Social media has become very popular among young adults recently and its popularity continues to grow.  I have seen a lot of young people around me become avid social media users, especially girls.  They take hundreds of photos to get one that they deem “post worthy,” but it doesn’t stop there.  After getting a photo that they are happy with, they then make their teeth whiter, their bodies slimmer, and even edit things like forehead size.  They post pictures hoping for more likes with each picture posted.  When girls are not obsessing over which picture to post, they are scrolling through their Instagram, Twitter or Facebook feeds and seeing how much fun everyone else is having or comparing the way they look to someone else.  For a lot of people social media has shifted from being about connecting with friends that you want to catch up with to putting out an image of perfection, but at what cost?  Since the rise of social media has been so drastic, there have been many recent studies that evaluate the impact of social media on mental health and well-being. The excessive use of Instagram and Facebook tends to have a negative impact on the well-being of young adults.  

Social media is growing at an alarming rate.  There are 2.789 billion social media users world wide as of January 2017.  There has been a 21% increase in social media use since January of 2016 (Chaffey).  In 2005 7% of adults in the US were on at least one social networking site and in 2015 65% of adults in the US were on at least one social media site (Andrew Perrin).  Young adults, ages 18 to 29, are the most likely to use social media, which is why this paper focuses on young adults.  The percent of young adults on social media in 2005 was 12% and in 2015 it was all the way up to 90% (Perrin).  The percent increase of young adults verses adults is pretty significant and shows how the young adults are the fastest growing age group for social media use.

Social media has evolved quickly and dramatically from being used as a way of making personal connections to a fix for boredom (Social Media and Living Well, 20).  Walton claims that research shows that mindlessly scrolling through your feed during your spare time is bad for your psychological well-being.  People will spend hours of their day on social media, but why?  Adam Alter talks about how business people use their own products to show that they are confident in them.  He says Steve Jobs described the iPad as “extraordinary,” but his own kids hadn’t even used it.  He talks about a school where they do not introduce technology until the 8th grade.  75 percent of the students at this school have parents who are high level technology executives.  The people who know the most about technology are limiting how much time their own children use screens.  He then goes on to talk about how we have this sacred amount of personal time.  He then shows a visual where you can see how much of this free time is being taken up be screen use and it has almost doubled from 2007 to now.  Alter says that people spend most of the free time that they use on their phones on the apps that make them less happy, apps like Instagram and Facebook.  He claims that one of the reason why people spend the most time on these apps is because there is no stopping cue, you can keep scrolling forever.  He mentions how in the past there were stopping cues for everything people did; magazines, books, and TV.  Now that there are no stopping cues people do not know when to stop, and this is having a negative impact on well-being by making people unhappy.  

Social media makes you compare yourself to other people.  You see other people’s posts and you compare yourself to them, whether you think you have it better or worse than them (Walton).  Fardouly conducted a study on the impact of appearance comparisons in women’s lives.  146 women completed a brief online survey at random times for five days.  On the survey they reported the amount of comparisons made, if they were comparing themselves to someone they perceived to be better, the same, or worse than themselves, the context of the comparison, and their appearance satisfaction, mood and diet and exercise thoughts and behaviors, (Fardouly).  The results of the study showed that upward social media comparisons, comparing yourself to someone who you perceive to better off than you, had a greater impact on women’s mood than in-person comparisons and that upward appearance comparisons on social media made women more likely to restrict their food intake and exercise.  In conclusion, appearance comparisons made through social media have a negative impact on women’s mental and physical health (Fardouly).  

Comparing yourself to others can often times make people envious of others and this envy leads to depression.  “It’s no secret that the comparison factor in social media leads to jealousy” (Walton).  Walton then cites a study where the authors conclude that the amount of incidents of envy on social media is astounding.  Harvey-Jenner cites a study where the author concludes that women’s pursuit of perfection is becoming an enormous problem because it can enable you to feel like other people’s lives are a lot better than yours.  In the book “Social Media and Living Well,” it says “Everyone has suddenly become the curator of their own life, participating in the sort of careful image-crafting which creates gaps between presentation and reality and increases feelings of envy and inadequacy across all demographic populations” (16).  This means that people are portraying inaccurate images of themselves by editing the way they look, which causes feelings of envy in the people who are looking at these images.  Do you ever look at an image on Instagram or Facebook and think, how are they so skinny? or how are they so perfect? well, they probably aren’t. Becoming envious of others is definitely not good for a persons well-being and probably makes the envious people want to make their pictures look more perfect, which creates a cycle of envy followed by one-upping (Walton).  

Excess social media use can lead to an increase in depression and sadness in young adults, according to many scholars.  Liu yi Lin conducted a study on 1787 adults ages 19-32 to see if there was an association between social media use and depression.  A large and nationally representative sample was used.  The study did not focus on one particular social media cite, but attempted to cover a broader range, because most young adults use multiple social media platforms, not just one.  The results of the study showed a strong and significant association between social media use and depression.  The participants who reported more visits to social media cites also reported greater depression.  It is stated in the discussion of the results that an explanation for the association between depression and social media may be that “exposure to highly idealized representations of peers on social media elicits feelings of envy and the distorted belief that others lead happier and/or more successful lives.  Consequently, these envious feelings may lead to a sense of self-inferiority and depression over time” (Lin et al. 328).  This means that when people see social media posts of their peers that look perfect or better than reality, it can cause them to be jealous and eventually become depressed.  It is cited that other sources of depression from social media may be “Internet addiction,” increased amounts of social media use, and a feeling of time being wasted “by engaging in activities of little meaning” (Liu 328).

Another negative impact on mental health caused by social media is addiction.  Harvey-Jenner says that a like on social media gives you a real psychological high, and that is why people keep going back to it.  She then cites a study that says that the same brain circuits that are activated when you win money are also activated when you see a large number of likes on your post.  Harvey-Jenner then says that the problem with social media is that the short term highs are followed by a “crashing low.”  Walton says that “like a drug, we think getting a fix will help, but it actually makes us feel worse” and then cites a study that proves that people think they will feel better after using it, but actually feel worse.  “Some scholars have noted that heavy use of social media can lead to a form of media dependency, even perhaps some type of media addiction that Block (2008) reported results in increased tolerance for hours of use, withdrawal from other activities, and negative repercussions such as isolation and fatigue” (Social Media and Living Well 22).  All of this evidence shows that people are showing signs of addiction to social media, which has a negative impact on the well-being of the addicts.  They become so dependent on it that it begins to affect their well-being.  In “6 Ways Social Media Affects Our Mental Health,” Walton cites a study that says that addiction criteria are often met in people who use social media cites excessively.  The criteria cited includes neglect of personal life, mental preoccupation, escapism, mood modifying experiences, tolerance and concealing the addictive behavior, (Walton).  

As mentioned earlier, social media can cause or increase social isolation.  One study showed that although FaceBook was made to help people connect, a lot of times it has the opposite affect, it makes people perceive themselves to feel more isolated.  According to another study, the more time people spent on social media, the more socially isolated they felt (Walton).  “The digital tools that were designed to bring us closer together have instead led us to a path of greater fragmentation” (Social Media and Living Well 17).  Harvey-Jenner cited a study that showed that using social media for more than two hours a day “doubled the chances of a person experiencing social isolation rather than reducing it.”  This shows that the well-being of social media users is being made worse, because it is making them feel as if they are more isolated than they actually are.

There are a lot of claims that social media is beneficial to your mental health.  While using social media for things like activism and self expression is great, a lot of times it is not being used in a way that positively impacts people.  The excess use of social media tends to show a negative impact on mental health, but if people are not using it excessively then it is likely that they will not experience negative affects on their well-being.  Pantic cites a study by Gonzales and Hancock that showed Facebook causing positive effects on self-esteem.  This study did not mention how much time the participants were spending on social media so, the positive effect could have been because they were not using it in excess.  “It seems that when social networks and the Internet in general are used to strengthen and maintain social ties, particularly within family members and close friends, the resulting social support has beneficial effects on mental health. On the other hand, extensive use of SNS outside these circles might weaken existing close family and friend interactions and increase feelings of loneliness and depression” (Pantic 654).  So, while some may argue that social media is good for your well-being, they probably are not taking in to account how often it is used in a negative way. 

There are a lot of variables contributing to the negative impact that the excessive use of Instagram and Facebook have on the well-being of users.  Excessive use of social media leads to comparison and envy, which in turn causes depression, social isolation and addiction.  The negative impact needs to be taken seriously because many people are being affected.  This issue is only going to get worse if nothing is done about it, because social media is constantly growing.  Most sources agreed that using social media in moderation can help reduce the negative affects on the well-being of users.  Walton recommends taking a break from social media and goes on to cites studies that show that taking a break from Facebook boosts psychological well-being, but says that if you are not willing to take a break, you should at least use it in moderation.  Harvey-Jenner cites a source that says “If you’re feeling vulnerable or are spending too much time on social media, it might be worth taking a break for a bit or set aside some time each day to do something else like reading a book or doing some physical exercise.”  Fardouly says that “intervention programs could highlight the idealized nature of the images and content uploaded to social media and encourage students to de-construct these idealized self-presentations in order to reduce the negative impact of comparisons made in this context.”  This means that implementing programs that showed students that the images on social media are not as perfect as they seem could help with the negative impact that social media has on body image, mood, and diet and exercise behavior.  “Social Media and Living Well” argues that in order to not be negatively impacted by social media, you have to be “committed to engaging in reflective, thoughtful choices in social media participation” so that you can enjoy social media through connecting with others and self-expression without “the embarrassment, fear, or compulsion that may result from unrestrained screens and screen time.”  It also says that leaders like parents and teachers need to model good behavior and mentor children so that they can wisely use social media (20).  The book also says that in Korea they were concerned about cell phone and internet addiction, so they implemented government funded teaching and intervention strategies (25).  Liu yi Lin concludes that because of the results of their study, which found a positive association between depression and social media use, future research and intervention are needed.  In Adam Alter’s Ted Talk he says that you need to create your own stopping cues for Instagram and Facebook, because they are not provided for you.  For example, set aside a time each day, like dinner, where you are dedicated to not using your phone.  There are many logical solutions to this problem, but everyone is different.  Some may not have the self control to stay away from their phone for an hour a day.  I think the best way to target this growing problem is to educate children from a young age on social media use and to limit their time, while also modeling good behavior.  For those who are already impacted by the negative affect of social media, I believe that taking a break is the best option, because as mentioned earlier studies have shown that taking a break from Facebook boosts your psychological well-being (Walton).
