The Internet is synonymous with social networks for teenagers and young people. In them they meet, socialize, entertain themselves, but they also have a bad time. This was revealed by a study in the United Kingdom that revealed that these platforms cause depression, anxiety, sleep problems and insecurity. The report includes a ranking of the impact on mental health of the most popular ones. YouTube tops the table as the most positive, while Instagram -closely followed by Snapchat- is the most harmful.
Social networks and mental health
For the work "Social networks and young people's mental health and well-being", specialists from the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH) and the University of Cambridge carried out a survey among almost 1500 young people between 16 and 24 years old. The questions were aimed at finding out how they felt on the five most popular networks: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and YouTube.
Based on the score that the boys gave to whether certain positive and negative factors related to their well-being were favored or harmed through their experience as users, the worst average was Instagram. The social network in which image is everything negatively affects the body image they have of themselves, the hours they dedicate to sleep (and the quality of it), and exacerbates their fear of being left out of something if they are not connected (FoMO, for its acronym in English). They also reported that anxiety (and to a lesser extent depression and loneliness) and cyberbullying worsen. Second in the ranking was Snapchat, followed by Facebook and Twitter. The only one that obtained a good average was YouTube, which achieved high positive ratings in two thirds of the items (although it is the one that takes away the most hours of sleep).
Social networks are intrinsically linked to mental health, say the authors of the work. "We must strive to understand their impact, especially on the younger population," who make the most intensive use of them, says Shirley Cramer of the RSPH. The specialist highlights as strengths that these platforms promote a feeling of community, facilitate the provision of emotional support and have potential as a positive catalyst for mental health. "But there are also risks that if not addressed can and have already opened the door to causing significant problems for the well-being of young people.
Preventive Measures
Being a teenager is difficult enough, but the pressures that young people face online are undoubtedly unique to this digital generation. It is vitally important to take preventive measures." Some of the measures proposed by the report are: that users receive a notification (a pop-up) from the application warning them of excessive use, that the network warns when a photo is digitally manipulated and that awareness campaigns are carried out about these risks in the school environment.
Updated on: 22/05/2017 00:00:00
Source of Information: Clarín
