Social Media: A Mental Virus

Erin Kelly
ENGL138, Section 002
Prof. Babcock
April 15, 2018
Abstract
As mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, and eating disorders are on the rise
within the population of young adults, it is curious that the use of social media has spiked in
popularity as well. Initially, it is arguable that the correlation between the increase in mental
illness and the increase in social media use does not grantee causation, however, after further
inspection, the two factors do appear to be dependent on one another. Social media decreases
self-esteem through physical comparisons, and low self-esteem plays a large part in depression,
anxiety, and eating disorders. In addition, social media decreases life satisfaction as people
compare accomplishments. As expected, low life satisfaction can quickly result in depression.
Finally, it is understood that social media decreases interpersonal, face to face, conversation,
leading to poor social skills and isolation (these two factors can spiral into anxiety and
depression as well). With social media playing a large part in the decrease of mental health, it is
imperative for the public to be made aware of the risk that they are subjecting themselves to.
While it is not possible to completely rid society of social media, it is important to decrease the
use of social media, especially in children before they grow into young adults. Additionally,
alternate means of socialization should further be presented; for example, activities like clubs or
sports could be joined. Furthermore, it is necessary to offer help to those who have already
succumb to the pressure of social media by providing therapy or support groups. Ultimately, this
issue needs to be addressed immediately to prevent further decline in mental health.
Introduction
Take a look around. How many people close by are completely, utterly, absorbed in the
social media on their phones right now? Chances are, this number is pretty high, for people
spend around five hours per day on their phones.i Five hours does not seem ridiculous at first;
however, when a person is only awake for around fifteen hours, the individual is spending about
one third of his or her day on his or her device. People are on their phones for various reasons,
but one of the biggest offenders is social media. Approximately 88% of all 18 to 29-year-old
Americans admit that they use some form of social media.ii These young adults spend hours,
upon hours, looking through images, posts, and videos from their collection of social media sites,
whether these include Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, VSCO, or more.
Social media, admittedly, is fun and addicting. Everyone gets a rush from posting an
exciting picture or reading a highly entertaining post. However, what people, especially young
adults, do not realize, is that social media is not all excitement and entertainment. Social media
can lead to serious mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders due to a
decrease in self-esteem, life satisfaction, and face to face interactions. As these three factors are
reduced, people are at a far greater risk to develop poor mental health. While many young adults
have copious knowledge regarding the personal benefits of social media, many are much less
informed about the risks of social media. It is imperative for people, especially in the 18-29-year-
old age group (primary users) to understand that the use of social media can truly impact their
mental health in a deleterious way, leading to several complications. Furthermore, it is also
immediately necessary to provide these individuals with ways to cope with the onset of mental
illness and provide alternative ways of socialization.

Why Do People Use Social Media?

Social media is a rather new development that has spread like wildfire. People from all
ages and backgrounds use social media platforms to communicate and socialize. At the most
basic level, social media is defined as “websites and other online means of communication that
are used by large groups of people to share information and to develop social and professional
contacts.”iii Of course, Dictionary.com’s definition is not enough to sum up what social media
truly is. To understand social media, it is critical to know the depth of its roots in society today.
According to a Pew Research Center survey, social media is more captivating than people would
expect. Out of all young Americans, between the ages of 18 and 24, 78% use snapchat (71%
visiting the app more than once per day), 71% use Instagram, 94% use YouTube, and 45% use
Twitter.iv

Furthermore, 40% of all social media users in 2018 have expressed that it would be hard to give
up social media, which is a stark increase from the 28% who said the same thing in 2014.v When
narrowed down to the focus age group of young adults, 51% said that would have a tough time
giving up social media in 2018.vi
Why are people so obsessed with social media? Well, the answer to this question is
different for many people, but the reasons for use have been simplified down to ten motives
including: social interaction, information seeking, pass time, entertainment, relaxation,
communicatory utility, convenience utility, expression of opinion, information sharing, and
surveillance/knowledge about others.vii Many of these reasons are quite self-explanatory, and
while they vary from person to person, most are heavy influences on why people use social
media. At this point, it is easy to understand why social media is used, but not many know the
dangers behind the usage. Social media easily can lead to a decrease in self-esteem, decrease in
life satisfaction and a decrease in “real-life,” face to face interactions. As will be explained later
on, low self-esteem, life satisfaction, and face to face interactions can in turn have extremely
harmful effects on mental health, specifically leading to mental illnesses like depression, anxiety,
and eating disorders. First, it is pertinent to address how social media can decrease self-esteem,
life satisfaction, and face to face interactions.

Social Media Decreases Self-Esteem, Life Satisfaction, and Face to Face

Interactions
The increased use of social media correlates directly with the decrease in self-esteem for
several reasons. Social media easily can lead to low self-esteem due to the physical comparison
factor. Many people compare themselves physically to others on social media, despite the fact
that others may completely edit or Photoshop their images. When a person sees another with the
ideal body and flawless attributes, he or she may feel jealousy and dissatisfaction in himself or
herself. A study conducted by Itisha Nagar and Rukhsana Virk found that there is a “a significant
increase in thin-ideal internalization and body dissatisfaction and a significant decrease in self-
esteem scores as a result of exposure to the thin-ideal media images.”viii People in this study were
exposed to “ideal” body types that can be found on social media sites like Instagram, Facebook,
and more while the control group was exposed to a simple cartoon. Both groups took a survey
after which questioned how the participants felt about themselves in regards to self-worth and
body image. The group that viewed the ideal bodies scored much lower in overall self-esteem,
proving, scientifically, the negative effects of exposure to “perfect” individuals on the observer's
own self esteem. This experiment is not unique. It is easy to see how average people can develop
the same effects of low self-esteem by viewing others on social media. What is even more
disturbing, is that many of these “ideal” bodies on social media are fake. According to a study,
around 57% of women admit to editing a picture of themselves before they post on social
media.ix If more than half of the images of women are edited, it is likely that individuals are
comparing themselves to highly edited and false images. This is incredibly unhealthy, for often
these perfect pictures are impossible to obtain, leaving the onlooker disappointed and dissatisfied
with himself or herself. In fact, it was found that approximately 92% of teenage American girls
are unhappy with their bodies, and while all of these girls may not be feeling this way solely
because of social media, many may be impacted by social media simply demonstrated by the
sheer amount of young adult who partake in the online platforms.x Ultimately, social media
promotes the perfect body, causing an increase in an individual’s physical comparison with
others and a subsequent decrease in his or her self-esteem.
Next, because of social media, many individuals find that their satisfaction in their own
lives has also decreased. Differing from the cause of low self-esteem (comparison of physical
appearance with others) the cause of low life satisfaction is generally caused by comparing
success rates, whether these accomplishments are measured socially or economically. Social
media highlights the “best” moments of people’s lives, making some people’s lives appear
exclusively successful when in reality these people simply do not share the abundance of flaws
in their lives. On social media, people will post about their successful relationships or brag about
their large friend groups or how many social events that they attend. In addition, people brag
economically, posting about their great job or their incredible (and expensive) vacations. When
other’s see these posts, of course there are thoughts of congratulations, but deep within, people
compare their lives and success rate with one another. People question why they do not have as
many friends, or travel as much, or have as successful of a job. In an experiment titled “The
Predictive Level of Social Media Addiction for Life Satisfaction: A Study on University
Students,” it was found, through various demographic surveys, that “the more participants are
addicted to social media, the less they are satisfied with life.”xi As explained above, this
scientific finding is not surprising. When people spend a large quantity of time comparing their
lives to other, there is no doubt that people may begin to feel dissatisfaction or jealousy.
Furthermore, it is interesting to note that much of what is posted on social media is either false or
highly skewed, as people generally choose to highlight their best moments. For example, a
twenty-five-year-old artist, Zilla van der Born, faked an entire trip to Southeast Asia in which
she edited herself into expensive hotels and exciting tropical images to prove how easily social
media can provide a distorted image of reality.xii She was successful in her endeavor, even
tricking her parents into believing that she was across the world. Ultimately, her experiment
proves just how fake social media can be, making it incredibly harmful for one to compare his or
her own life to the images depicted on the online platforms. Unfortunately, as people compare
their success to others, they quickly lose satisfaction in their lives.
Finally, as social media is on the rise, people find that are often captivated by this social
platform, leading to a decrease in interpersonal, face to face interactions. When people are
entranced by social media, they tend to spend much less time in reality, ignoring the movement
of life around them. This leads to two consequences: isolation and a decrease in social skills.
People become obsessed with social media for several aforementioned reasons, but one notable
factor is the relatively new idea of FOMO or “fear of missing out.” FOMO is defined as “a
pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is
absent, [which is] characterized by the desire to stay continually connected with what others are
doing.”xiii This connection is most often via social media, which ensnares its users. When people
become so incredibly wrapped up in their online presence they tend to actually miss out on “real-
life” social opportunities. Just a simple example of this when individuals take videos at a concert
or pictures at prom instead of actually living in and enjoying the moment. While some people
may not have a problem living this way, the constant use of social media through cell phones has
been linked to loneliness. While this seems to be somewhat of a paradox, as social media was
created to increase communication, the constant use of social media leads to fewer “real-life”
interactions. With fewer social interactions, people lose their social skills or their ability to
interact with others in an interpersonal setting. This consequently leads to a decrease in the
ability to maintain or create relationships, which actually furthers isolation. According to a study
in which 374 participants were surveyed, “poor social skills were related to less involvement in
face-to-face communication and greater loneliness.”xiv As proven in the study, it is simple to see
how more involvement in social media can lead to a decrease in face to face interactions,
resulting in poor social skills and isolation.

How Can Decreasing Self-Esteem, Life Satisfaction, and Face to Face

Interactions Lead to Mental Illness?
Why does it matter that social media decreases self-esteem, life satisfaction, and face to
face interactions? Unbeknownst to many, a decrease in any of these factors can be linked to
certain mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. These links will be
explained below.
As discussed earlier, social media promotes the perfect body, causing an increase in an
individual’s physical comparison with others and a subsequent decrease in his or her self-esteem.
To begin, self-esteem is defined as “how we value ourselves; it is how we perceive our value to
the world and how valuable we think we are to others”.xv Low self-esteem is associated with
several types of poor mental health ranging from anxiety, to depression, to eating disorders.
Through a clinical sample it was found that “depression severity (e.g. meeting criteria for double
depression – MDD and dysthymia) was associated with the lowest [self-esteem] scores on the
Coopersmith Self‐Esteem Inventory,” which is a test for levels of self-esteem.xvi This study
provides quantitative evidence supporting that poor self-esteem can quickly lead to more severe
depression. Furthermore, low self-esteem can lead to other issues like anxiety and eating
disorders. In another clinical sample, conducted by Dr. Bronwyn C. Raykos, Dr. Peter M.
McEvoy, and Dr. Anthea Fursland, the psychologists discovered that “a significant pathway was
found from socializing problems to eating disorder symptoms via low self‐esteem and anxiety
symptoms. There was also a direct pathway from low self‐esteem to eating disorder
symptoms.xvii This data taken from patients suffering through mental illness proves that low self-
esteem is able to contribute to both anxiety and eating disorders. Ultimately, low self-esteem is
linked to several instances of mental illness through scientific procedure, meaning that low self-
esteem can indeed cause depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.
Next, it was previously understood that social media causes people to compare their
success to others, resulting in loss of satisfaction in their lives. Low life satisfaction is highly
linked to mental illnesses as well. Life-satisfaction, though rather self-explanatory, is defined as
“personal fulfillment or contentment, [especially] with one's social relationships, occupation,
maturation, or aging.”xviii It has been proven that life satisfaction negatively correlates with
depression, meaning that as life satisfaction decreases (in this case from social media use), the
likelihood of having depression increases.xix It is easy to understand how a person who is not
satisfied with his or her life could begin to develop depression, for feeling constant
disappointment in one’s self and in one’s life is a significant symptom of depression. Summarily,
low life satisfaction can lead to depression as one begins to feel intense disappointment in
himself or herself.
Finally, as stated earlier, when people use social media more often, they lose their social
skills to interact in face to face situations and often end up feeling isolated. The resulting poor
social skills and isolation easily can lead to mental health issues, like depression and anxiety. For
example, a study conducted by Tamyra Pierce at California State University, “revealed a positive
relationship between social anxiety of [face to face interaction] and feeling more comfortable
interacting with others via messaging.”xx This finding indicates that high usage of social media
can result in social anxiety, due to decreased need or practice of social skills. As social media
becomes the prime platform for interaction, people simply lose social skills and develop social
anxiety. Social anxiety can contribute to isolation or having trouble making or maintaining
relationships, ultimately leading to isolation. In a longitudinal twin study, data supported the idea
that “those who are lonely are often depressed.”xxi This concept is not unique, for signs of
depression often include apathy and social withdraw, which can go hand in hand with isolation
and loneliness. Ultimately, all findings point to the theory that decreased real-life social
interactions can contribute to depression and social anxiety as people lose social skills and find
themselves lonelier.

Connecting Social Media to Mental Illness

In the end, it is easy to see the connection between social media and poor mental health.
Social media decreases self-esteem by promoting physical comparison of appearances, which
can directly lead to depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Social media also decreases life
satisfaction by stimulating a comparison of success socially or economically, leading to a higher
chance of developing depression. Finally, social media decreases face to face interaction by
captivating its users online, resulting in decreased social skills, increased isolation, and a greater
likelihood of developing depression and social anxiety. While it is not a guaranteed fact that a
person will develop a mental illness from using social media, it is highly interesting that the
occurrences of depressionxxii, anxietyxxiii and eating disordersxxiv are on the rise as social media
has become a more prominent factor in society.xxv

Twenge, Jean & Gentile, Brittany & Nathan DeWall, C & Ma, Debbie & Lacefield, Katharine & Schurtz, David. (2010). Birth cohort
increases in psychopathology among young Americans, 1938-2007: A cross-temporal meta-analysis of the MMPI. Clinical Psychology
Review. 30. 145-154. 10.1016/j.cpr.2009.10.005.

Though it is impossible to stop society from continuing to use social media, it is

imperative that all members understand the dangers of social media and the impacts that it can
have on their lives immediately. Understanding these impact of social media is the first step to
prevent correlating poor mental health. Though step one is spreading awareness, there are further
steps that can be taken to fix this social media “virus.”

What Can Society Do?

Like a virus, the dangers of social media are best avoided by prevention of the
“sickness,” which, in the case of social media, would be acknowledgement of the dangers of
social media and decreasing the use of social media platforms in children. However, remaining
true to the virus analogy, the negative results of social media (poor mental health) can be treated
and cured as well via alternate involvement or mental health care.
As previously mentioned, awareness of the deleterious effects of social media use must
first be acknowledged by society. Social media apps or sites should provide a warning, perhaps
in the standard “terms and conditions” memo of the website. Though acknowledgement of the
dangers may not deter many, at least people will be consciously understanding how social media
can affects their mental state. In addition, it is possible that parents would take more drastic
measures to reduce their child’s social media involvement if these parents knew the
repercussions of social media regarding mental illness. While children are not the prime social
media users, it is understood that children who begin using social media young will continue to
use it, becoming a part of the prime user group (18-27-year olds). To begin, parents should
attempt to restrict social media from young children who are often more vulnerable to the harsh
impacts of this social platform. If a website, like Facebook, expresses an age limit, parents
should enforce this to their children. If parents do however choose to allow use of social media,
they should limit the time their child spends on the platform. In addition, limiting a child’s online
presences can increase the child’s activity in face to face interactions. The time a child or young
adult spends on social media could be allocated to another part of his or her life. He or she could
join a sports team or a club, activities which both have beneficial impacts on a child. Sports,
clubs, or any other after school activity has been shown to increase social ability, teamwork
skills, self-esteem, academics, and more.xxvi
Furthermore, it is not just parents that should be watching their children’s social media
usage. It has been recognized by The American Pediatrics Academy that pediatricians should
explain to parents the risks and rewards of letting their child use social media. xxvii If this
recommendation is reinforced more successfully than current measures, parents may be able to
monitor their child’s social media use before it becomes harmful. Perhaps if pediatricians step in,
parents will not have the complete burden of deciding whether to let their child use social media
or not. The doctor’s recommendation may make that choice much easier for some parents.
While the above recommendations are generally geared towards children, as it is more
beneficial to slow social media use before it begins, those who already use social media are not
at a loss. Young adults and adults alike can also attempt to get more involved in clubs, sports, or
other hobbies that satisfy alternate interests. Furthermore, college campuses should provide more
information regarding the negative effects of social media perhaps through flyers, mandatory
information sessions, or campus wide emails (as a portion of the primary users are in their
college years). Unfortunately, while prevention of mental illness is the best measure, many
individuals have already fallen ill to depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Several people are
already aware of the help that they can receive, but many more are not. If an individual sees or
feels the symptoms of mental illness, it is imperative to seek help through either a therapist,
psychiatrist, or specialized doctor. Many schools have these connections to help in place, but
they are often not easily found by students. These connections should be further highlighted and
made aware to all students. In addition, work places should promote help for mental illness more
visibly so that individuals needing help can seek it; help should be more evident, for often people
do not know where to start when wishing to recover.
In all, society would benefit from, at the very least, understanding the dangers of
excessive social media use immediately so that poor mental health can be prevented. In a best-
case scenario, society would find an even greater benefit from decreasing social media use as a
whole by getting more involved in other activities.
i
Gregoire, Carolyn. “You Probably Use Your Smartphone Way More Than You Think.” The Huffington Post,
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 5 Nov. 2015, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/smartphone-usage-
estimates_us_5637687de4b063179912dc96

ii
Smith, Aaron, and Monica Anderson. “Social Media Use in 2018.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science &
Tech, Pew Research Center, 1 Mar. 2018, http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/

iii
“Social Media”. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 26 Mar. 2018. <Dictionary.com
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/social-media?s=t>

iv
Smith, Aaron, and Monica Anderson. “Social Media Use in 2018.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science &
Tech, Pew Research Center, 1 Mar. 2018, http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/

v
Ibid.
vi
Ibid.

vii
Whiting, A., & Williams, D. (2013). Why people use social media: A uses and gratifications
approach. Qualitative Market Research, 16(4), 362-369. http://dx.doi.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1108/QMR-
06-2013-0041 Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/1428875410?accountid=13158

viii
Nagar, Itisha, and Rukhsana Virk. "The Struggle between the Real and Ideal: Impact of Acute Media Exposure on
Body Image of Young Indian Women." SAGE Open, vol. 7, no. 1, 2017, pp. 215824401769132.

Nobel, Freya. “Double Standards? More than Half of Women Admit to Editing Their Social Media Photos before
ix

Posting despite over Two Thirds Thinking It's Wrong for Magazines to Do It.” Daily Mail Online, Associated
Newspapers, 11 Feb. 2015, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2948410/More-half-women-admit-editing-social-
media-photos-posting-despite-two-thirds-thinking-s-wrong-magazines-it.html.
x
“Statistics on Girls & Women's Self Esteem, Pressures & Leadership Heart of Leadership: Lead. Your World.”
Heart of Leadership: Lead Your World, Heart of Leadership, www.heartofleadership.org/statistics/.

xi
ŞAHIN, Cengiz. "The Predictive Level of Social Media Addiction for Life Satisfaction: A Study on University
Students." TOJET : The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 16, no. 4, 2017.
xii
Dewey, Caitlin. 'What is Reality?': A Q&A with the Artist Who used Social Media and Photoshop to Fake an Epic
Trip Even Her Parents Fell for” WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post, Washington, 2014.
xiii
Przybylski, AK, et al. "Motivational, Emotional, and Behavioral Correlates of Fear of Missing Out." Computers
in Human Behavior, vol. 29, no. 4, 2013, pp. 1841-1848.
xiv
Jin, Borae, and Namkee Park. "Mobile Voice Communication and Loneliness: Cell Phone use and the Social
Skills Deficit Hypothesis." New Media & Society, vol. 15, no. 7, 2013, pp. 1094-1111.
xv
“Self-Esteem.” UC Davis Health. https://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/hr/hrdepts/asap/Documents/Self_esteem.pdf
Keane, Lisa, and Maria Loades. "Review: Low self‐esteem and Internalizing Disorders in Young People – a
xvi

Systematic Review." Child and Adolescent Mental Health, vol. 22, no. 1, 2017, pp. 4-15.
xvii
Raykos, Bronwyn C., Peter M. McEvoy, and Anthea Fursland. "Socializing Problems and Low self‐esteem
Enhance Interpersonal Models of Eating Disorders: Evidence from a Clinical Sample." International Journal of
Eating Disorders, vol. 50, no. 9, 2017, pp. 1075-1083.
xviii
"Life Satisfaction Index." Medical Dictionary. 2009. Farlex and Partners 28 Mar. 2018 https://medical-
dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/life+satisfaction+index
xix
Headey, Bruce, Jonathan Kelley, and Alex Wearing. "Dimensions of Mental Health: Life Satisfaction, Positive
Affect, Anxiety and Depression." Social Indicators Research, vol. 29, no. 1, 1993, pp. 63-82

Pierce, Tamyra. “Social Anxiety and Technology: Face-to-Face Communication versus Technological
xx

Communication among Teens.” Computers in Human Behavior, Pergamon, 11 July 2009,

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563209000971.
xxi
Matthews, Timothy, et al. "Social Isolation, Loneliness and Depression in Young Adulthood: A Behavioural
Genetic Analysis." Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, vol. 51, no. 3, 2016, pp. 339-348.

xxii
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. "Depression is on the rise in the US, especially among
young teens." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 October 2017.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171030134631.htm>.

Thompson, Dennis. “More Americans Suffering from Stress, Anxiety and Depression, Study Finds.” CBS News,
xxiii

CBS Interactive, 17 Apr. 2017, www.cbsnews.com/news/stress-anxiety-depression-mental-illness-increases-study-

finds/.
 Daw, Jennifer. “Eatings Disorders on the Rise.” Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association,
xxiv

Oct. 2001, www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/eating.aspx.

Perrin, Andrew. “Social Media Usage: 2005-2015.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew
xxv

Research Center, 8 Oct. 2015, www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/08/social-networking-usage-2005-2015/.

xxvi
“8 Reasons to Get Your Children Involved in After-School Activities.” Kumon, Kumon North America, 23 Aug.
2017, www.kumon.com/resources/8-reasons-to-get-your-children-involved-in-after-school-activities/.
xxvii
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pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/132/5/958..info.