Social Media Use as a Leading Cause of Depression in Adolescents: Critical Review

Introduction

Over the past one decade, there has been an increase in usage of social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook resulting in significant changes in how people interact and communicate with other people. The article by Azem et al. ‘Social Media Use and Depression in Adolescents: A Scoping Review’ reveals that there exists a connection between social media use and depression and other negative outcomes such as appearance and social anxiety, low self-esteem, and difficulties sleeping. The authors of the article discuss the various scales to measure social media use and depression among adolescents and gender differences in social media use and depressive symptoms. However, the authors fail to consider the different elements of social media that lead to adverse mental health effects, perspectives of the adolescents on how social media use is beneficial for their mental health, and other aspects other than social media usage that lead to depression among adolescents.

Connection Between Use and Depressive Symptoms

There exists a relationship between use of social media, depressive symptoms and other mental health effects among the adolescents. The review by Azem et al. revealed that an increase in the number of hours spent on social media is associated with depression and other mental health issues. Depressive symptoms due to social media use are more prevalent in females than males as revealed by the Appearance-Related Social Media Consciousness Scale (ASMC). Research has not revealed rationale for this as females spend 7.5 ± 4.4 hours on social media and this is shorter than the time spent by males (Azem et al., 2023).

Measurement Scales

Azem et al. discusses the various scales used to measure depression levels caused by social media. These tools include the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Facebook Intensity Scale (FBI), Social Function Use Intensity (SFUI), Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale, Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale, and Children’s Depression Inventory scale. These tools are essential in measuring the emotional connectivity between social media usage and emotional connectivity to the sites.

Social Media Elements That Lead to Mental Health Issues

Although the arguments in Azem et al. are logical, the article fails to discuss the important aspect on the elements in social media use that lead to mental health issues. According to the article by Khalaf et al. ‘The Impact of Social Media on the Mental Health of Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review,’ experiences of adolescents as they use social media has a significant effect on their mental health. More frequently, the peer relationships in social media are more intense and frequent than in real life. As a result, peer interactions characterized by negative behaviors such as cyber bullying and cyber victimization can lead to high rates of suicidal ideation and self-inflicted damage (Khalaf et al., 2023). The article acknowledges that a lot of peer pressure is found in social networking platforms. Social media exposes adolescents to materials that depict risky behaviors and this increases their likelihood to engage in unhealthy behaviors such as drug abuse and self-harm.

Positive Mental Health Effects

The other thing that Azem et al. fails to acknowledge is how social media use contributes to positive mental health effects among the adolescents. Vaingankar et al. in their article ‘Social Media-Driven Routes to Positive Mental Health Among Youth: Qualitative Enquiry and Concept Mapping Study’ used qualitative study methods to analyze the positive effects of social media on mental health. The study reveals that use of social media builds social capital and positive relationships among adolescents. Through social media, adolescents are able to connect with other people and develop close relationships characterized by a sense of belonging, recognition, and mutual trust. The article emphasizes that adolescents use social media to express their feelings openly or anonymously and engage in popular productive trends such as climate change activism and Black Lives Matter (Vaingankar et al., 2022).

Other Leading Causes of Depression

Finally, Azem et al. fails to acknowledge other leading causes of depressive symptoms among adolescents. Wahid et al. in the article ‘Identifying risk factors and detection strategies for adolescent depression in diverse global settings: A Delphi consensus study’ discusses the major risk factors of depression among adolescents. These risk factors are negative family involvement, bullying, family history of depression, low self-esteem, substance abuse, exposure to trauma, bereavement, female sex and disability or physical illness. Other risk factors include poverty, academic stress, social difficulties, cognitive distortions, and loss of family. The article also discussed early detection strategies such as screening tests, use of passive monitoring technology, school-based screening, home-based depression detection, health facility detection, and adolescents’ education and awareness on depression and depressive symptoms (Wahid et al., 2021).

Conclusion

Azem et al. comprehensively discusses the relationship between social media use, depressive symptoms and other mental health effects among the adolescents. The article emphasizes that increase in number of hours spent on social media and female sex is associated with depression among adolescents. However, the article fails to discuss the social media elements that lead to depressive symptoms, positive mental health effects of social media use, and other leading causes of depression among adolescents. To fully understand the problem of depression among the adolescents, it is crucial to study the issue from multiple perspectives.

Works Cited

• Azem, L., et al. (2023). Social media use and depression in adolescents: A scoping review. Behavioral Sciences, 13(6), 475. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10294999/
• Khalaf, A. M., et al. (2023). The impact of social media on the mental health of adolescents and young adults: A systematic review. Cureus, 15(8). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10476631/
• Vaingankar, J. A., et al. (2022). Social media-driven routes to positive mental health among youth: Qualitative enquiry and concept mapping study. JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting, 5(1), e32758. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8933808/
• Wahid, S. S., et al. (2021). Identifying risk factors and detection strategies for adolescent depression in diverse global settings: A Delphi consensus study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 279, 66-74. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7758738/