the details of the self-worth stages, overall mental health, symptoms and emotional care, apprehension and sadness signs to social networking in all teenagers.

The students, that are 11 to 17 years old coming from the same school, also answered questions pertaining to their length of use of social media in a typical day as well as the length of time they use social media after planning to sleep. This is particularly true in the case of the individuals who are emotionally invested into their favorite sites. In other tests, they examined the teens’ sleep quality, self-esteem, anxiety and depression.

Furthermore, Dr. Woods notes that due to the pressure to be “tuned in” as much as possible, not responding to posts or text messages quickly enough may actually increase anxiety.

Based on the results, social media can certainly affect the quality of sleep among teens, but the greatest effect occurs at night and especially among those who feel they have to be available for a considerable time.

As more research is done concerning social media and the psychological development of teenagers, experts say that the link will become more clear along with its ramifications.

The researchers found that using social media at any point was significantly related to decreased sleep quality, lower self-esteem, increased anxiety and depression levels in the study participants.

The study found that most of the social media teenagers who suffer from depression and anxiety are night persons, while noting the most popular social media sites that are inducing addictions are Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Researchers Heather Cleland Woods and Holly Scott looked at 467 teens and their social media use to see how it impacted them.

In fact, this is exactly how teens view social media, as a full time activity, because the vast majority of them believe that how people respond to their social media pages is extremely important. Because their behaviors are not usually seen as a red flag, in a previous study published in the journal World Psychiatry, young people who use tons of media and don’t get enough sleep or exercise, have been nicknamed the “invisible risk” group by the study’s authors. “Sleep is important, so put your phone away”, she said.

The findings of the new study were presented at the annual conference of the BPS Developmental & Social Psychology Section in England on September 11. Overtime, it leads to lower satisfaction in their lives overall.

“We all do it. However, we need to think about how and when we are online”.