Is social media bad for mental health and wellbeing? Exploring the perspectives of adolescents

O’Reilly, M., Dogra, N., Whiteman, N., Hughes, J., Eruyar, S. and Reilly, P. (2018) Is social media bad for mental health and wellbeing? Exploring the perspectives of adolescents. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 23(4), pp. 601-613. (doi: 10.1177/1359104518775154) (PMID:29781314)

Abstract

Despite growing evidence of the effects of social media on the mental health of adolescents, there is still a dearth of empirical research into how adolescents themselves perceive social media, especially as knowledge resource, or how they draw upon the wider social and media discourses to express a viewpoint. Accordingly, this article contributes to this scarce literature. Six focus groups took place over 3 months with 54 adolescents aged 11–18 years, recruited from schools in Leicester and London (UK). Thematic analysis suggested that adolescents perceived social media as a threat to mental wellbeing and three themes were identified: (1) it was believed to cause mood and anxiety disorders for some adolescents, (2) it was viewed as a platform for cyberbullying and (3) the use of social media itself was often framed as a kind of ‘addiction’. Future research should focus on targeting and utilising social media for promoting mental wellbeing among adolescents and educating youth to manage the possible deleterious effects.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was funded by the Wellcome Trust (grant reference 109393/Z/15/Z).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Reilly, Dr Paul
• Authors: O’Reilly, M., Dogra, N., Whiteman, N., Hughes, J., Eruyar, S., and Reilly, P.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• ISSN: 1359-1045
• ISSN (Online): 1461-7021
• Published Online: 20 May 2018