Communities and Social Media stream

 

 

Abstract

 

The purpose of this paper is to further understand how communities formed on social media platforms may affect young people in both positive and negative ways. The main ideas in this study include the discussion of mental wellbeing, physical wellbeing, and social impacts this constant use of Digital social media may have on adolescents.

 

 

KEYWORDS

 

#Social Media, #Impact, #Mental Wellbeing, #Advertisement, #Social Impacts

 

Introduction

 

Social media has impacted how numerous different communities connect both online and offline and how these communities are formed and operated. With many positive aspects of being able to communicate anytime with others from almost anywhere in the world has many positives but also comes with numerous risks, including risks among young people having access to so much information at such a young age. With the rapidly changing platforms it can be difficult for older generations including parents to be able to properly educate their children on how to be safe on social medias (Winstone, et al., 2021).

 

There are numerous areas to highlight when discussing the possible risks when giving young people access to social media, however the main things that will be discussed are the mental, physical, and social wellbeing of young people due to these areas of development being extremely important through this stage of development (Kelly, et al., 2014). In order for preventative action to be put in place it is crucial to highlight the problem areas of such platforms.

 

Body

 

Social Media’s Influence on Adolescent Mental Wellbeing

 

The adolescence period is crucial in forming a healthy mental wellbeing, with the use of social media this can cause numerous changes, both positive and negative during this process. The constant access to any information, including harmful content that young teens may not be mature or educated enough to see, and being able to socialise with peers or online friends at any given time may take a toll on their mental wellbeing. It should be noted that there appear to be some aspects that positively associate with mental health such as some teenagers feeling less alone and being able to engage in things they enjoy and with people they relate to, however the negative connotations appear to be more prone due to the unknowns of what frequent use of social media can lead to (Kelly, et al., 2014). Teenagers that are already suffering from mental health problems are also more prone to experiencing these negative effects of social media, this is due to the constant viewing of other people’s social medias and their highlight reels from not only celebrities but people they interact with in real life, comparisons become very active in the use of social media (Nesi & Prinstein, 2015). Other research also suggests that individuals prone to mental health issues, look for things on social media that reinforce their negative ideas in terms of mental health which can enhance the feelings they are already having, such as images of self-harm or other online forums that are used to discuss other ways of coping that may be unhealthy (Nesi, & Prinstein, 2015).

 

With most social medias such as Instagram or Facebook, the social sites rely on advertisements in order to gain profit from the users of the platform, some of these targeted advertising campaigns help reiterate the idealised beauty standard mainly towards females (Chan, et al., 2012). This type of advertising has been popular since before social media however with social media making it easier to target a specific market with the use of information such as age, location, and other data. This can reinforce beauty standards that have been present for many years as well as traditional gender roles into young consumers, despite the physical implications these advertisements can have it can also be linked to mental health problems, especially in young girls (Chan, et al., 2012). It has been found in research that school aged females show more attention to advertisements which show an idealised thin body, with other beauty standards of clear skin and an attractive face, despite the young girls stating they believed these images were unrealistic the images appeared to be very powerful and influence them without them realising (Chan, et al., 2012). This shows that despite being informed that things seen on social media may not be what they seem, the negative connotations they can have on mental health still appear to be a concerning issue.

 

Another increasing problem with the use of digital social media is cyberbullying, bullying has been a problem long before social media or the internet however being able to constantly communicate on these platforms can cause many problems within school aged children. The act of cyberbullying is being aggressive, threatening or negative towards someone online for an extended period of time, which in recent years has become more common especially due to the fact that it is becoming easier to appear anonymous online causing people to feel as if these actions aren’t going to come back to them since other people on these platforms don’t know who they are (Twenge, 2013). There have been numerous cases individuals attempting or committing suicide due to the impact of cyberbullying (Twenge, 2013). There are numerous aspects of adolescents using social media that corelates or enhances mental health issues and negatively effects their mental wellbeing.

 

Physical health concerns due to the youth using social media

 

Due to the free range of the internet and social media, online accessibility for adolescents has raised concerns as to physical aspects of their health. Being able to connect online an enjoy leisurely activities on social media can corelate with the reduced level of physical activity, to the other extreme of disordered eating habits due to negative feelings towards their physical appearance due to the content they are consuming on social media. The constant viewing of marketing on social media can be harmful due to the mass number of different things being promoted to young teenagers, these include unhealthy foods, energy drinks with excessive amounts of caffeine, weight loss teas that are promoted by many influencers, alcoholics beverages, e-cigarettes, just to name a few (Dunlop, et al., 2016). With the constant viewings of these foods and other consumable substances, it may have negative connotations to their health and the relationship one has with food as well as substances like alcohol or e-cigarettes. Research has shown that the target market for digital advertisements with food and beverage was around the ages of 13-17 and individuals ages 12 or less (Boelson-Robenson, et al., 2015, as cited in Dunlop, et al., 2016, p. 36). The advertisements are known to use visual tactics to engage the viewers in the product. On the other hand, there are campaigns online to help promote more healthy habits with food and living a more physical lifestyle however these campaign strategies are unappealing to many young teenagers and the issues of marketing to young kids on social media is still seen as a risk to the physical health of the youth (Dunlop, et al., 2016).

 

Furthermore, other marketing on social media shows the opposite, images of thin models and unhealthy eating habits can be found in numerous areas of social media that are relatively easy to access on platforms like Instagram. The main elements that are typically associated to the enhanced feeling of body dissatisfaction are peers, parents, and media (Digennaro & Iannaccone, 2023). The use of social media sites in young people can raise concerns due to the viewing of idealised content which may be edited or enhanced without the viewers knowing causing them to feel unhappy with their own physical appearance, as well as videos of models shown eating little amounts of food claiming that it’s a healthy lifestyle, content such as this may lead to the feeling of needing to edit images of themselves to look more like the models and peers they see online before posting as well as feeling they need to eat an unhealthy amount in order to look a certain way (Digennaro & Iannaccone, 2023). A survey showed that in Europe 10% of youths were exposed to anorexia positive posts that gave details on how to quickly lose weight as well as other concerning advice (Savina, et al., 2017). Social media has numerous avenues as to how it can negatively affect the physical health of young teens, with the constant consumption of advertising and reinforcements of negative ideas may affect the physical health of adolescents that are consuming this online media.

 

Social Impacts on Adolescences due to the use of social media

 

The use of social media allows individuals to keep in contact with friends, family, peers, keep up with celebrities and numerous other forums that allow people to find other individuals or communities that enjoy the same things, play the same games, just to name a few. Reports have shown that around 9 out of 10 young people use social media worldwide (Henzel & Håkansson, 2021, p. 2). The forming of social connections is crucial for adolescents both online and offline (Winstone, et al., 2021; Allen, et al., 2014). However, with the constant accessibility of communication with peers can come with both positive and negative aspects, such as young people who feel shy when meeting new people say they prefer being able to socialise online to be able to form friendships with these people in real life and they can keep in contact with friends that live far away. However, people also felt as if they needed to keep in contact with people constantly and that they had to reply to messages quickly, and if their friends didn’t reply within a day they felt as if they did something wrong. As well as feeling they needed to comment on friends and peers Instagram posts in order to sustain good friendships with each other (Winstone, et al., 2021). With constant access to communication with friends can be problematic in the sense that they can always see what each other are doing through posts on Instagram or stories on Snapchat which can enhance the fear of missing out (Henzel & Håkansson, 2021). Young people that are using social media tend to have a higher sense of belonging if they have numerous friends they talk to frequently or many different groups of friends whereas youth with less of these social relationships feel the opposite and may cause them to feel socially isolated (Kelly, et al., 2014).

 

Following this point, it has been found that in some cases the amount of time a young person spends communicating to people on social media, was directly corelated with being at higher risk of feeling social pressures (Henzel & Håkansson, 2021). Digital social media is a big part of everyday life for many people, and with the constant changing world of online social media it may be difficult for parents to stay educated on how to teach their kids of how to be safe online when they may not even know themselves (Winstone, et al., 2021). Numerous schools now teach students about technologies and how to use them in an educational way and how they can be used to stay in contact and communicate with others, however this may cause young peers to feel pressured to download social media sites in order to keep up with others around them (Henzel & Håkansson, 2021, p. 11). The use of social media at such a young age as a form of communication with friends on social medias has been corelated with the increased chance of social media addiction and feeling as if the best way to communicate with people is on social media in further years (Henzel & Håkansson, 2021).  

 

Conclusion

 

While there are age restrictions on many social media apps, the age of children on these apps is getting younger and younger and it can be detrimental to this period of development in their life (Kelly, et al., 2014). It’s important to be aware of the negative mental, physical, and social aspects that can be caused during this time such as enhanced risk of developing mental health problems or increased risk with adolescences already suffering with mental illness, risks of obesity or excessive weight loss and the social pressure that may be caused by social media. However, it is also important to recognize the positive aspects to be able to properly understand how to help improve social media sites for young people in the future and help reduce these risks for the generations to come.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

REFERENCE LIST

 

Allen, K. A., Tracii, R., DeLeon, L. G., Mclnerney, D. M., & Waters, L. (2014). Social media use and social connectedness in adolescents: The positives and the potential pitfalls. The Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 31(1), 18-31. https://doi.org/10.1017/edp.2014.2

 

 

Chan, K., Yu Leung, N., & Russel, L. B. (2012). What do adolescent girls learn about gender roles from advertising images. Young Consumers, 13(4), 357-366.
https://doi.org/10.1108/17473611211282608

 

 

Digennaro, S., & Iannaccone, A. (2023). Check your likes and move your body! How the use of social media is influencing pre-teens body and the role of active lifestyles. Sustainability, 15(4), 3046. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043046

 

 

Dunlop, S., Freeman, B., & Jones, S. C. (2016). Marketing to youth in the digital age: The promotion of unhealthy products and health promoting behaviors on social media. Media and Communication, 4(3), 35-51. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v4i3.522

 

 

Henzel, V., & Håkansson, A. (2021). Hooked on virtual social life: Problematic social media use and associations with mental distress and addictive disorders. PLoS One, 16(4), e0248406. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248406

 

 

Nesi, J., & Prinstein, M. J. (2015). Using social media for social comparison and feedback-seeking: Gender and popularity moderate associations with depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 43(8), 1427-1438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-015-0020-0

 

 

Savina, E., Mills, J. L., Atwood, K., & Cha, J. (2017). Digital media and youth: A primer for school psychologists. Contemporary School Psychology, 21(1), 80-91.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-017-0119-0

 

 

Twenge, J. M. (2013). Does online social media lead to social connection or social disconnection. Journal of College and Character, 14(1), 11-20. https://doi.org/10.1515/jcc-2013-0003

 

 

Winstone, L., Mars., B., Harworth, C. M. A., & Kidger, J. (2021). Social media use and social connectedness among adolescents in the United Kingdom: a qualitative exploration of displacement and stimulation. BMC Public Health, 21, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11802-9