Good Literature Review About The Effect Of Social Media To Mental Health And Addictive Behaviors

Social media is already a part of the new generation. Almost 70% teens from 12-17 years old spend time in social networking sites on a daily basis. This shows that almost 17million of teenagers use internet all at the same day. This simple example shows how much social media could be thought as a part of a child’s life. There has been reports as well that there are some online users that are becoming addicted to it the same way some gets addicted to alcohol and other substances, but it is not yet being clinically classified as a disorder (Young, 237). Thus, a lot studies try to know if excessive use of social media contribute significantly to substance addiction or even metal illness.
Excessive internet usage or addiction is characterized by excessive or poorly controlled preoccupations, urges or behaviors regarding Internet use that lead to impairment or distress (Aviv Weinstein, 1).
In a study conducted by Ajou University, 869 high-school students’, 371 of which are male and 498 female, internet usage was assessed and correlated to depression, social anxiety and problem with peers. 33.4% of the subjects showed addictive tendencies with 2% of which was classified into obvious addiction. Numbers of male students in the addiction group were significantly higher than the female students. It showed that the group positive in internet addiction usually uses the internet for chatting and email as compared to the normal group who used the internet more for information purposes.
Depressive tendencies with negative evaluation and more problems with peers were observed severely in the addiction group but no significant difference for anxiety was observed between the two groups.
Another popular social media website is twitter; it is an online forum where people share their thoughts and experiences. A study was conducted wherein “tweets” or the short messages people who follow the popular pro-marijuana Twitter handle (@stillblazingtho) were analyzed. @stillblazingtho has approximately one million followers. It showed in the surveyed that 82.06% of the tweets sent were positive about marijuana, 17.64% were neutral, and 0.31% appeared negative about marijuana. Of the positive tweets for marijuana, most of it appeared as a joke, or implied that the substance makes a person feel good (Cavazos-Rehg, Krauss and Bierut).
It cannot be denied that somehow, social media is such a good way to interact with other people, but it showed that in a survey lead by CASA Columbia, that those who interact in social media on a daily basis are five times more likely to use tobacco, three times more likely to use alcohol, and twice as more likely to use marijuana. The 40% of those that was interview who already saw people under the influence marijuana are four times more likely to use such compared to those who did not see images (CASA).
For the past few years, social media especially Facebook, which has the highest reach, has been an online marketing area for companies like alcohol brands. In United Kingdom, five leading brands of alcohol line were studied, and it showed that all those brands has a fan page in Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (Winpenny, Marteau, Nolte, 1). In another study, analysis revealed clear patterns in brand strategies are real-world tie-ins, interactive games and sponsored online events and invitations to drink (Nicholls, 487).
Images of cigarettes being used in movies, ads and promotional activities are rampant as well nowadays. Smoking is also found in nearly one-fourth of all music videos, one-fourth of ads for R-rated movies, and 7.5% of ads for PG-13 and PG movies (Strasburger, 793). One national survey of more than 1000 youths from 14 to 20 years of age revealed that 2% reported having purchased alcohol online, and 12% said they have a friend who did so too (Strasburger, 794).
With the power of advertisements that use popular music, artists and other types of art, it is responsible for up to 30% of adolescent tobacco and alcohol use; it acts like those a normal activity of very close friends that can pressure teens to experiment such act. In a study made, dummy accounts were made to see how accessible these online advertisements and websites are. It found that children have very high exposure to those websites as there are no age restriction in order to make an account to social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, thus, it’s very easy for children to see different advertising materials (Winpenny, Marteau, Nolte, 157).

Conclusion

Young people are very responsive to social media patterns and influences. Thus it is very easy for the young people to adopt such habit or thought that it is fine to use such substances since it is what they see in social media which they are very much into now.
Although almost all study that was mentioned showed a correlation between excessive usage and substance addiction it does not directly say that it is the social media websites that are at blame of what happens to young people and why they tend to have tendency of using or worse abusing substances like alcohol smoke, marijuana and the likes. But with the present marketing strategies of companies, images, advertisements and false good that is very rampant especially to children, it is not that hard to adopt a habit.
This is why, a lot of surveillances in the social media websites are also going on to support the protection of the children but guidance or setting of regulations on how to use and how much to use social media websites will not hurt.

Literature Cited

CASAColumbia. “2011 National Teen Survey Finds: Teens Regularly Using Social Networking Sites Likelier to Smoke, Drink, Use Drugs” Washington, D.C. 24 Aug. 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Cavazos-Rehg, Patricia, Melissa Krauss and Laura Bierut. “Characterizing the Followers and Tweets of a Marijuana-Focused Twitter Handle”. US National Library of Medicine: National Institutes of Health. June 2014. Web. 25 Feb 2015
Lee, M.S., E.Y Oh, S.M. Hong, and J.S. Moon. "An Assessment of Adolescent Internet Addiction Problems Related to Depression, Social Anxiety and Peer Relationship." Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Ajou University, Suwon, 13 July 2001. Web. 25 Feb.2015.
Nicholls, James “Everyday, Everywhere: Alcohol Marketing and Social Media—Current Trends.” Alcohol and Alcoholism 47. 4(2012) 486–493. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Strasburger, Victor C.“Policy Statement—Children, Adolescents, Substance Abuse, and the Media.” American Academy of Pediatrics 126.4 (2010) 1–11. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Weinstein, Aviv and Michel Lejoyeux. “Internet Addiction or Excessive Internet Use”. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. 15 June 2010. Web.
Winpenny, Eleanor M., Marteau, Theresa M. and Nolte, Ellen “Exposure of Children and Adolescents to Alcohol Marketing on Social Media Websites.” Alcohol and Alcoholism 49. 2 (2014): 154–159. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Young, Kimberly S. “Internet Addiction: The Emergence of New Clinical Disorder.”University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. Web.25 Feb.2015.