Introduction
Using social media for interaction is increasing daily; people are using the platform to interact and connect. The media platforms are becoming more creative and more compelling as they are introducing different activities that compel users to spend more time on the platforms. That is due to the increasing advancement in computer and technology, including the ubiquity of social medial mobile applications and tools. Users of social media derive pleasure in using several platforms of social media. They utilize social media for social interactions and connections, sharing of information, and entertainment. However, knowing the impacts of media platforms on their health and wellbeing is imperative. It is crucial to identify how the platforms are affecting the users concerning their wellbeing and general health. There are an increasing claims by the users of social media that social media have positive impacts on their health wellbeing. However, the levels of evidence that social media negatively impacting the users’ health and wellbeing are increasing. This topic has caught the researchers’ attention, and more efforts are towards identifying social media influences on users’ wellbeing and health. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of social media on users’ wellbeing and health using five recently published research articles. The research articles are selected based on the author’s claim, the research methods used, and their recency.
Social Media Impacts on Users’ Wellbeing and Health
The World Health Organization [WHO] (2017) report indicated that between ten and twenty percent of children and young adults all over the world have mental health problems while using social media. The most commonly identified mental health problems among them include depression and anxiety, including the general wellbeing of the users of social media. Most research studies have identified children and adolescents as the most significant users of social media and the most significantly affected age group. Among young people, using social media is predominantly for entertainment, identity and status creation, and the maintenance of interpersonal connection. Several studies are conducted to explore the effects of social media on users’ health and how the platform affects users their health. Most of the research studies have shown the adverse effects of social media on users’ health; it is associated with the increasing prevalence rates of mental problems while the higher percentage of the research studies included children and young adults, and adolescents.
Research studies have indicated inconclusive findings on social media influences on users’ health and wellbeing. Keles et al. (2020) systematic review assessed the social media influence of users’ health concerning three mental health characteristics - anxiety, depression, and psychological distress. The researchers searched five reputable academic journal databases. They identified 13 eligible research studies, among which 12 were correctional. Based on the findings from the systematic review, four social media domains, viz., time spent on social media, activities users engage in, financial investments, and addition. The results of the study showed that all four domains have significant impacts on users’ wellbeing as they all correlate with the four mental health indicators - anxiety, depression, and psychological distress. That implies that higher engagement in social media activities will increase users’ risk of mental disorders and vice versa. However, the researchers identified methodological limitations in the included research studies as they were cross-sectional. Thus, the association between social media and mental health could not be conclusively attributed to causality effects as some moderators and mediators could significantly influence the relationship. That notwithstanding, research findings of Keles et al. (2020) highlighted how social media significantly impacted the users.
Schønning et al. (2020) carried out a scoping review of published research studies within the past five past years to assess how the use of social media associated with mental wellbeing and health of social media users. 90 percent of the 79 studies scoped were quantitative, while 57 percent of them were cross-sectional. Most of the scoped research studies significantly reiterated more negative impacts of social media on mental wellbeing and health than the positive outcomes. Findings from the research study were contrary to findings from Keles (2020) that the time spent, social media activities, addiction, and investment correlate with depression, psychological distress, and anxiety.
Karim et al. (2020) carried out a systematic review of 16 research study papers. The research study findings corroborated Schønning et al. (2020) findings but contradicted Keles et al. (2020) findings. Karim et al. (2020) found that social media activities and time spent on social media had positive effects on mental health domains. Like Keles et al. (2020), most of the research studied involved cross-sectional design with methodological limitations of the sampling.
Bekalu et al. (2020) explored the frequency of the use of social media and time spent concerning two affective domains - user social media integration and how emotionally they were connected, assessing the connection-associated effects. According to the researchers, the method could be used to map the users’ behavior regarding their harmful and beneficial effects. They found that routine social media use resulted in beneficial health effects while the emotional connection resulted in adverse health outcomes. They also found that the associations were consistent across the users’ health domains, viz. mental health, social wellbeing, and self-rated general health outcomes. Findings from the research study also indicated that the associations vary with social media users’ ethnic/racial and socioeconomic groups.
Among the five research articles reviewed, Beyens et al. (2020) is the best publication. The reason for this is that the researchers used the best methodology developed based on the identification of limitations from the sources they reviewed. The method involved less-biased rigorous investigations of the unique impacts of social media, which was specific to each participant. The effects of social media on each participant were assessed six times daily through one week, resulting in 2,166 real-time assessments that explored the relationship between social media use and the effects on wellbeing of the users. Forty percent of the participants were not affected, forty-six percent benefited from social media, and ten percent were adversely affected. Findings from the research study indicated that there is a need to consider the specific social media effects on individuals in conducting social media-health-effect research studies and in designing preventive and interventional programs.
Conclusion
Most of the research studies that examined social media effects on wellbeing and health have identified adverse impacts on social media on mental health. Fewer research studies assessed the social media influences on their wellbeing and general health. Most of the research studies utilized general approaches in the study. Findings from the research studies were inconsistent concerning the social media association with health and wellbeing. More importantly, the validity, reliability, and generalizability of the research findings could not be ascertained as most of them involved cross-sectional design with methodological limitations of the utilized sampling methods. However, one of the research studies reviewed in this discussion revealed the distinction between integration and social media emotional connection and their association with wellbeing. The research studies separated social media use integration from the emotional connection. Positive health outcomes were associated with the integration of social media, while the emotional connection was associated with negative health outcomes (Bekalu et al., 2020). The best research study in this discussion employed the uniqueness of user-specificity effects in association with social media utilization. Based on the research findings, the unique user-specific effects need consideration in conducting social media-health-effect research studies and in designing preventive and interventional programs. Hence, research studies on how social media impacts health and wellbeing should be more specific in approach rather than the general effects of social media. It is recommended that the user-specific social media health effects and the distinction between users’ integration and their emotional connections to social media should be considered in designing and conducting the research studies.
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References
Bekalu, M. A., McCloud, R. F., & Viswanath, K. (2019). Association of Social Media Use With Social Well-Being, Positive Mental Health, and Self-Rated Health: Disentangling Routine Use From Emotional Connection to Use. Health Education & Behavior, 46(2_suppl), 69S-80S.
Beyens, I., Pouwels, J.L., van Driel, I.I. Keijsers, L., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2020). The effect of social media on well-being differs from adolescent to adolescent. Sci Rep, 10, 10763.
Karim, F., Oyewande, A. A., Abdalla, L. F., Chaudhry Ehsanullah, R., & Khan, S. (2020). Social Media Use and Its Connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review. Cureus, i(6), e8627.
Keles, B., McCrae, N., and Grealish, A. (2020). A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. Int. J. Adolesc. Youth, 25, 79-93.
Schønning, V., Hjetland, G. J., Aarø, E., & Skogen, J. C. (2020). Social Media Use and Mental Health and Well-Being Among Adolescents – A Scoping Review. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(1949), 1-15.
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