A recent survey of 1,500 people aged 14-24 across the UK by The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) and Young Health Movement found which social media channels they think impacts their mental health based on 14 mental well-being issues ranging from anxiety and loneliness to community building and body shaming.
Snapchat and Instagram were the worst, with YouTube being viewed as the most positive. Snapchat and Instagram focus heavily on photos, which can be a difficult issue for teenagers and young adults dealing with self-esteem issues. Among those who suffered the most from Snapchat were teen girls, who are also one of the biggest user groups of the platform. One of the respondents to the survey said that photo-sharing apps like Snapchat make it easy for girls to feel their bodies aren’t good enough compared to people who carefully edit and add filters to the photos they share.
Negative metal impacts from Snapchat include things like anxiety, loneliness, and depression. Looking at carefully filtered pictures of other teens and tweens can also lead to body consciousness and eating disorders, fear of missing out, and bullying. This all comes at a time of life when many young people are particularly vulnerable to feelings of negative mental health and low self esteem. Some experts have even stated that social media can be more addictive for young people than cigarettes and alcohol, meaning that it can be hard to break away from the negative cycle.
It makes sense to reach out to young people suffering from mental health issues through social media because in many cases they are already spending much of their time on the platform. Being able to turn a potentially negative and addictive experience into something positive and to help people get the help they need could be a huge boost for overall mental health.
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