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Is social media bad for mental health and wellbeing? Exploring the perspectives of adolescents.
- Source :
-
Clinical child psychology and psychiatry [Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry] 2018 Oct; Vol. 23 (4), pp. 601-613. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 May 20. - Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- Despite growing evidence of the effects of social media on the mental health of adolescents, there is still a dearth of empirical research into how adolescents themselves perceive social media, especially as knowledge resource, or how they draw upon the wider social and media discourses to express a viewpoint. Accordingly, this article contributes to this scarce literature. Six focus groups took place over 3 months with 54 adolescents aged 11-18 years, recruited from schools in Leicester and London (UK). Thematic analysis suggested that adolescents perceived social media as a threat to mental wellbeing and three themes were identified: (1) it was believed to cause mood and anxiety disorders for some adolescents, (2) it was viewed as a platform for cyberbullying and (3) the use of social media itself was often framed as a kind of 'addiction'. Future research should focus on targeting and utilising social media for promoting mental wellbeing among adolescents and educating youth to manage the possible deleterious effects.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1461-7021
- Volume :
- 23
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Clinical child psychology and psychiatry
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 29781314
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104518775154