Draft #2

Introduction

Poor mental health is an epidemic that has been sweeping the world by storm. While

mental health disorders and such have always been around, the percentage of diagnoses and

reports have skyrocketed in recent years. As society progresses, so does technology and the use

of social media. Social media is quickly becoming one of the biggest industries in the world. As

we age, new platforms are popping up all over the place to compete to be the youth of the worlds

next new addiction. Because of its own design, social media is very addicting. Using bright

engaging visuals, virtual validation, and more, it hooks people of all ages (not even just youths).

As time goes on, more and more people are starting to make careers out of social media, which

encourages and pushes others to stay on the platforms more than they should in hopes of five

minutes of fame. Many people have reported feeling anxiety, depression, developing eating

disorders, pushing addictions and more from the toxic space online. With the increasing

prevalence of social media, it is putting the younger generations at risk earlier than ever before.

“These platforms, while enabling social interactions, also serve as catalysts for violent behaviors,

reinforcing and legitimizing forms of oppression and symbolic violence, particularly the violence

of language” (Recuero). Physical health of the younger generations are also being threatened as

well. A study that I have found shows significant evidence of the effect of social media not only

on mental health, but physical health as well. The study goes on to talk about how vaping and

nicotine use are being pushed onto youth through advertisements on all different platforms and

the idea of using nicotine being “cool” (Azagba). I have seen firsthand what the toxicity of the

online environment can do to a developing psyche and it makes me nervous for the future. In this

paper I will be discussing how people cope with their feelings from social media and why
toxicity is going viral. Looking into other articles and research, it has become apparent that on

Facebook, negative comments seem to garner more attention than positive comments on the

platform (Kim), showing how toxicity can be easily spread on the internet without a second

thought, while in real life, people wouldn’t dare say the same things, which was also proven by

the same study. At this point, we as a society should try our best to save the minds of developing

people.

Methods

While beginning my research, I used the UCF library database to search for related

academic journals to my topic. Using key words such as “social media” and “mental health”, I

was able to sort through a ton of articles to find a solid list of secondary sources. To find some

more personal experiences on the ideas, I took to Reddit to find a better perspective. It has been

said that many people find a community in Reddit and are able to express themselves free of

judgement, so I thought it would be a great place to start. I searched in the subreddit of

r/socialmedia which has approximately 677k users. I looked specifically at posts that mentioned

‘mental health’ or ‘toxic’ to try to narrow down my search a bit. I was mostly looking for posts

that thought that social media had negative effects on them, however I also investigated other

posts discrediting that theory as well. I also searched different subreddits to get more specific on

the effects of being “chronically online”- a term coined to mean an excessive use of social media

and expansive knowledge of what is happening in the internet world- including r/eatingdisorders

(92.4k users), r/anxiety (662k users), r/depression (1 million users), r/cyberbullying (1.6k

users) ,and r/mental health and used the search tool to look up ‘social media’ in each individual

subreddits. From here, I compiled a list of comments that encompassed how social media has

affected these individuals and how they are currently trying to cope with it. I only used
comments that were within the past four years in order to stay more relevant with the current

social media landscape and a good portion of which, I made sure to have a lot of comments or

upvotes (they had over 10 upvotes or comments and conversations started). I also briefly looked

through some comment sections on TikTok of videos I found casually coming through my feed,

whether they were directly talking about mental health disorders or even just a video of people

trying on clothes they just bought. I decided I had compiled enough comments when I had at

least two comments for each mental health problem that I mentioned earlier. In my mind it was

important to at least have two comments backing everything I was saying and when organizing

my thoughts, I made sure to divide the comments into a section for Reddit and a section for

TikTok.

Results

In this section I will be sharing the comments I have compiled and talk about what they

mean and how they relate to my essay. I will be sharing posts that mostly agree with the

statement that social media is bad for mental health, however I will include some comments that

feel the opposite, so as to see a little comparison.

Reddit

The first comments I am sharing are from a post made in the subreddit r/anxiety under the

search for social media.

1. Avoid social media or political content if you can. It's driving me insane.

2. I definitely feel the same way. I just can't seem to process everything and then people are

telling everyone to post about it more and more and I feel bad for not posting about it. I'm
 starting to try and get off of social media because of all this, and I'm hoping that'll help

relax me in some way.

Anxiety can be triggered by a mixture of things and can be different for everyone. Going

through this subreddit however, I saw hundreds of people agreeing with the fact that social

media has only worsened their anxiety. It has been shown that the more social media

platforms are used, the more signs of anxiety and depression have been reported among teens

(Landa-Blanco). Growing up is already tough with trying to navigate the changing world and

people trying their bests to fit in, but the anxiety coming from social media can push them

too far, into a state of doom-scrolling. Doom-scrolling is where a person seems to be

scrolling mindlessly on a platform for the purpose of consuming negative news and content,

which can be addicting for someone with an impressionable mind. “Undoubtedly, due to

confirmation bias (i.e. the tendency to read only what agrees with one's own thinking),

people suffering from depression tend to look for news online that confirms their negative

view of the world and of life” (Buoncompagni). It can throw someone into a cycle that can

hard to climb out of despite the effort and can pile unnecessary anxieties onto a person. There

is something so innately compelling however, that it can be hard to look away from.

3. It developed my social anxiety. I've had panic disorder ever since I was a kid (with

extreme fear of death) but I could socialize well, however during my teenage years social

media made people hang out less often and in my neighborhood kids and teens my age

didn't go outside as much as before. A couple years passed by, and I realized that I started

to become anxious when I hanged out because it became somewhat a rare occasion. I

would freeze and started panicking.

addictive so we are on social media a lot.

The two comments above focus solely on the social anxiety part of an anxiety disorder. The

users posted them after COVID-19, which did have additional effects on people’s ability to

socialize as well as before the pandemic. Being cooped up in a lockdown, young adults

seemed to rely on the internet far too much for entertainment and it became almost like a

crutch for some. Not having to deal with the consequences of your actions or harmful words

can give people a sense of safety behind the screen that they will not have in person with

people. Since social media is the opposite of a judgement free zone, where people are free to

speak as much negativity as they desire, people have a hard time expressing themselves in

real life to people in fear of backlash.

5. my algorithm pushes wayyy too much proana content and i spend an unhealthy amount of

time comparing myself to others.

6. Tiktok can be so evil. (tw abortion), I recently had to have an abortion, so I looked some

stuff up on tiktok hoping to find people sharing about their experiences (No point btw, all

I got was prolife bullshit) As soon as I searched that stuff my FYP was immediately full

of pro ana and triggering content. I guess the app recognised that I was in a stressful

situation and could easily be pulled back into it.

Let me preface this by saying that the use of the word proana is a shortened word for pro-

anorexia. It has often been seen that the content that is pushed onto people is not beneficial at

all. Above, the comments are talking about the frequency of proana content on TikTok and

that the algorithms are pushing them onto peoples’ feeds. These videos on social media are
blowing up and going viral because while yes, they can be very relatable to people struggling

with mental illness and disorders, it encourages them to continue their bad habits. It is as if

they are given a community to support their illnesses and not in the traditional way you

would assume. Watching something so triggering often can send people in recovery to spiral

down the wrong path again. Even if they are not liking content of eating disorders, they have

still seen posts with hundreds of thousands of likes going viral come across their feed.

7. About 2 weeks ago I decided I was going to quit all social media, due to a mental health

crisis I was going through. When I quit, life just seemed better. I was happier, less angry

than I usually am (bad anger issues), my mood was noticeably better, bad thoughts were

gone from my head. Everything just seemed better

8. Find something to focus on. Maybe fitness. Maybe learning a language, maybe dating,

who knows. Pick something you find interesting or used to0 find interesting and just

throw yourself into it. Meet people. If you sit and obsess you only strengthen the neural

pathways in your brain and they fire more often, more readily and stronger. Train your

brain away from what you're trying to avoid.

Comments 8 and 9 are both expressing ways in which people have attempted to cope

with the strain on their wellbeing. The commentors are attempting to share advice to

others who are asking for help. Taking a break from the apps and focusing on other

hobbies can be much harder than people think it is. Social media is an addiction and

cutting off cold turkey is not necessarily the best method but can work in some instances.

There is a study that proves that restricted use of social media shows significant

improvements in mental well-being and self-esteem among teenagers (Thai). Another

method could be to limit your allowance of screen time on each app which is a feature of
 the iPhone. It will always be hard to curb someone off of an addiction but the best thing

for mental health would genuinely be to avoid the media as best as you can, which will

inevitably be hard, but might be worth it in the long run.

TikTok

9. Love seeing these videos in recovery

10. I usually don’t eat on weekends and eat at school so no one suspects it

Comments 11 and 12 were under a video of someone posting pictures of eating disorder

meal inspiration, including ice chips, grapes, and cucumbers each supposed to indicate a “full

meal”. Even if the poster did not do it intentionally, it is encouraging eating disorders and

triggering those who are in recovery from the disease. The comments were filled with people

talking about their favorite ED (eating disorder) foods and sharing how they hide it from

others. It had been found in a study that TikTok had been pushing “diet culture” onto its

viewers more than other content as seen in the view count under weight loss hashtags

(Naraharisetty). Seeing this could be detrimental to one’s health not only mentally, but

physically as well. ED’s are becoming more “popular” in the public eye because of the

media’s obsession with skinny. Everyone needs to be skinny with perfect proportions in

order to be skinny in the eyes of the internet, so pushing these impossible standards on

children and young adults is sadistic.

11. Gym whale

12. STOP EATING

Both of these comments were in response to a plus-size woman trying on gym outfits and

going to work out. This woman has since come out with videos talking about how she feels
 as though she can never win. People online make fun of her for being plus-sized, but then

make fun of her more when she tries to go the gym to lose weight- hence “gym whale”. The

two comments combined had a disturbing amount of likes. Social media plays off the toxicity

of others and the validation from likes just encourages people to act out more. The standards

that society has is so hard to accomplish ever and I do not believe that the media would ever

truly be satisfied with anyone since no matter who it is, they will always find something to

hate on.

Opposing view

13. Besides all the dances, lip syncs, and jokes, there's some amazing content on there. I have

been going through a really hard time lately....harder than I've ever dealt with in my life. I

am not OK....I am dealing with the biggest depressive wave I've ever had in my life the

past three nights and I don't see it ending anytime soon.. But, I have found so many

supportive tik toks. I'm talking like, the kind of therapeutic support when you're so

broken you break down and bawl your eyes out and your best friend is there is there

crying with you, and understanding, and telling you everything is going to be ok. This

year has been especially hard, I don't have any friends and it's impossible to meet new

people in these times and that has taken such a mental toll on me. This app has been a

healthy outlet for me to not feel so alone.

This comment shows the exact opposite of the other evidence gathered. The user gushes over

how amazing TikTok has been for his mental health and how supported he feels in the

community online. Even though I am happy that this user has found a good community for

himself, this is widely not the case with others though. While social media can be fun and
 might help at some points, the negative affects are far more as shown by the comments

above.

Reflection

With the continued presence of social media in our lives, the youth of the world is being

subjected to enormous amounts of hate and unhealthy propaganda. It has been causing

addictions to increase heavily in many different facets. “Social media fulfills the desire to be

part of a group and to avoid feeling isolated and potentially vulnerable (Gaba).” The need for

validation growing up can be all-consuming and people have been known to say awful things

to get the attention they crave. Being in the generation to grow up during the rise of social

media, I can only wish luck to others and to not focus on what people say as much.

Validation is nice to have, but it does not define us. Taking a short break from social media

and focusing on other things you enjoy doing can really help to cope with hard feelings.

Overall, restricted use of the most used social platforms is the best idea to take baby steps on

improving mental health. Obviously social media was such an advancement to technology

and a huge part of life now, but the side effects are becoming too much to bear for some.

Works Cited

Azagba, Sunday, et al. “Social Media and E-Cigarette Use: The Mediating Role of Mental Health

Conditions.” Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 344, 2024, pp. 528–34,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.10.053.
Buoncompagni, Giacomo. “Epidemiology of News: Doom Scrolling, Information Overload, and

Other ‘Media Pathologies’ in Our Infected Society.” Journal of Sociological Research (Las

Vegas, Nev.), vol. 14, no. 1, 2023, pp. 17-, https://doi.org/10.5296/jsr.v14i1.20808.

Gaba, Sherry. “Stop Seeking Validation from Others.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers,

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/addiction-and-recovery/201907/stop-seeking-

validation-others. Accessed 4 Feb. 2024.

Kim, Jin Woo, et al. “The Distorting Prism of Social Media: How Self-Selection and Exposure to

Incivility Fuel Online Comment Toxicity.” Journal of Communication, vol. 71, no. 6, 2021, pp.

922–46, https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab034.

Landa-Blanco, Miguel, et al. “Social Media Addiction Relationship with Academic

Engagement in University Students: The Mediator Role of Self-Esteem, Depression, and

Anxiety.” Heliyon, vol. 10, no. 2, 2024, pp. e24384-,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24384

Naraharisetty, Rohitha. “How Social Media Perpetuates Toxic Diet Culture.” The Swaddle,

www.theswaddle.com/how-social-media-perpetuates-toxic-diet-culture. Accessed 25 Feb.

2024.
Recuero, Raquel. “The Platformization of Violence: Toward a Concept of Discursive Toxicity on

Social Media.” Social Media + Society, vol. 10, no. 1, 2024,

https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231224264.

Thai, Helen, et al. “Reducing Social Media Use Improves Appearance and Weight Esteem in

Youth with Emotional Distress.” Psychology of Popular Media, vol. 13, no. 1, 2024, pp. 162–69,

https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000460.