Revealing Positive Effects of Social Media on Mental Health

These days, it is easy to paint social media as a villain that forces people to spend hours scrolling through their phone mindlessly commenting, liking, retweeting, and sharing until their thumbs fall off. Social media can have its consequences, but its positive qualities overshadow that. People use social media for one main reason, to be social. This leads to social media being used as a platform to build relationships, learn from others, and create some sort of unity amongst humankind. It is important to look into the role social media plays in topics like female empowerment, mental health, politics, education and sexuality. Despite the negative effects of social media, there are positive effects of social media on mental health; the essay emphasizes these positives to show how social media can be a great resource and platform for people connect and relate. Therefore, it promotes sharing opinions and experiences to enlighten others and spread ideas, which contributes to a better world.

A complex topic that has become more evident and talked about in today’s society is mental illness. Social media is one of the methods people have used to become more comfortable with a once very touchy subject. In “Social Networking: Is Generation Smartphone Really More Prone to Unhappiness?” the author Angus Chen got some insight from Kelly Aschbrenner, a mental health services researcher at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, and found that although there is a correlation between use of social media and rising symptoms of depression, people struggling with depression or other serious mental illnesses might be positively impacted with social media use because they can connect with others who can relate to them. Reaching out to friends on Facebook to get support or to advocate for the situation can be the platform that those with this illness need. “There are people with mental illnesses who are experiencing debilitating symptoms and can't leave their home,” she says. “Social media could be a safe platform to help people connect with others as a first step” This demonstrates that social media allows people to find others like them with whom they can communicate with, and give each other help and advice. The author claims that when researching about the negative effects of social media on mental health, the researchers “only ask how often they're using social media or devices,” they do not research as much what websites they are going to, or what they are seeing that could be helping evoke these emotions of depression. This would help them determine whether there is an issue with social media itself or just certain applications.

Further, in “College Students in Distress: Can Social Media be a Source of Social Support?” Dr. Michelle Drouin from Purdue University conducted a study to inspect the methods college students choose to get emotional support, including social media. For the study, 662 students completed a questionnaire about their demographics along a with a screener for mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety. Along with that, they were asked if they find social media to be stress-triggering, or if they turn to people on social media when they are feeling distressed and need support. “Social support can come in many forms. It can be tangible aid or emotional support (e.g., providing help in a time of need or boosting another’s self-esteem), and it can come from a number of different sources, including family, friends, neighbors, or significant others'.

The survey consisted of multiple-choice questions like “When you experience a high level of stress, do you prefer to:...?” Participants responded on a 4-point categorical scale (1 = deal with it on your own, 2 = reach out for support from others, 3= reach out to a healthcare professional, 4 = it depends on the situation)” and “Have you ever experienced people supporting you on social media through challenges or tough times?” Participants responded on a 3-point scale (1 = yes, frequently, 2 = yes, occasionally, 3 = no)”. The results showed that “Overall, 34% of the young adults in the sample were at risk for depression or anxiety”. As for their preferred methods of handling these issues, 46.1% said they would choose to deal with it on their own, 16.2% would talk with friends or family to find comfort, 1.2% would discuss their situation with a health care professional and about one third of participants (36.4%) agreed that depending on the specific situation, they would prefer different methods. The next question regarded using social media specifically, and the majority of participants indicated that they had sometimes (54.2%) or often (15.0%) gained support from others through social media when going through challenging or difficult times.

Another Positive Effects of Social Media

Feminism began during the late 19th century when people began deciding that there needed to be a change in the rights between genders. The idea was that women should be able to have the same social, economic, and political equality as men. People began to question why society felt that it was natural and expected that men were supposed to have more power than women, and that women were supposed to stay home and take care of the house rather than getting an education or a job. “This all started to change with the first wave of feminism in the late 19th Century, when women from Europe and North America started to fight for their rights, regarding legal issues such as gaining women’s suffrage. By the early 20th Century, many countries had granted women’s rights to vote which led to a significant shift in women’s role in the society”. Nowadays, women have all of the same general rights as men, but they still are not treated with complete fairness and equality. In many ways, women are still disrespected and thought of as less than. This would include getting paid less than men and holding less of the higher up positions in jobs than them. Although feminism has come a long way, social media has helped women continue this conversation from the 19th century about female empowerment and why it is important. It allows women to speak out about their personal experiences and connect with others to make change to this gap of equality in the modern day. It also allows women to negate the stereotypes that exist about how a woman should act and look. Social media has allowed people to expand feminism and promote it. At Duke University in 2012, students conducted a project called “Who Needs Feminism”. This project began with students taking pictures of themselves and their peers holding signs explaining their views on why feminism is important to contemporary society. “They recruited friends and acquaintances, young women and men from different backgrounds, and asked them to finish the phrase ‘I need feminism because…” in black marker on a whiteboard and then have their picture taken of holding their sign”. Then, they posted them on social media websites. After all of the likes and shares on Facebook and Tumblr, the project went viral and a political movement began where users of many ages and backgrounds posted their own photographs to social media. People would share things like, “I need feminism because my mother gave up her dreams for a family” and “I need feminism because intoxication shouldn’t mean yes”. This demonstrates that by putting this project on social media, it started a global discussion about a topic that clearly had affected many people, and they could now all connect and work together to start making the changes they desired.

Many may argue that the younger generation is not informed or educated enough on politics to make good decisions when voting. They spend all of their time on their phones, what would they know about politics? Well maybe that is exactly how they know. Ellen Middaugh, Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Development at San Jose State University and author of “Digital Media, Participatory Politics, and Positive Youth Development” states, “Researchers suggest that certain forms of Internet use (such as information seeking, social network site use, media production, and participation in online communities) promote civic engagement and that digital tools play an important role in youth empowerment efforts”. The author explains that what adolescents do online can shape decisions they make in the future. She tells that researchers are finding that those who go to social media to get their information are more likely to follow up with it by sharing, liking, commenting, or clicking a link that would lead them to make a donation or sign a petition, and she calls this their “civic engagement”.

Not only does social media help spread information about politics, but it also more specifically, has an impact on individuals on political interest and offline political participation. Before people are willing to participate in politics, they must first discover an interest or a reason to care about the matters at hand. Those of different age groups are going to find different reasons that motivate them to be interested and participate, and it is likely they will find these reasons on platforms they are more comfortable with. For example, younger citizens are most likely going to interact with social media, and older citizens will use more traditional media like television or newspapers. “We expect these two forms of media use to exert a causal impact on political engagement due both to the type of content involved as well as the level of personal interest assumed to underlie these types of media use”. While both of these types of media are effective in informing and spreading ideas, research has begun to show that social media helps draw in non-voters more so than traditional media. “Boulianne recently found, based on panel data, that use of online news media had a positive casual effect on political interest, concluding that ‘use of online news sources transforms people into interested and … engaged citizens to a greater degree than online news serves as a tool for those already interested in politics’”. This is because those younger audiences are being influences to vote the moment they are able to.

This article discusses a study conducted by the Centre for Political Communication Research at Mid Sweden University, in collaboration with the polling institute Synovate. In this study, research was conducted to see how often the voters had been involved in political news or discussions on social media during that month. “These activities included reading a blog about current affairs or politics, writing texts on a personal blog about current affairs or politics, commenting/discussing current affairs issues or politics on the Internet, or following a politician or political party on either Twitter, Facebook or YouTube”. The results showed that the younger generations use social media to research politics considerably more frequently than those who are older. Social media is just as effective for increasing awareness and involvement in politics as traditional media is, but it is becoming more widespread and popular especially amongst younger audiences.

When thinking of social media, many will consider it a distraction from the world around them. Some may even argue that it can have a negative impact on getting responsibilities done at home, work, or school. To see if students feel this is true and if there are any positive effects, a real-life study was conducted over about 204 students from University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. This study asked students about the positive and negative effects they believe that social media has on their education. They provided them with a series of statements where they would choose whether they strongly agreed, agreed, felt neutral, disagreed, or strongly disagreed. “Participating in group discussions on social media platforms has helped in improving my understanding of certain topics that are taught in class”. The results disclosed that 56.4% respondents agreed to the statement. This demonstrates that having social media as a resource to communicate and discuss with peers is a good supplement to the classroom discussions. It allows students to deepen their learning outside of school. In turn, it also would increase the level of participation in these discussions because it could serve as a helpful way for those who are more introverted to feel comfortable sharing their ideas in a lower pressure setting. This also could lead to students having another opportunity to get to know each other. “Social media allows people to make more friends than outside the social media world” was another statement that was given to be reflected on. The response rate for this question revealed that 74.1% respondents agreed to this statement. This demonstrates that social media promotes students to have a broader social life and helps them make more friends and meet new people than they would have without it. They also claim it serves as a convenient and valuable method of communication with classmates and people they already know. The findings of this study show that the positive effects of social media outweigh its negative aspects. Therefore, students should not be completely discouraged from visiting social media sites.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer represented by the acronym LGBTQ, all tend to go through the same general process of “coming out” to their family and friends, meaning they announce their sexuality. This is often done on social media to somewhat rip the band-aid off and finally reveal how they have been feeling internally. “Being ‘out’ about one’s identity may help LGBTQ people experience a greater sense of authenticity in their relationships, avoid the stresses associated with identity concealment, and access LGBTQ related social support from network members, thus, leading to improved well-being”.

In the article, “Celebrities Coming Out Helps Gay Rights”, Trish Bendix shares her personal story about coming out and how others doing so on social media makes it less intimidating. From the average person to celebrities, she explains that “everyone's coming out matters”. Every person out there is helping influence another that it is okay to be open about their true selves. They have the power to do this by the use of social media. Social media allows people to share their story with the world and make a difference in someone else’s life. Even though there is more acceptance of LGBTQ individuals now than in the past, it is still important for people to come out publicly on their platform to serve as role models for others so they know that they are not alone. 'Until acceptance is fully realized, we should continue to applaud each and every coming out as someone being true to themselves'. People coming out on social media can also inform and connect with those who are already part of the LGBTQ community, and those who want a better understanding of it all. This creates a way of bringing together those who have something in common and in result, they can help each other get through their experiences.

Conclusion

In conclusion, even though social media is still a new technology and scary to many because of its significant impact and change on society, much of that change has resulted in many positive outcomes. People use social media as another gateway to be social and connect with people. This leads to social media being used as a platform to build relationships, learn from others, and create some sort of unity amongst humankind. Social media plays a key role in the development and evolution of topics like female empowerment, mental health, politics, education and sexuality. Despite the negative effects of social media, it more importantly serves as a great resource and platform for people communicate and relate, as well as discuss their opinions and experiences to enlighten others and spread ideas, which contributes to a better world.