A Term Paper on Teen’s relationship with social media and mental health

 

A Term Paper on Teen’s relationship with social media and mental health

(As a requirement for the partial fulfillment of the course: Methods of Social Work 312)

 

Submitted to

Department of social work

Navodit College

Tribhuvan University

Kathmandu, Samakhushi

 

Submitted by

B Sitaula

BASW 2^nd year, 2021

Symbol no: 

August, 2021

 

 

Recommendation Letter

This term paper prepared by Ms. Bibisha Sitaula who is students of Methods of Social Work subject, BASW 2^nd year in this Navodit College was done under my direct supervision and as far as I know, the primary data mentioned by them are genuine. Hence, I would like to recommend it to the final assessment committee to make an appropriate assessment of this term paper.

 

Ms.Nutan Gauchan

Department Supervisior

Navodit College, Samakhusi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Approval Letter

It is because that a term report after doing a research on Teen’s relationship with social media and mental health topic has been presented by Ms. Bibisha Sitaula who is students of Methods of Social Work subject, BASW 2nd year studying in Navodit College under TU through internal proctor for its approval, it’s been approved by the assessment committee.

 

 

Ms. Nutan Gauchan                                                    Mr. Sudeep lama Waiba

Department Supervisior                                              Subject Teacher

 

 

 

Mr. Rajendra Adhikari                                                External Examiner

Principal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our heartfull gratitude to Navodit college for providing this wonderful opportunity to prepare a term paper on the topic “Teens relationship with social media and mental health.”

We would also like to thank out supervisior of department Ms. Nutan Gauchan for always encouraging us to do better and providing us with constant support.

Further we would like to extend our thanks to our lecturer Mr. Sudeep Lama for constantly guiding and supporting us when we came across difficulties during the entire process of this seminar paper.

We would also like to express our sincerest gratitude to all the respondents for helping us throughout the data collection process, without their help, this paper wouldn’t have been Possible.

We would also like to thank everyone who directly or indirectly helped us to complete this term paper.

 

Sincerely,

B Sitaula

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

 Content                                                                                             Page no

Cover page                                                                                                      i

Recommendation letter                                                                                   ii

Approval letter                                                                                                iii

Acknowledgements                                                                                        iv

Table of contents                                                                                            v-vi

Chapter 1

Introduction                                                                                                   1-3

1.1 Background                                                                                              1

1.2 Introduction                                                                                              1-3

1.3 Objective of study                                                                                    3

Chapter 2

Literature Review                                                                                         4-8

Chapter 3  

Methodology                                                                                                  9-11

3.1  Qualitative method                                                                                   9

3.2  Selection of Participation                                                                          9

3.3  Interview                                                                                                   9-10

3.4  Policy Review                                                                                           10-11

Chapter 4

Data Analysis and presentation                                                                   12-21

4.1 Empirical data                                                                                           12-17

4.1.1 Interview with government agency                                                       12

4.1.2 Interview with teens                                                                              12-17

4.2 Analysis                                                                                                    17-19

4.3 Critical Reflection                                                                                     19-21 Chapter 5

Conclusion and Recommendation                                                               22-24

5.1 Recommendation                                                                                                22

5.2 Conclusion                                                                                               23-24

Reference

Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1  Background

The objective of term paper is to explore the information about teens relationship with social media and impact that can be seen in teens mental health.While coming with a topic regarding mental health and teens, I came up with different topics. Among all the topics, social media and mental health was an overlapping topic that I felt was a concerning issue in today's generation.We felt the need to check social media time and again throughout the day even when we had important work pending. This addiction felt by me encouraged me more to take on this topic. It was conducted on the basis of data and facts collected from various sources.

1.2Introduction

Mental Health is about our feelings, our emotions, our thinking and our moods. Everybody knows how to look after physical health but looking after mental health is very important. You cannot see it; you have to talk about it.(Timothy J.Legg,2017)

Mental health refers to our cognitive, behavioral and emotional well-being. Daily life, relationships and physical health can also be affected by mental health. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being.(Tim Newman)Mental health affects how we think, feel and act, stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.(Mental Health.gov)

"Mental Health is a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his/her own abilities, can cope with normal stresses of life, can work fruitfully and with productivity, and is able to make a contribution to his/her community."'(WHO,2004)

Mental health and social media are somehow interrelated. Social media refers to websites and applications that are designed to allow people to share content quickly, efficiently, and in real-time. Many people define social media as applications on their smartphone or tablet, but the truth is, this communication tool started with computers. this misconception stems from the fact that most social media users access their tools via applications.(Matthew Hudson,2019)

The ability to share photos, opinions, events, etc in real-time has transformed the way we live and, also, the way we do business. Retailers who use media as an integral part of their marketing strategy usually see measurable results. But the key to successful social media is to not treat it as an extra appendage but to treat it with the same care, respect, and attention you do all of your marketing efforts.(Matthew Hudson,2019)The research published in the journal "The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health", involved interviews with almost 10,000 children between the ages of 13 and 16 in England.

The researchers found that social media may harm girls' mental health by increasing their exposure to bullying and reducing their sleep and physical exercise. Researchers have found that using social media obsessively causes more than just anxiety.(The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health)

In fact, testing has found that using too much internet can cause depression, ADHD(Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), impulsive disorder, problems with mental functioning, paranoia and loneliness. (The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health)

It is more than just the pressure of sharing things with others; it is also about how you may compare your life others you see on social media. Social media has had an immense influence as to how teens see themselves, the kind of changes they might want to bring in their lives on the basis of how the world is portrayed to them.(The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health)

1.3  Objectives of Study

 

·         To complete the practical assignment of BASW 2^nd year of the course Methods of Social work .

·         To know about the impact of use of social media in teens mental health.

·         To know the impact of social media in teens social functioning and their attitudes.

·         To know the opinion of teens whether they prefer virtual interaction or real interaction with individuals.

 

 

Chapter 2

Literature Review

 

            Mental health refers to our cognitive, behavioral and emotional well-being. Daily life, relationships and physical health can also be affected by mental health. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Social Media is a collection of applications and websites that connect people from all around the world it also helps to share information and make people aware about any event. It is especially popular among the youths. It also provides job opportunities to the students. (Asad Ali,2016).

Social media is the contemporary models of social systems and economic. Using social media is one of the most common activities of today's youths. The parents and teachers are aware about the social media but they are not aware that all the sites are not healthy environment for the youths. According to Juszezyk(2013), cyber- communication influences people in the personal behavior as it gives opportunities for valued learning, independence and responsibility. One of the research carried out in the USA shows that 1 in 5 youths, ages 10-17, received unwanted sexual advances online(Olsen,2006).

Social networking sites provide information on medical conditions, appropriate organizations and suicide hotlines. Whereas on the negative side, information on how to build bombs, be sexually active, use drugs and many other illegal activities can be found in the internet.(Lenhart,Rainie and Lewis,2001).

Comparing yourself to others on social media by stalking their aesthetically perfect Instagram photos or staying up to date with their relationship status on Facebook could do little to assuage your feelings of self-doubt. A study conducted by the University of Copenhagen found that many people suffer from “Facebook envy”, with those who abstained from using the popular site reporting that they felt more satisfied with their lives. “When we derive a sense of worth based on how we are doing relative to others, we place our happiness in a variable that is completely beyond our control,” Dr Tim Bono, author of When Likes Aren’t Enough. Becoming more conscious of the amount of time you spend scrolling through other people’s online profiles could help you focus more on yourself and boost your self-confidence.

Young adults see themselves as being socially isolated from their peers, just because they believe that they lack friends doesn’t mean that they do.  In addition to feelings of social isolation and depression, social media has also been found to be associated with self-image.

            As human beings, it’s so important for us to be able to communicate and forget personal connections with one another. Stina Sanders, a former model who has 107,000 followers on Instagram, explained how social media sometimes makes her feel like she’s being left out. “I know from my experience I can get FOMO when I see my friend’s photos of a party I didn’t go to, and this, in turn, can make me feel quite lonely and anxious,” she told The Independent.

Facebook depression is a burning issue in the contemporary world, a concern resulting from children’s use of social media.  American Academy of Pediatrics defines Facebook depression as “depression that develops when teens and preteens spend time on social media sites and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression due to the intensity of the online world.” 

Cyber communication can bring positive personal growth when used with proper instruction, guidance and supervision. It is important to teach the youth when, how and why to get unplugged from the internet because balance between virtual and real world can be the greatest gift.A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology that assessed 5,208 subjects found that overall, regular use of Facebook had a negative impact on an individual’s wellbeing.

Procrastination is a term that always comes lingering along when social media is brought up.The Incentive sensitization theory of addiction, talks about how drugs initially produce feelings of pleasure encouraging users to take drugs again. However, with the transition to addiction, there appears to be a decrease in the role of drug pleasure. As individuals start taking more drugs the pleasure they felt earlier decreases, but at the same time their want for that substance increases.  This paradox of liking and wanting can be understood learning how drugs become stimuli for only a certain part of the brain. ‘Repeated drug use sensitizes only the neural systems that mediate the motivational process of incentive salience (wanting), but not neural systems that mediate the pleasurable effects of drugs (liking)’

Out of 10 questions in them. The questions about preference of different social networking sites, time of use, and type of information gathered, and social relations built through these social networking sites. On being asked which aspect weigh heavier the positive or negative effects social networking sites 68% of the respondents said that social networking sites had a positive effect on their lives. When asked whether or not do these social networking sites build relationships on personal and professional front, nearly 74% agreed whereas, 26% disagreed elucidating the fact that Social Networking sites offer a huge networking platform to people across various zones to connect with one another on both personal and professional fronts.

The study concludes by giving a metaphor that we’re very familiar with, that of a coin and its two faces and how these two faces have adversely affected the lives of youth. The youth have determined their own boundaries and have set their own limits as to how and when to use social media irrespective of the positive and negative effects it imparts.

The youth are not only aware of what fits best for them but are also keen and enthusiastic to draw their own priorities and fix on to which ones are most important and how social networking sites offer them a platform to connect with new people, share experiences and gain exposure. The youth comes to terms with gaining relevant and quick information about what goes around in their near and dear ones’ lives through the source of social networking sites offering them a ground to updates.

 

  

 

Chapter 3

Methodology

3.1 Qualitative method

Qualitative method was used for this seminar paper. Interviews and focus group are the most common qualitative methods of data collection.Qualitative methods are often regarded as providing rich data about real life people and situations and being more able to make sense of behaviour and to understand behaviour within its wider context. Five interviews were conducted where the participants were under the age of 19 and were selected on the basis of their engagement in at least one social media account.

3.2 Selection of Participants:

            Purposive Sampling: Purposive sampling is a sampling technique in which researcher relies on his or her own judgment when choosing members of population to participate in the study.Participants were selected on the basis of their ages and their involvement in social media. All the participants were between 13 and 19 years old.Five participants were selected for the interview, where three were male and two were female.

3.3 Interview:

            Interview refers to the one-on-one conversation between an interviewer and interviewee. I conducted a semi-structured interview to get information from respective participants. I went to visit participants in order to take the interview. I took interview of the teen who are member of our society. I asked each individual question about social media and their relations with it.

3.4 Policy Review

Looking at the present scenario in Nepal, the government has tabled the Information Technology Bill in the parliament, which would impose harsh sanctions for “improper” social media posts (“Proposed new social media law limits freedom of expression”, 2019).The government can also instruct social networking site operators to remove posts. Failure to do so could lead to a three-year jail term and a fine of NPR 30,000. Those responsible for social media posts deemed defamatory or against national sovereignty could be punished with up to five years of jail term and a fine of NPR 1.5 million.

The law also prohibits speeches and writing that are considered “contrary to the policies of the Government of Nepal or to undermine mutual relationship between the Government of Nepal and the people or the relationship with any foreign country”.Analyzing these laws, what we have been observing is that freedom of expression in Nepal continues to face serious threats. Journalists have been arrested and charged under the Electronic Transaction Act 2008 for their reports and dozens have been attacked or threatened (The Himalayan Times, 2019). Same with the case of Pranesh Gautam, a youtuber, who had given his reviews on the Nepali movie, was arrested for delivering negative reviews about the movie. We have also seen a lot of cyber bullying cases which needs to be addressed and taken seriously. Having certain reviews about some movies or songs can be taken as constructive criticism but when the people’s emotional sentiments are hurt because of cyberbullying, then that is certainly a serious issue. And looking at the scenario, cyber-bullying is indeed an issue but when it comes to taking action against the people bullying behind the screens, the actions are not being implemented.

 

Chapter 4

Data analysis and presentation

4.1 Empirical data

4.1.1 Government agency

Name: Lokraj Sharma

Designation: Director

Organization: Ministry of communication and information technology

Contact no: 9851165983

            Social media is not problem in itself but the misuse of social media brings a lot of problem. As we can see many problems in current situation in teen and public because of social media it all due to misuse and lack of aware in pubic about use of social media. In the case of teen many teens don’t have enough awareness regarding the use of social media so they go through mental problems. They spend lots of time in social media rather then with family and work so they go through mental problems and it may arise in huge problem. Social media is doing good for many teens but the one who gets access with social media with out knowing its drawbacks and advantages get to face lots of problem. Even family should also make the limitation on the use of social media and phone so that later they don’t face mental problem. They should spend more time with children rather then phone. Ministry of communication and Nepali Television is also broadcasting different awareness information about how to use social media. He also mention that we cannot take social media as totally disadvantage or totally advantage to but if public are aware and knows what to do and don’t then it may be very helpful for the teens ton achieve their goal and secure future.

4.1.2 Teens

Participant 1:

The participant is a 19 years old male, who is a college student recently studying in grade 12. He works as a helper in a family of three members. He uses internet only during his leisure time. The apps that he often uses are facebook, instagram, youtube and online games. He uses social media for the purposes such as entertainment and news gathering purposes.

            He has emphasized the importance of social media as being just a click away from getting the required information and at the same time, he has also stated some of its psychological impacts such as short temper and impatience at times. He has a good connection with the family members and does not seem to be shy in person and therefore, prefers face to face communication to those through the digital means.

            The major impacts of social that he has highlighted upon is that he often compares his life with the luxurious lives portrayed through social media posts and usually ends up feeling low about not having to live up to his expectations. When he was questioned whether or not he was happy and satisfied with his life. He simply answered that he was happy in an average manner but not satisfied with the life he is living.

Participant 2:

The participant is a 19 yearold girl. She is a happy and fun girl.  She uses internet for reading purposes more than communicating. From the internet, she also explains that how she can get ideas and opinions from other people (i.e. through comments,posts, etc). The most used apps for her are pinterest and quara. She uses most of the time reading books, so she is not so fund of internet. She feels more comfortable talking with people in real life rather than in virtual life because she is not much active in her social media. She is unknown about such psychological impact that internet has brought her. She does feel isolated at times when she keeps using the internet for a longer period of time. She is not active in social media and she is more of a book person so her passive involvement in social media defines it the most.

Participant 3:

The Participant is an 18 year old male. He is quite shy in person. He uses the internet mostly to play games and communicate with his friends. Internet is easily accessible for the boy, (sources of internet:-wifi, mobile data). He invests most of him time on the internet. Social media has been a very important part of his life. He also keeps on updating his bio in the social media because he thinks that it's cool and aims to gain more popularity. He finds social media more comfortable to communicate with others rather than in real life. He thinks talking in social media is easier because you get more time to think about what to write and also don’t have to worry that much if something is wrongly said. In real life, he usually feels shy to face the people. He compares his life with others, so usually posts the photo to show others indeed in a competitive way. Since his family members are outside, he also uses most of the time communicating with his family.

Participant 4:

            Participant was an 18th year old female who is  doing her undergraduate studies. The participant has internet access in her home and when asked about the types of applications she uses in her phone and laptop she mentioned most of the mainstream social networking applications like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube. These were the ones that she spent most of her time looking into throughout the day almost every day. The participant said that she spent a minimum of 3 hours on these applications and that these applications were vital for her to get through the day as they provided her with relevant information about her field of interest, current world news, entertainment as well as keeping up with family and friends who are not close by. While stressing the importance of social media she also brought into light the fact that she could go through her daily life without using the mentioned applications if there isn't any important work that needs to be taken care of. The effects of these applications she says can make a person feel irritated and insecure about their intellectual abilities, artistic expressions and body image. While she says that it's easy to interact with people virtually she says face to face interaction is more expressive and written media fails to address the issue of human emotion and feelings. The participant adds by saying that she compares her life with the lives seen on social media applications with regard to beauty, lifestyle, relationships and achievements. The participant says that social media is a platform where people can express themselves freely and their social media presence can define their personality to a certain level, this she says can be figured out by looking at the news people share about current issues, their interest in music, theater, and movies. The participant concludes by saying that social media has both negative and positive aspects, and it's rather the person using these applications who makes the spectrum turn ways rather than the applications themselves.

 Participant 5:

Participant is a 16 year old college student who is currently studying in grade 11. He uses internet to play games, watch videos in youtube , also to take help in the educational activities and also to communicate with his friends and family.Internet is easily accessible via wifi and mobile data. Instagram, facebook, youtube, messenger, etc. are some of the applications used by the Participant. He is busy using internet whenever he is alone but when there are people around him, he socializes with them. He finds social media useful as he gets to learn a lot from the internet and also communicate with people from around the world. He also thinks internet is a source of entertainment. He uses his mobile data if there is no internet or if the internet is slow while playing online games. However, he is also familiar with the outer world as he plays outdoor games with his friends and also spends quality time with his family. He has not felt isolated till now because he is always with either family or friends physically or through internet. He sometimes compares his life with others on the basis of their social media posts. Therefore, he is happy with his life but is not fully satisfied with his life.

4.2 Analysis

Through comparing the information gathered from different articles and the ones collected from the participants it can be seen that the youth today are well aware of the fact that they have been affected by social networking sites to a great extent. Although teens use social networking application for their academics a significant amount of their time spent on their phones and laptops is for entertainment purpose the internet has been used as a source of comparison and competition. Social media has become a platform where people are on a constant battle with themselves to find their own voice and the way they want to present themselves to the world and the pressure they feel that makes them want to abide by the expectations set up by this virtual audience.

i.                    Time spent on social media

It was seen that the participants on average were on social media for a minimum of 3 hours a day. Everyday. Maximum amount of time spent on social media throughout the day was in the evening on working days and on non working days , they were on it throughout the day with small intervals in-between.

ii.                  Applications used

All the participants used social media applications like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest. Whereas only one of the participants used twitter.

iii.                Variety of content

Type of content viewed by the participants on social media was mostly entertainment; Funny videos and memes. The participants also talked about getting a variety of information from national to international news, aesthetics, astrology, different forms of art and sports. They also viewed content that gave information about healthy lifestyle with regard to eating habits, exercise and yoga.

iv.                Effects of social media

On the positive side participants told that social media created a space for the participants to put on display their artistic expression and helped to view the work of others that held similar interests. Social media can be seen as a medium of a sort in helping build communities of likeminded people.

Social media can also be viewed as a large body of information. This information ranges from news about national and international events, healthy eating habits, new discoveries in science and technology, fashion and astrology and as one participant puts "The largest content provider in social media".

On the other side of the spectrum, social media is said to have harmed the way individuals view themselves. This is where the problem of mental health comes into the scene. Being exposed to such a huge audience, people  start to  feel the scrutiny of the ones they have exposed themselves to. The participants said they felt insecure about their bodies after seeing "Body ideals" on social media.This was emphasized more by the female participants than the male participants.

 Social media also has a massive role in procrastination, young people are well aware about the fact that they are wasting their time on social media applications but there seems to be this addiction that forbids them from getting their work done. By this they start achieving less and less in the real world which again harms their mental health.

The addiction of social media can be understood by the Incentive sensitization theory of addiction (Robinson & Berridge 1993), the theory talks about how drugs initially produce feelings of pleasure encouraging users to take drugs again. However, with the transition to addiction, there appears to be a decrease in the role of drug pleasure. As individuals start taking more drugs the pleasure they felt earlier decreases, but at the same time their want for that substance increases.  This paradox of liking and wanting can be understood learning how drugs become a stimuli for only a certain part of the brain. Similarly in the use of social media the participants explained how they would be using social media and scrolling through their feed even though there was nothing that interest them, still they felt the urge to get more while simultaneously disliking what they were seeing.

4.3 Critical Reflection

In the context of Nepal, the government has proposed a new law related to social media that limits the freedom of expression. Those who are responsible for the posts that are against the nation could be punished with a fine of NRP 1.5 million and up to five years of jail term. And those who refuse to remove the posts as instructed by the government could also be punished with afine of NRP 30,000 and a three year jail term. ETA (Electronic Transaction Act, 2008) deals with issues related to cybercrime and also help in making and implementing laws over cybercrime. It has made different requirements so that if anyone found having cybercrime, he/she will be punished according to the scene of the crime. He /she can be jailed for a minimum of 6 months to a maximum of 3 years and has to pay the penalty according to the offense. In relation to the law of ETA Section 47 (publication of illegal materials in electronic form), the law has been implemented but in a form of threat. Since, it is a vague law,  a young youtuber had been arrested due to the accusation of committing a cybercrime with no proper evidence that the content being uploaded was to be considered a cybercrime. So, we feel that this is the absolute misuse of the provided law, which had been implemented with no proper investigation. Such cases are relatable with the study because people become victims when freedom of speech is implemented in a certain way. 

There are also some cases in Nepal where people have been arrested for expressing their thoughts through social media. They have been punished for going against the law so we can say that the law is being implemented and it is in practice. From the interview, we came to know that due to this policy, the youths fear to post and express their thoughts through social media.On the other hand, the youths also fear to share when they face cyber bullying. Adolescents who experience cyber bullying are at increased risk for several mental health conditions, especially if they have previously been emotionally abused. Besides, such problems are not being addressed in Nepal due lack of structured policies and implications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 5

Conclusion and Recommendation

5.1 Recommendation

·         Recommendation to parents

Before giving phone to children parents must aware children’s about its advantages and disadvantages. Must check their children phone once or twice a week. Must be friendly with children and spend more time with them so that they can use phone for less time.

·         Recommendation to children

Must avoid excessive use of phones and social media rather spend more time with family. Avoid unknown person and should not talk in social media with unknown person. Should not publish private information on social sites.

·         Recommendation to government

Government should strictly have age limits while using social media. Should lunch different awareness program through mass media to aware children.

 

 

 

 

 

5.2 Conclusion

            WHO defines mental health as mental well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.  In this positive sense, mental health is the foundation for individual well-being and the effective functioning of a community.

Relating mental health with social media, as with any life-changing technology, social media comes with benefits and drawbacks. Asystematic review published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research in 2016 takes a careful look at the complex ways that social media is related to anxiety and depression. Social media platforms may encourage people to compare themselves to others. Even with today’s array of emojis, it can be more difficult to express complex feelings and emotions with social media. As a result, miscommunication is more common than in face-to-face interactions.

From this study, we found that the tendency to compare self to others on social media, whether you see yourself in a more positive or more negative light is a significant risk factor for depression and anxiety. Similarly, social media has also become a source of creating self-doubt and insecurities among teens majorly among females.

            Although social media is a powerful tool and is certainly here to stay, it is important that people understand that nothing exists without negative side effects. As long as people are aware of the potential negative consequences that can be caused by their actions, they can make more educated choices about their behaviors. If young adults and their caregivers are aware of the effects of social media use, they can create healthy social media habits to guard against these potential effects.