Social Media Use and Its Connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review

Summary & key facts

This systematic review looked at research on social media and mental health. The authors state that social media are responsible for making mental health problems worse. They searched 50 papers and, after applying selection rules, included 16 studies. The final papers were checked for quality and included a mix of study types, such as cross-sectional, longitudinal, qualitative studies, and other systematic reviews.

Key facts:

• The review screened 50 papers from databases and applied inclusion and exclusion criteria.
• After screening, 16 papers were chosen for the final review.
• The authors concluded that social media are responsible for aggravating mental health problems (statement from the review).
• Of the 16 included papers, 8 were cross-sectional studies.
• Of the 16 included papers, 3 were longitudinal studies and 2 were qualitative studies.
• The remaining included papers were systematic reviews (3 papers).
• All 16 chosen papers were evaluated for quality by the reviewers.

Abstract

Social media are responsible for aggravating mental health problems. This systematic study summarizes the effects of social network usage on mental health. Fifty papers were shortlisted from google scholar databases, and after the application of various inclusion and exclusion criteria, 16 papers were chosen and all papers were evaluated for quality. Eight papers were cross-sectional studies, three were longitudinal studies, two were qualitative studies, and others were systematic reviews. Findings were classified into two outcomes of mental health: anxiety and depression. Social media activity such as time spent to have a positive effect on the mental health domain. However, due to the cross-sectional design and methodological limitations of sampling, there are considerable differences. The structure of social media influences on mental health needs to be further analyzed through qualitative research and vertical cohort studies.

Topics

Digital Mental Health Interventions Impact of Technology on Adolescents Social Media in Health Education

Categories

Applied Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Anxiety Gerontology Inclusion (mineral) Law Medicine MEDLINE Mental health Political science Psychiatry Psychology Qualitative research Social media Social psychology Social science Sociology Systematic review