Social Media and Depression

The misuse of one essential factor in society today could result in depression and poor

mental health for many. It is virtually impossible to integrate oneself into society without having

and using social media. The development of social media grows in tandem with the evolution of

smartphones. Over the past fifteen years, smartphones have aggressively made an appearance

into theo world, to now become an indispensable aspect of most people’s lives. Social media has

become so popular because of the way it allows people to connect from across the map. Along

with connecting to others, social media apps are designed to capture a user’s attention and make

them desire the feeling of using it.making them desire more. The use of social media these days

is higher than ever and constantly growing. These trends have prompted questions about what

effects social media use has on people. Most people are aware that cyber bullying exists but do

not fully understand the roll social media plays in one’s mental well-being. Often times, young

individuals allow their happiness to depend on their social media status. Thus, the youth who use

social media are at risk of becoming emotionally instable, especially when using it becomes an

aid to their anxiety.emotional problems by relying on the instable feeling of temporary

contentment. Are there too many negatives surrounding social media to make it worth it? Or do

the positives outweigh the negatives? Are the connections between social media and depression

strong enough to worry about? Through my research, I hope to ascertain the true impacts social

media has on someone and discover if it is to blame for depression. I argue that poor social

media habits and unstable mental health are both induced by one another leading many

adolescents quickly down a slippery slopepath towards depression.

Through the emergence and development of social media, people have formed a variety

of questionable habits while using it. Social media habits can be seen in someone through the
ways they use it and amount of time they spend on it. These habits canusually directly impact the

feelingsemotions they experience from using social media, for better or for worse. According to

a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry, “Pew data suggest that the average adolescent

engages in over seven and a half hours per day of media use” (Belfort). This number seems

alarmingly high considering that is nearly half of the waking hours one spends in a day. A large

reason why young men and women use social media to such an extent is because that is a habit

they have formed. Social media habits also involve the go abouts of someone when they are

actively using it. Another aspect of social media habits are the actions someone takes while

actively using it. For example, someone who uses social media primarily to view content will

likely feel differentjust to view others will experience different feelings than someone who

actively shares on it. Every time someone uses social media over and over, their “brain develops

a cognitive structure of triggers and actions that surround the use behaviors and associated

responses” (Osatuyi). In other words, the action of checking social media is wired into one’s

brain until they do it without thought. Social media is designed to make people want to keep

using it, as there is only happiness while using it. Eventually, this behaviorusing social media in

such a way leads many teens down a path to social media addiction.

Addiction to social media is one of the negative outcomes that develops from bad habits.

Social media addiction is fundamentally no different from other addictions in being a difficult

habit to stop. Not to mention, social media apps are purposely designed to capture an maintain

ones attention. Those who show addictive tendencies towards social media also show symptoms

of withdrawal, mood swings, and relapse during periods without using it (Osatuyi). Once

someone developesdevelops such a dependence on social media, it becomes an unhealthy

activity for them to continue. For one reason, most people with social media addiction use it
compulsively even in times they would be better off not using it.The act of using social media

becomes compulsive and they do it in times they would be better off not. Social media then

dictates the everyday actions of someone to eventually control their life. Slowly, the healthy

activities a person once enjoyed fade away as that time is replaced with time spent on social

media. In one study, the “results suggest that social media itself doesn’t cause harm, but that

frequent use may disrupt activities that have a positive impact on mental health such as sleeping

and exercising” (Asmelash). This These results even goes as far to say that most of the blame can

be moved away from the apps themselves and completely placed on social media addiction.

Exercise and sleep are just two activities that benefit ones emotional health, and when time using

social media takes those away, there are likely negative consequences. Over time, the healthy

habits someone once had will be forgotten and social media will seemingly be the only important

part of their life. Along with habits, the content that social media exposes adolescents to can also

be a cause of harm to their mental health.

The content someone views sees on social media, good or bad, is a contributor to their

habits and mental well-being. There are good aspects of keeping in touch with people far away,

but there is much more seen on social media to be worried about. For this issue, The Wall Street Formatted: Font: Italic

Journal shared the perspective of a few university students about what makes college years

mentally challenging. Alexander BrentOne of them talked about how today’s young generations

have been made accustomed to instant gratification through the content they see on their phones,

including social media. This can make adversity outside the realm of technology seem like a

bigger problem than it actually is.Consequentially, adversity outside the realm of technology can

seem like a bigger issue than it is. Additionally, people are only viewing a filtered version of

their peers on social media, making it easy to compare themselves and feel inferior (Brent). So
many people suffer from comparing themselves and feeling substandard, even if they don’t

realize it. It is so easy for people to see virtually everyone living an exciting, happy life, and

wonder what is wrong with themselves for feeling sad.When someone feels sad, they might

wonder what is wrong with them because they see virtually everyone else living a happy life on

social media. Matthew DowneyAnother student goes on to discuss the competitive nature people

show on social media. Too many people care about the number of likes and followers they have

that they go to dangerous measures trying to maximize those numbers (Brent). Most of the social

media content these days that gets any recognition is something extreme that stands out.In order

for social media content to get recognition nowadays, it likely must contain something extreme

to stand out. The moment someone lets the number of likes or followers control their emotions,

they have developed a social media habit bound for a mental health disaster. People who try

gaining attention through their social media material seem to have no boundaries, even if that

means deliberately putting others down.

One of the harshest routes to depression via social media is being the victim of

cyberbullying. It is anThis issue is fueled by the arrogant immature nature of young men and

women but given a platform with social media apps. Cyberbullying covers a wide variety of

circumstances, but all involving someone putting another person down online. The New York

Times shared a story of a young girl, named Mallory, who was cyberbullied and her mother who

witnessed the effects. In this case, the victim had nonconsensual pictures of her posted online

and hateful comments harassing her. Mallory’s mother remarked that “They called her horrible

names, told her you have no friends and said, when are you going to kill yourself” (Valencia).

Sadly, Mallory was depressed and ended up committing suicide before she could find help.

Although social media does not fuel the malicious actions of cyberbullying, it is not innocent as
it is the platform that most cyberbullying takes place. In other instances, people are repressed by

others online in a less apparent manner, but still mentally hurt. This type of cyberbullying is seen

with the presence of toxic masculinity throughout social media.Sometimes, there are less

malicious acts of cyberbullying, such as toxic masculinity, that still result in someone mentally

hurt. Toxic masculinity has been a part of society for a long time, and just as apparent online

throughin social media. Men instinctively have the tendency to show an alpha-dog persona to

appear as better than other guys. Social media makes it easy for some men to act condescending

towards others as they can hide behind a screen. Almost always, there are those left with

damaged self-esteem while others thrive. Those who are negatively impacted by toxic

masculinity also are likely to emotionally suffer from bad interactions on social media. One

study showed that “the indirect relationships from toxic masculinity to the three indicators of

depression were also significant, toxic masculinity tended to have indirect correlation with

depressive symptoms, “suggesting that negative online interactions mediate the relationship

between toxic masculinity and symptoms of depression” (Parent). In other words, Social media

is a platform for men to be victims of toxic masculinity guiding them to depression from

negative online experiences. Additionally, social media makes it easier for people to put others

down, because it by takesing the face to face interaction away. People tend to have less of a filter

when they can share theirre thoughts without having to see the person they are hurting.

Cyberbullying is a primary example of how social media can cause poor mental health,

but poor mental health can actually encourage the unhealthy use of social media. To this point, it

is clear that social media has ways to emotionally hurt someone, but the big picture is more

complex than thatMany studies suggest that social media has ways to emotionally hurt someone,

but there is a much more complex side to that. There is aIn fact, one study that suggests a
network connection between active/passive social media use, stress, depressed mood, fatigue,

loneliness, hopelessness, and more. Each of these variable can influence one another causing a

chain reaction until each one is impacted. First, it is important to distinguish the difference

between active social media (ASMU) use and passive social media use (PSMU). ASMU

involves posting and sharing content whereas PSMU is scrolling through the feeds of others. The

results of the study showed that “engaging in PSMU did not predict depression symptoms,

loneliness, or stress. Instead, previous fatigue and loneliness predicted PSMU, indicating that

these symptoms might lead participants to scroll through social media pages. Within the same

timeframe, PSMU co-occurred with loss of interest, concentration problems, fatigue, and

loneliness” (Aalbers). The article noted that there is no evidence that PSMU directly causes

depression, but depressive symptoms and PSMU were often positively correlated. These results

prove suggest that the people who already are emotionally unstable are also the most vulnerable

to using social media in such a way to damage their mental health even more. This is important

because it highlights that social media does not deserve blame for causing depression.This

understanding highlights the idea that no single entity, like social media, is to blame for causing

depression, but rather the cause of depression is usually much more complex. In factOften times,

depressive symptoms are likely to cause other negative symptoms and increase social media use.

The use of social media itself can be seen with both negative and positive impacts to one’s

mental health.

One might argue that social media actually makes people happier. The basis of this

argument comes from the intended purpose of social media. The ability to connect with everyone

using a handheld device is fascinating and extremely convenient. Additionally, social media

often gives one a good feeling when using it, whether they see pictures of someone they like or
watch a funny video. If social media has all these benefits, why does it catch so much blame for

causing depression. If social media was taken away, nearly everyone would view it as a bad

thing, so why does social media catch so much blame? The book “How the World Changed

Social Media” has a chapter with deeper discussion about social media and people’s happiness.

One paragraph says that some studies “find that using social networks to chat or make plans

increases satisfaction, they may discover positive correlation between the use of Facebook and

increased social capital, trust and civic engagement, and therefore a feeling of gratification in

life” (Miller 195). However, the same paragraph mentions that the many studies on this issue

show polarizing results, for both positive and negative effects social media has on happiness.

Arguing that social media increases happiness is not strong because people use social media in a

varietyous of ways, and not all of those ways lead to happiness.for the intended purpose. Later in

the chapter, the author declares that the opposite findings of the studies should highlight that

people use social media different from one another impacting their happiness. Furthermore,

happiness is perceived in such a variety of ways that is makes it hard to measure and determine

the cause. Social media is one of the most deceiving activities as it is often a consistent method

to gain temporary happiness for many people.does not always show one’s true emotions as they

can feel temporarily happy, only while using it. People often must rely on a strong, stable social

support system in order to maintain happiness that social media likely cannot provide.

Someone who turns to social media for social support is setting themselves up for

unstable mental health. Social support involves having friends, family, and others that someone

can turn to in times of crisis when they need help. Yes, these people can be reached through

social media, however, the danger comes when one views their number of likes or followers as

all the social support they need. Without thissocial support, the symptoms of depression such as
loneliness and helplessness will eventually prevail. Most people prefer informal social support

through use of friends and family over formal social support from a health professional and

counseling. However, one study found that about half of college aged kids dealt with stress on

their own, and about a third did not indicate any methods of handling it (DROUIN). With college

being one of the most stressful times of someone’s life, developing a strong social support

system can be one of best things for them to do. Too many young men and women like to deal

with stress on their own, often turning to social media to fill that gap. When someone uses social

media as their primary resource of social support, they often are left feeling unsatisfied and

uncared for. Further results of that study showed that most of the “ participants indicated that

they had occasionally (54.2%) or frequently (15.0%) experienced people supporting them

through social media through challenging or tough times. However, the majority also indicated

that social media occasionally (54.6%) or frequently (9.8%) contributed to their stress

(DROUIN). These numbers suggest that most people receive at least some social support through

social media, while social media is also contributing to their stress. In the best case, social media

is used as a side platform of receiving social support while also maintaining meaningful

connections with the closest people in one’s life. The nature of social media is to prompt

temporary pleasure, and when someone relies on it, there will likely be caused a mental health

collapse.

In conclusion, there is no clear answer as toproving if poor mental health is caused by

social media use, or vicse versa. However, there is undeniable evidence supporting the two being

related in at least some way. Multiple studies showed positive correlation between the two,

suggesting they both can lead to the other. One of the key variables for contributing to

someone’s mental well-being is are the habits they develop on social media. The most risky part
of bad social media habits is the possibility of social media addiction, and thus depression.

People are drawn in and emotionally influenced by the content social media contains. The people

who rely on social media for social support are at the greatest risk of psychological catastrophe.

Currently, there are too many people, particularly the youth, who are depressed and trying to find

causes and resolutions for it. Social media has lately been a common factor people point to as

something that has great impacts their mental health. For this reason, there is urgency to

determine the connections linking depression and social media. Looking forward, virtually

everyone would like to see the number of depressed people decrease. To do so, it is important to

find the greatest contributors to causing depression and address the problems. Social media is not

only contributing to depression, but is also one of the most widely used tools across the world. If

people can see that the ways and reasons they use social media can directly impact their mental

health, they might be able to change their habits and improve their emotional health and overall

happiness. At the end of the dayUltimately, depression has been around for much longer than

social media, so people must realize that depression is typically complex and the result of

multiple factors in which social media can contribute. there will always be winners and losers of

mental health, particularly through social media, so it is in one’s best interest to be mindful of,

and avoid, the ways their health can be damaged.

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