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Mia Camarillo

Professor Martinez

English 1302

21 February 2024

Psychological Issues from Social Media

Many people have integrated social media into their daily lives without being visibly

aware of the issues it has developed. Social media is a source that people nowadays turn to in

fear of missing out from others while on the side developing a sense of worthlessness and

depressive symptoms (Abi-Jaoude et.al). As the studies further, it becomes evident that social

media is a factor in psychological issues such as depression, anxiety, and even at times stress.

Having other traumatic influences intervene in people’s lives making the greater dependency on

social media increase results of a factor in mental health issues. This literature review highlights

the different mental effects social media causes in adolescents such as depression and anxiety,

and how environmental factors influence mental health.

Depression and Anxiety

As shown by the multiple studies conducted, developing depression and anxiety were the

main issues seen due to social media. According to a psychiatric study done by Ahmed, Jaafar,

adolescents who overly engage in the use of social media start to develop psychological issues

such as depression and anxiety. Author Ahmed mentions that engaged young people tend to find

themselves having comparison issues among others and gaining a feeling of not being good

enough.
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Stress; NO Stress?

The studies done on people by most of these sources indicated how social media

influences experiencing stress except for one author. Author, Malaeb Diana conducts a study on

466 people on how social media causes a decline in mental health. While conducting this study

on the 466 participants, Malaeb concludes that social media is a factor in depression, insomnia,

and anxiety, but not stress. Unlike all the other authors, Malaed determined that social media

does not correlate with experiencing stress.

Social Media during COVID-19

Investigation done by Gao, Junling demonstrates how social media has deteriorated

mental health while experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic. Gao further studies how

environmental factors have an impactful influence on the relationship between social media and

mental illness. Being isolated with no true form of creating connections and communication led

to the excessive use of technology during the pandemic.

Although social media is a source where connections can be made, the participants

mentioned the experience of developing depression and anxiety.

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Work Cited

Abi-Jaoude, E., Naylor, K.T., & Pignatiello, A. (2020, February 10). Smartphone, social media

use and the Youth Mental Health, CMAJ. https://www.cmaj.ca/content/192/6/E136

Ahmed, Jaafar Omer. “Social Media Psychology and Mental Health- Middle East Current

Psychiatry”. SpringerOpen, Springer Berlin Heidelberg. 20 Nov. 2023.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00362-w

Gao, Junling, et al. “Mental Health Problems and Social Media Exposure During COVID-19

Outbreak.” PLOS One 15.4 (2020) ProQuest. 8 Feb. 2024

Gupta, R. K., Khajuria, A., & Gupta, U. (2023). Adolescence, social media, and mental health

JK Sciences, 25(4), 199-200. Retrieved from

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/tamiu.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-

journals/adolescence-social-media-mental-health/docview/2881464558/se-2

Malaeb, Diana, et al. “Problematic Social Media Use and Mental Health (Depression, Anxiety,

and Insomnia) among Lebanese Adults: Any Mediating Effect of Stress?” Perspectives in

Psychiatric Care, vol. 57, no. 2, 2021, pp. 539-549, https://doi.org/10.1111/ppc.12576.

Accessed 7 Feb. 2024

Schonning, Viktor, et al. “Social Media Use and Mental Health and Well-Being among

Adolescents – a Scoping Review.” Frontier, 14 July 2020,

www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01949/full. Accessed 29 Jan. 2024.

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Scott, Emily Stella, et al. “Investigating the Effect of Social Networking Site Use on Mental

Health in an 18-32 Year Old General Population; a Cross-Sectional Study using the

2016 Scania Public Health Survey – BMC Public Health.“ BioMed Central, 23 Nov.

2020, bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-020-09732-z.

Accessed 29 Jan. 2024.

Xiangyu, T., & Fisher, C.B. (2020). “Exposure to Social Media Racial Discrimination and

Mental Health Among Adolescents of Color.” Journal of Youtth and Adolescence, 51(1),

30-44 doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01514-z