Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH

Studying the Link Between Social Media and Mental Health

Taylor Maudlin

Kennesaw State University

Abstract

In this study, I wanted to collect data about the adverse mental health affects social media could

have on individuals. I aimed to get information to do with how much people use social media,

and if they have ever experienced any adverse mental health symptoms because of their social

media use. I used a seven-question to survey to ask people about the correlation between social

media use and mental health effects. The results suggested that social media can have a possible

negative effect on its user, but more in-depth research is required. This study is important

because the widespread popularity of social media platforms and their relative newness make it

necessary to know what possible effects social media could have.

Keywords: social media, depression, anxiety

SOCIAL MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH 2

Literature Review

Social media and its links to mental health have been a topic of study for several researchers.

One study notes the use of passive social media use, which for their purposes, they deem PMSU

(Aalbers, McNally, Heeren, De Wit, and Fried 2018). Whenever individuals are exposed to the

lives of their social media contacts, according to Appel, Crusius, & Gerlach (as cited in Aalbers

et al. 2018), PMSU could increase feelings of inferiority (2015). The study used undergraduate

psychology students to take a 12-item questionnaire seven times daily for 14 days (Aalbers et al.

2018). Aalbers et al. (2018) used their detailed questionnaire to determine if PMSU could

contribute to depression symptoms. The undergraduate students reported their symptoms daily

through the questionnaire. What the researchers found is that PMSU “did not predict depression

symptoms, loneliness, or stress. Instead, previous fatigue and loneliness predicted PMSU,

indicating that these symptoms might lead participants to scroll through social media pages”

(Aalbers et al. 2018). This could suggest that social media is used as a crutch for people

experiencing negative feelings, and a way to boost their mood. However, the study did find that

“Participants who spent more time passively using social media also experienced higher mean

levels of depressed mood, loneliness, hopelessness, and feeling inferior” (Aalbers et al. 2018).

The study failed to determine if PMSU is responsible for depression symptoms, or if depression

is responsible for PMSU, or vice versa (Aalbers et al. 2018). Nonetheless, the study is a good

indication that social media has some effect on mental health, shown in the results of participants

with higher levels of depressed mood. Another study conducted by Shensa et. al (2018) analyzes

the effect of social media use on depression and anxiety symptoms through a cluster analysis.

The authors state, “Volume of social media use… has been associated with increased risk for
SOCIAL MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH 3

both depression and anxiety” (Shensa et. al 2018). This particular study was conducted using an

online survey of US adults aged 19-32 (Shensa et. al 2018). The participants were then asked to

report how much time they spent on social media and indicate how frequently they visited the

most popular social media platforms (Shensa et. al 2018). The researchers found that two

specific SMU (Social Media Use) patterns, called Wired and Connected, were associated with

the most risk of depression and anxiety (Shensa et. al 2018). “This finding suggests that high

volume SMU occurring in tandem with high levels of problematic use and high emotional

connection to social media is most concerning” (Shensa et. al 2018). Another study explores the

connection between adolescents with symptoms of social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and

depression (Muzaffar et. al 2018). The study used a questionnaire to ask 102 adolescents about

their Facebook use and social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and depression symptoms. Although

the study did not find an association of social anxiety or depression symptoms with Facebook

behaviors, it did find that “increased anxious arousal symptoms were associated with both

increased Facebook behavior and increased repetitive Facebook behavior” (Muzaffar et. al

2018). All of these studies and research contribute to the idea that social media has some effect

on mental health, whether that be through depression or anxiety symptoms. Social media has

become so intertwined with daily life that it is almost impossible for it to have no effect.

Methods

Materials/Rationale

My research question going into this was, “Does social media have adverse effects on mental

health?” Because this is a broad question, for this particular study, I just wanted a short,

informational survey. I did not want to overwhelm the participants, and I also wanted them to be

able to answer anonymously about their experiences with social media. I wrote a seven-question
SOCIAL MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH 4

survey asking about age, social media use, and depression/anxiety symptoms. I also included a

question at the end that asked for their personal opinion on the matter.

Participants

I surveyed 100 adolescents and adults aging in range from 15 and up. I had a link to my survey

which I shared across my own personal social media outlets. The survey picked up the most

traction on Facebook, where it could have been taken by anyone anonymously. For this survey, I

was not as concerned with race or gender so much as age and prevalence on social media. The

data was collected from March 14th, 2019, until March 17th, 2019.

Demographics

The only demographic factors asked for on the survey included age. However, it can be assumed

that most of the people who took the survey were white, middle-class, and a mix of men and

women. This is because the majority of my friends on Facebook fall into that category. 5% of the

participants were aged 15-18, 19% were aged 18-21, 6% were aged 21-25, and 70% were aged

25 and up.

Results

The survey asked seven questions. The first question had to do with age, which was listed above.

The second question was, “How long have you used social media?” 0% of participants answered

1 year or less or 2 years, 9% of the participants answered 3-4 years, and 91% of participants

answered 5+ years. The third question was, “How many social media platforms are you a part

of?” 19% of participants answered 1 or less, 46% answered 2-3, 33% answered 3-6, and 2%

answered 6+. The fourth question was, “How often do you check social media?” 29% answered

‘Less than 5 times a day’, 33% answered ‘5-10 times a day’, 22% answered ‘15-30 times a day’,

and 16% answered ‘30+ times a day’. The fifth question asked, “Have you experienced anxiety
SOCIAL MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH 5

symptoms (worry, fatigue, irritability, headaches, rapid thoughts) before or after using social

media?” 39% answered ‘Never’, 23% answered ‘Rarely’, 29% answered ‘Sometimes’, and 9%

answered ‘Frequently’. The sixth question asked, “Have you ever experienced depression

symptoms (hopelessness, loss of interest, sadness) before or after using social media?” 46%

answered ‘Never’, 20% answered ‘Rarely’, 26% answered ‘Sometimes’, and 8% answered

‘Frequently’. The seventh and final question asked, “Do you think that social media can affect

the state of your mental health?” 35% answered ‘Strongly Agree’, 53% answered ‘Agree’, 8%

answered ‘Disagree’, and 4% answered ‘Strongly Disagree.’ Below are graphs of each answer

discussed in this section.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH 6

Discussion/Analysis of Results

The results were different than I was expecting. When I came up with my research question, I

wanted the study to be aimed toward a younger audience. However, because I wanted to collect

data, I decided to open up my survey to be taken by any age. Surprisingly, the survey was

dominated by people who were over the age of 25. To me, this opens up a conversation about

how social media affects other groups than just millennials, since clearly there is a prevalence of

them on social media. Older generations tend to crowd to social media platforms such as

Facebook, which is where I shared my survey. My survey was also shared by others on

Facebook. In terms of how long they have been on social media, all of the participants said that

they had been on social media for at least 3-4 years, though the majority has been on social

media for 5+ years. To me this suggests not only the almost necessity of social media in daily

life, but also that it has been a part of society for a while now, and it is more uncommon to not

use social media than to use it. The results showed that the participants mostly answered that

they belonged to 2-3 social media platforms, with the second highest vote being cast towards 3-6

social media platforms. As technology has progressed, there have been more and more social

media platforms that have been made available to users. What started out with MySpace and

Facebook has branched out into Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and several other platforms, with

many people having a profile to numerous sites as denoted by the survey participants. The

participants answered the most that they checked social media 5-10 times a day, with a surprising

number of participants (29%) answering that they checked less than 5 times a day. However, a

good bit of the participants answered that they either checked 15-30 times a day, or even 30+

times a day. Checking social media over 15 times a day suggests that it is almost routine, and 32

out of the 100 participants in my survey said that they checked over 15 times a day. When it
SOCIAL MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH 7

came to the questions about anxiety and depression, the results were mixed. In both questions,

most people answered that they never experienced any negative symptoms before or after using

social media. However, in the anxiety question, 29 out of the 100 participants answered that they

sometimes experienced symptoms of anxiety after using social media, and 9 out of the 100

participants answered that they frequently felt those symptoms after using social media. This

suggests that increased social media use does have an effect on anxiety in some people. When

asked about feeling depression symptoms after using social media, although the majority (46%)

answered that they never experienced symptoms, 26% answered that they sometimes

experienced depression symptoms after using social media, and 8% answered that they

frequently experienced depression symptoms after using social media. This shows that social

media can have a negative effect on some users. The last question was the one that can be used

for further research. When I asked the participants their opinion on social media and its effects,

almost all of them agreed that it can affect mental health. This tells me that people know and are

aware of the effects of social media, some are just unsure what exactly those effects are or if they

have ever experienced them.

Limitations/Conclusion

Going forward, I would like to gather more in-depth research to see how exactly social media

can affect the mental state. Several of the studies that I listed in this paper have done more

detailed analyses of social media and mental health effects. I think if I did a similar study again, I

would do a focus group and have discussions with each individual participant to get a clearer

idea of where they stood on the matter, and their own personal experiences with social media. I

feel that some limitations of the study were that it was a short survey, so not as much data could

be collected, the participants were anonymous, so it was impossible to pinpoint exact

SOCIAL MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH 8

demographics, and some of the questions could not be matched up to others. For example, I

could not know what age group answered which specific questions. However, I feel as though

the study was a good insight into how people feel about social media and its effects on mental

health. I think that a good PR campaign formed from this study could be something along the

lines of awareness on how much people rely on social media, and making sure people know the

possible adverse effects.

References

Aalbers, G., McNally, R. J., Heeren, A., de Wit, S., & Fried, E. I. (2018). Social media and

depression symptoms: A network perspective. Journal of Experimental Psychology:

General. https://doi-org.proxy.kennesaw.edu/10.1037/xge0000528.supp

Muzaffar, N., Brito, E. B., Fogel, J., Fagan, D., Kumar, K., & Verma, R. (2018). The Association

of Adolescent Facebook Behaviours with Symptoms of Social Anxiety, Generalized

Anxiety, and Depression. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child & Adolescent

Psychiatry, 27(4), 252–260. Retrieved from

https://login.proxy.kennesaw.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc

t=true&db=a9h&AN=133165642&site=eds-live&scope=site

Shensa, A., Sidani, J. E., Dew, M. A., Escobar-Viera, C. G., & Primack, B. A. (2018). Social

Media Use and Depression and Anxiety Symptoms: A Cluster Analysis. American

Journal of Health Behavior, 42(2), 116–128. https://doi-

org.proxy.kennesaw.edu/10.5993/AJHB.42.2.11
SOCIAL MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH 9

Link to my survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6S82DYP?fbclid=IwAR2lv5SsoGuL7pCTpIKhf8OefstivDlG

9sN0XQLMpF0a1WkEMsxZYDImv4Q