The Role Social Media Plays in Influencing Mental Illness

The Role Social Media Plays in Influencing Mental Illness
* ABSTRACT
By nature, humans are highly social beings. The advent of social media has increased the scope of this social nature. However, it has also resulted in negative mental health consequences among users. Isolation, FOMO, cyberbullying, the need for validation, and inadequacy about one’s life or appearance are found to trigger or worsen cases of stress, anxiety, depression, and suicidal tendencies. The current paper is a literature review focusing on the influence of social media on the mental health of users.
* INTRODUCTION: The Role Social Media Plays in Influencing Mental Illness.

1. A famous phrase goes that no person is an island. In other words, people must rely on the comfort and company of others to thrive because human beings are social creatures. Being socially connected boots self-worth prevents loneliness and eases depression, stress, and anxiety (Tomasello, 2015, p. 189). The advents of social media have expanded the extent to which humans can socialize, especially from a geographic point of view.
2. As part of globalization, social media has contributed to creating a global village where people from different corners of the world can connect, communicate, trade, and even work on a project remotely (Kapoor et al., 2017, p. 540). On the flip side, however, overreliance and overuse of social media may trigger or worsen mental health issues among users.
3.      II.            LITERATURE REVIEW (body)
   1. Definition and Connection of Key Terms
      1.                                                         i.      Social media refers to applications of websites that allow users to create and share content or take part in social networking. According to Karim et al. (2020), social media is an integral, and to a great extent, unavoidable part of modern human life. Common social media platforms include YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok.
      2.                                                       ii.      On the other hand, mental health refers to emotional, cognitive, and behavioral well-being. Fusar-Poli et al. (2020, p. 42) defined mental health as a state of well-being that allows people to cope with everyday life challenges and stresses and function productively. Common mental health issues include stress, anxiety, and depression.
      3.                                                     iii.      Several studies have established a link between social media use and mental health problems among users. For example, Karim et al. (2020) carried out a systematic review to establish the effect of social media on user mental health. They found that people involved in social media, online video games, mobile phones, and texts are more likely to experience anxiety and depression. However, the findings did not show the extent to which social media use impacts the public. In a similar study, Bekalu et al. (2019, p. 72) used nationally representative data from a sample of 1027 American adults. The authors found that while routine use of social media has positive health outcomes, the emotional connection leads to adverse health outcomes, especially for individuals already suffering from a mental health problem.
      4.                                                     iv.      Apart from depression and anxiety established by Bekalu et al. (2019) and Karim et al. (2020), other areas in which social media is problematic to mental health include perceived inadequacy about ones like and appearance (Keles et al., 2019, p. 84), Fear of Mission out (FOMO) (Franchina et al., 2019), isolation (Schønning et al., 2020) and cyberbullying (Scott et al., 2020). These are the categories in which social media influence adverse mental health outcomes among users.
4. Inadequacy about One’s Life and Appearance
   1. i.      According to Keles et al. (2019), a significant portion of social media users may feel insecure when comparing what they see on social media and what is happening in their lives. As a result, the feeling of envy and dissatisfaction often emanates, especially compared to peers whose social media posts suggest advancing in life. ii.      Agreeing with these assertions, Bekalu et al. (2019) argued that the need for validation is also a key contributor to mental health problems. People feel dissatisfied when their social media posts do not get likes, retweets, and shares, leading to their inadequate appearance or life.
5. Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)
   1.                                                         i.      Fear of missing out refers to the perception that other people are living a fun-filled and advanced life than a given user (Franchina et al., 2019). Users with this perception may suffer from trigg...