Written By Sydnee A. Fry
Overview of Social Media Use and Adolescent Mental Health
The term "screenager" is coined by many in older generations, meaning "a young person, typically in his or her teens or twenties, who is familiar with and adept at using digital technology." In the 21st century, social media has taken over the lives of "screenagers," or growing adolescents, allowing for a global network in which a multitude of perspectives, cultures, and people intertwine. However, numerous people wonder about the effects of social media on the youthful mind. The teenage years are known for sensitivity to social evaluation and the growth of one's self-concept, though when combined with an online environment for self-presentation along with peer feedback, both benefits and ill effects can occur. Within the natural process of neurological development, peer judgment incorporated into self-concept is a normal milestone in one's life, leading to prosocial behavior and increased perspective-taking with the contrasting effects of depressive symptoms based on excessive concern (Peters et al., 2021).
In combination with social media, stress over peer views becomes more common. In a study by Brain Primack et al. (2017) conducted at Pittsburgh School of Medicine analyzing the correlation between social media use and mental illness, researchers found that compared with individuals who use 0 to 2 social media platforms, individuals who use 7 to 11 social media platforms have substantially higher odds of having increased levels of depression and anxiety symptoms. By exploring the relationship between the internet and today's teens, the prevention of negative mental health effects becomes straightforward, hopefully creating a healthier world.
Self-Concept and Perceived Peer Views
Overview
Holding importance as a development stage of discovery, self-concept within adolescence is the ever-changing beliefs of oneself and others. Through maturation, our fears of physical danger and punishment decrease while our fears of social evaluation increase, explained on the basis of socio-cognitive growth (Westenberg et al., 2004). Social media use, referred to as SMU, allows for a whole new environment of comparison and social behavior beyond physicality, which can have negative effects on neuroscientific development. A study performed by Peters et al. (2021) examining the relationship between SMU and self-concept reported that heavier SMU was connected to lower difference scores between self-evaluation and perceived peer-evaluation. Conversely, lower usage of social media was related to higher positive ratings in the previously stated relationship. Furthermore, adolescents tended to have a more autonomous self-concept that was less linked to perceived peer judgment, overall being more likely to create a healthier view of themselves. Using the study, it can be concluded that social media, when used extensively, can have dangerous effects on the development of an adolescent's mind and identity.
mPFC Findings
The medial prefrontal cortex, known as the mPFC, is usually considered specialized for social cognition; however, new perspectives have noted that the mPFC is active in contexts relating to the significance of self. By that logic, heightened mPFC activity in adolescence is correlated with increased emotional value toward perceived social evaluation. In a study conducted by Leah H. Somerville et al. (2013), participants were informed that during their fMRI scan, a peer would watch them through a one-way camera in real-time. While there was no projection, in order to make the case more believable, the study members would complete a peer interaction prior to the scan. They found that mPFC activity was significantly related to self-concious emotion, both in anticipation and real-time perceived social evaluation, with mid-adolescence (around 15.25 years old) being the peak among mPFC action. In relation to SMU, higher usage may possibly be linked to enhanced specialization in the mPFC when dealing with self-concept and social evaluation, showing intensified reflection about oneself and imagining potentially negative peer judgments more often (Peters et al., 2021).
Figure 1
Age differences in task-based functional brain activity.
Note. Figure 1b shows heightened mPFC activity relative to childhood continuing into adulthood when faced with social-evaluative conditions, with the solid line created by the adolescent-emergent predictor and the dotted line estimating adolescent-specific predictions. In relation to Figure 1b, Figure 1a displays different regions of usage based on self-conscious emotion (Somerville et al. 2013).
Adverse Physical and Mental Effects
Self-concept is often split into three domains: physical, academic, and social, with SMU having adverse effects on all categories. Overall, SMU is interconnected with unhealthy self-concept, most commonly among academic and physical domains (Peters et al., 2021). Social media may promote suicidal or self-harming behaviors in a romantic light, as well as negatively affect body image. In a review of studies conducted by Amanda Marchant et al. (2017) covering the relationship between internet use and harmful actions, researchers discovered that SMU was associated with eating disorders and body dysmorphia, especially among females. As young women show higher rates on social media, they tend to experience heightened mental health effects such as depressive symptoms, harmful behaviors, and suicidality among youth (Abi-Jaoude et al., 2020).
However, positive social correlations can be found once viewing beyond a dose-effect position or only reviewing the time spent on social media rather than what is being performed on the application. With the COVID pandemic, social isolation became a large issue across the world, and the internet then allowed people to continue to participate in healthy social networks beyond physicality. Positive social outcomes can occur when networking with the right people and using the vast supply of knowledge to grow outside of the online world. According to Bekalu et al. (2019), routine use of online social networks leads to positive health benefits, while emotional connection to internet media is correlated with negative outcomes. Ultimately, adolescents need to be wary of too much SMU, as studies correlate it with negative effects on the developing self-concept, but the interconnected world of the internet can create worthwhile positive connections and lead to health benefits among humanity's social nature.
References
Abi-Jaoude, E., Naylor, K. T., & Pignatiello, A. (2020). Smartphones, social media use and youth mental health. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 192(6), E136–E141. National Library of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.190434
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), 69–80. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198119863768
Marchant, A., Hawton, K., Stewart, A., Montgomery, P., Singaravelu, V., Lloyd, K., Purdy, N., Daine, K., & John, A. (2017). A systematic review of the relationship between internet use, self-harm and suicidal behaviour in young people: The good, the bad and the unknown. PLOS ONE, 12(8), e0181722. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181722
Peters, S., Van der Cruijsen, R., van der Aar, L. P. E., Spaans, J. P., Becht, A. I., & Crone, E. A. (2021). Social media use and the not-so-imaginary audience: Behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying the influence on self-concept. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 48, 100921. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100921
Primack, B. A., Shensa, A., Escobar-Viera, C. G., Barrett, E. L., Sidani, J. E., Colditz, J. B., & James, A. E. (2017). Use of multiple social media platforms and symptoms of depression and anxiety: A nationally-representative study among U.S. young adults. Computers in Human Behavior, 69(69), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.11.013
Somerville, L. H., Jones, R. M., Ruberry, E. J., Dyke, J. P., Glover, G., & Casey, B. J. (2013). The medial prefrontal cortex and the emergence of self-conscious emotion in adolescence. Psychological science, 24(8), 1554–1562. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613475633
Westenberg, P. M., Drewes, M. J., Goedhart, A. W., Siebelink, B. M., & Treffers, P. D. (2004). A developmental analysis of self-reported fears in late childhood through mid-adolescence: social-evaluative fears on the rise?. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 45(3), 481–495. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00239.x
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