Social media can have both a positive and negative
impact on the health of young people. This essay will discuss both impacts
social media has on the health of young people, but mostly focusing on their mental
health as this seems to be the biggest area to be affected. However, long
periods spent in front of a computer or iPad (these days) can cut into a young
person’s active time outside. “Couch potatoes” in front of the television in
the 90s and early 2000s have been replaced with youth in front of computers, tablets
and smart phones today.
This is an essay about young people,
but to put it into perspective here are some results of a survey undertaken in
2012 of 5,000 Australians aged 16 years and over. One of the main reasons
Australians use the internet is to access their social networking sites. Nearly
half of us use social media weekly, 22 hours is spent on it every week and 69
per cent access it several times a day (Yabsley, 2013).
Dr David Rock’s article on
Psychology Today (2010) introduced a term called “empty neural calories.” He
likened the experience of eating something sugary and the short term high that
you feel to the “perceived social connectivity” we get when we log onto a
social networking sites. He said it “increase(s) the overall stimulation of
the brain, but may not do much to make our brain more integrated, adaptive or
functional.”
In
fact, just like sugar, some types of neural stimulation have you wanting more
and more, without ever feeling satisfied. The result can be a reduction in
healthy neural functioning, in the form of a reduced ability to focus (Rock,
2010).
However,
Rock (2010) does also discuss a study carried out by University of Chicago
social neuroscientist John Cacioppo, who found that loneliness could increase
the risk of death from stroke or heart disease. People use social media to connect
with friends and they do feel some sort of satisfaction when they do use
certain sites. But those sorts of health problems shouldn’t be affecting youth,
just yet.
There
is a darker side to the health effects from using social media, especially for
a young person’s mental state. Bullying is now a big problem online, it’s not
just at school anymore, taking on a whole new publicised level. Parenting Ideas
by Michael Grose (2013) states “Cyber-bullying now means that kids can’t escape
the bully like they once could.” Over recent years there has been an increase
in youth suicides due to online bullying. The
Australian reported just recently about a 14-year-old girl who committed
suicide in Italy over online bullying in July, the most recent and prominent
case.
On the other hand some young people find it easier to stand up to their
bullies with a screen in front of them.
Pressley Baird’s article (2013) reported
the opinions of two high-school aged students. Keely Lee said “to students,
it's sometimes less intimidating to deal with a mean person online.” "You
have more courage to stop it (online) than in person," she said.
Recently, US social media experts have coined the term “Facebook depression,”
(Yabsley, 2013). For teenagers who are vulnerable, naïve or troubled this can
be a real problem for them especially if they use social media a lot. The
American Psychological Association (2013) said teens “often show more
narcissistic tendencies while young adults who have a strong Facebook presence
show more signs of other psychological disorders, including antisocial
behaviors, mania and aggressive tendencies.”
Also “Facebook can be distracting and can negatively impact learning.
Studies found that middle school, high school and college students who checked
Facebook at least once during a 15-minute study period achieved lower grades.”
(APA, 2013)
On the
other side of that argument you have people like Cameron Norman (2013) who
believes that social media is beneficial in
spreading healthy living and health promotion. Because social media can reach
up to a billion users around the globe through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube,
youth can see these promotions and it can create positive conversations within
society. However, now there’s a problem of the “skinny” obsession and unhealthy
role models putting out their unhealthy body expectations onto the eyes of
youth. The Huffington Post in the UK
reported late last year the alarming increase of eating disorders and it’s
believed to be caused by social media.
Chris Tanti, CEO of headspace
(Australia's National Youth Mental Health Foundation) though believes that
through all this because social media creates a sort of community, young people
are able to develop a resilience and are developing skills to cope with all the
negative (Yabsley, 2013.)
As
mentioned earlier in the essay the APA also states that if “the time you spend posting and tweeting is largely on the
computer, your physical health can be impacted too.”
Experts suggest taking time out if
you: feel a need to spend more and more time on social media; constantly think
about or plan to use it; feel anxious, moody or restless if you can't use it;
try and fail to cut down on social media; or neglect other areas of your life
in favour of using it (Yabsley, 2013)
Through research I have found more negative impacts
than positive on the health of young people. In all ways I feel from my
research that social media has more of a negative impact on youth in all
aspects of their life including learning, health and social development. From
my experience, schools place too much emphasis on “learning” about and
utilising” social media as well. We are moving into a dangerous era because we
rely so heavily on social media and technology.
References
Kirsh,
Steven J. (2010) Media in the Lives of Youth, in Media and Youth: A
Developmental Perspective, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK.
doi:10.1002/9781444317435.ch1
