2020

A report to tech
industrialist regarding
social media such as
Facebook and how these
tools are damaging our
social and mental health.

PREPARED BY

PREPARED FOR | [Company address]

 Table of Contents
Table of Illustrations..................................................................................................................... ii
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1
Research Methods:........................................................................................................................ 4
1. Qualitative research and analysis of journal articles and review papers to understand the
severity of the problem ............................................................................................................... 4
2. Understanding the use of Facebook and its effect on mental health based on demographics
based on survey data ................................................................................................................... 4
3. Research into how social media can be turned into a force for good by recommending
various steps for these platforms................................................................................................. 5
Results ............................................................................................................................................ 5
......................................................................................................................................................... 6
Conclusions .................................................................................................................................... 6
Recommendations ......................................................................................................................... 7
References ...................................................................................................................................... 8

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 Table of Illustrations

Figure 1 Facebook: number of monthly active users worldwide 2008-2020 (Statista) .................. 1
Figure 2 Data and Statistics on Children's Mental Health (CDC 2018) ......................................... 2
Figure 3 Percentage of U.S teens and young adults social media usage ........................................ 5
Figure 4 Survey data on social media impact on adolescents and young adults ............................ 6
Figure 5 Matters of mind survey, American University 2015 ........................................................ 7

Table 1Means and Standard Deviation Standard deviations in parentheses. ***p < 0.001. ITT,
Intention To Treat. .......................................................................................................................... 3

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 Introduction

The aim of this report is to provide the impact of tech tools such as Facebook and Instagram to the
tech leaders in these fields. Since the past decade, the rapid development of social networking sites
(SNSs) such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Instagram, and so on has caused several extreme
changes in the way people communicate and interact. (Pantic, 2014) According to Statista's current
projections, there are more than 2.7 billion users of Facebook around the globe making it the most
famous social media platform with an active number of users.

Figure 1 Facebook: number of monthly active users worldwide 2008-2020 (Statista)

Besides having the most users worldwide, Facebook now holds the key to reach out to billions of
people across the globe instantly thus holding the invisible key to shape reality, build perspectives
and alter the way we think and perceive the world.
There is no single doubt about the fact that Facebook has revolutionized the way we communicate
with people and our loved ones living far from us. But on the downside, it has led to numerous
problems in the social fabric of society. Fake news, anxiety, and depression, the race to get more
likes and followers, scam practices, etc. are a few of the major problems that we are witnessing
today. Bur here, we will discuss how Facebook has led to an epidemic of mental health issues.

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According to a report by the CDC published in 2018, in the U.S alone, the mental health issue and
associated disorders such as ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) have reached an
epidemic proportion.

Figure 2 Data and Statistics on Children's Mental Health (CDC 2018)

)
John Richter, director of Public Policy at the Mental Health Association, believes social media is
exacerbating this trend. CDC has also claimed that Teens are more lonely, anxious, and depressed
than ever. About a third of teens surveyed by the CDC said they had felt persistent sadness or
hopelessness. (Barrett, 2018) The data further indicates that teenagers are more prone to health
issues such as depression and anxiety and it not only creates a problem in their early adolescence
age but also hampers their class participation, engaging in verbal and face-to-face
communications, low self-esteem etc. to name a few.
A study done in 2013 showed quite definitively that the more time young adults spent on
Facebook, the worse off they felt. Subjects were texted five times daily for two weeks to answer
questions about well-being, direct social contact, and Facebook use. Those who spent more time
on Facebook felt significantly worse later, supporting a causal connection. The effect was small
but significant, even after controlling for factors such as depression and loneliness. (Ethan Kross,
2013)

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A report by two authors (Holly Shakya and Nicholas Christakis) in American Journal of
Epidemiology investigated 5,208 adults over the span of two years after finding conflicting
evidence of social media use by different authors. They used the longitudinal survey/study method
to understand the use of Facebook with four basic domains of well-being.
• self-reported mental health condition
• self-reported physical health
• self-reported life satisfaction
• Body Mass Index (BMI)
Using data available with Gallup panel (which is the representative entire U.S adult population)
and statistical analysis tools such as cross-sectional linear regression analysis of the above four
domains, the authors concluded that a person self-reported physical health decreased by 8%, self-
reported mental health decreased by 7%, life satisfaction turned out to be lower following the
similar trend in the past conducted studies whereas the association of Facebook with BMI turned
out to be higher when compared with real-life friends interaction. In other words, people who have
more real-life interactions as compared to online had lower BMI. (Holly B. Shakya, 2017) All
these patterns reinvigorate the commonly held notion which suggests that overall, Facebook use
does not promote well-being and that individual social media users might do well to curtail their
use of social media and focus instead on real-world relationships. The researchers concluded,
“Exposure to the carefully curated images from others’ lives leads to negative self-comparison,
and the sheer quantity of social media interaction may detract from more meaningful real-life
experiences.” (Ravi Chandra M.D., 2018)
From these studies, I have concluded that the users of Facebook must discipline themselves to
become the Master of Technology rather than becoming its slaves. One way that I think can be
beneficial at a personal level is to apply the “hard break”. Researcher Morton Tromholt of the
Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen have concluded in his research that after just
one week of Facebook break, an experimental group had higher life satisfaction and positive
emotions. It was also demonstrated that taking a break from Facebook had positive developments
on the two dimensions of well-being: life satisfaction increased, and emotions became more
positive. (Morten Tromholt, 2016)
Table 1Means and Standard Deviation Standard deviations in parentheses. ***p < 0.001. ITT, Intention to Treat.

Treatment Control ITT Effect

(n = 516) (n = 372)
Life satisfaction 8.11 (1.23) 7.74 (1.43) 0.37***
(range: 1–10)
Emotions 36.21 (6.09) 33.99 (6.81) 1.22***
(range: 9–45)

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"force for good." Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, these were the words that you said recently about what
do you want from Facebook. Facebook has become an undeniable reality and not a single soul in
this world who has a smartphone can escape from its tempting services and its ingenuity.
Therefore, as being the owner of Facebook, it is your responsibility that Facebook does become a
force for good. In the following sections of my report, I would highlight more on how Facebook
has become a source of mental health issues and what are the ways we can pursue to become
more self-aware as well as the responsibilities of tech giants in order to ensure that the future
generations don’t become social media addicts.

Research Methods:

My method of research is based on the qualitative as well as quantitative analysis of the research
work done by various national, governmental, and non-governmental institutes who are related to
health, statistical analysis as well as the creation of social impact. The following steps were
undertaken to ensure the research quality is up to the standard and no biases were promoted.
1. Qualitative research and analysis of journal articles and review papers to understand the
severity of the problem
2. Understanding the use of Facebook and its effect on mental health based on
demographics based on survey data
3. Research into how social media can be turned into a force for good by recommending
various steps for these platforms.

1. Qualitative research and analysis of journal articles and review papers to

understand the severity of the problem

This aspect involved the review of the already present data. Various authors and researchers have
conducted their own research based on various parameters such as age, race, region, culture, etc.
using different types of techniques such as statistical modeling, analysis of survey data, random
interviews, etc. The important feature of this research is the amalgamation of different studies to
provide a definitive result for all the stakeholders that would serve as a guideline for future
policymaking by corporations, tech industry giants, social media executives as well as the
government regulators.
2. Understanding the use of Facebook and its effect on mental health based on
demographics based on survey data

In this step, the surveys were conducted using Google forms and in-person surveys to reach a
tangible conclusion. Past data by different authors were also used to determine the trends and
to have a broader sense and understanding of the issue.

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 3. Research into how social media can be turned into a force for good by
recommending various steps for these platforms.

Finally, based on the research material available and using different surveys, a pattern was
generated based on which recommendations were made. The recommendations had different
implementations level that can be done either on a personal level, governmental level as well
as on the corporate level.

Results

Building up on the previously highlighted points, it can be observed that the future
generations are most prone to falling into crisis of mental health problems. The prime
instigator of these problems has been clearly shown to be the result of spending much time
on Facebook, comparison of one’s own personality, looks and the envy that develops after
seeing some celebrity or an influencer. Not only the adolescents, the young adults are also
prone to the negative impact of social media platforms. Below statistics that are available
with National Center for Health Research shows an astonishing image of how much
teenagers and young adults use social media.

100%
90%
Users Percentage on Social media

80%
70%
60%
platforms

50%
% of 13-17 year olds using
40%
% of 18-24 year olds using
30%
20%
10%
0%
Snapchat Instagaram Facebook Twitter Youtube
Social Media Platforms

Figure 3 Percentage of U.S teens and young adults social media usage

According to U.S department of Health reports, with 13% of 12-17 years old reporting
depression and 32% reporting anxiety, mental illness is a concern for adolescent health. Social
Media has caused plethora of problems such FoMO (Fear of Missing Out), Body surveillance
(monitoring one’s own body and becoming judgmental of it), cyber bullying etc. In fact, surveys
conducted by researchers among teenagers suggest that more than 72% of them have
experienced cyber bullying at some point. (Selkie EM, 2016)Some authors have also investigated

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the co-relation of cyber bullying with suicide attempts and found some astonishing results with
some stating that cyber bullying is more dangerous than face-to-face bullying as it occurs out of
sight of teachers and parents. (Kuehn KS, 2015)
In my second research method, where I used google forms to develop an understanding of the
problem, a huge number of participants agreed that social media has led to some sort of
behavioral changes such as loneliness, depression, feeling envious of others, cyber bullying etc.
28 % of the participants neither agreed or disagreed with the social media related health issues
whereas 38% stated that social media has brought positive developments in them such as peer to
peer support. The results are summarized in the below figure.

Survey Data
CYBER BULLYING 57%
Mental Health Issue

NUETRAL 28%

POSITIVE IMPLICATIONS 38%

LONELINESS 43%

DEPRESSION 28%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Percentage of participants

Figure 4 Survey data on social media impact on adolescents and young adults

The third part of this report is concerned with the identification of various ways by which a
positive impact can be created by platforms such as Facebook to promote the awareness around
mental health issues and how to counter the negative implications of social media through
various techniques and methods. On a personal level, as discussed in this report previously, the
use of the “hard break” technique had proved itself to be effective in mitigating the effect of
social media on a personal level as well as provide a de-toxifying effect to its users.

Conclusions

Social Media has immense applications. Its ability to reach anywhere in any part of the world is
surreal. It has the power to turn around the election results, to deliver information the second it is
reported in any part of the world to every part of the world. It has changed the way people of
different communities, backgrounds, cultures, races, etc. communicate in a positive manner. But
on the other hand, it has brought itself a new conundrum. Different studies by different

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researchers and scholars have pointed to a similar conclusion that social media which includes
Facebook, do cause and results in mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. However,
the answer to this problem from my perspective lies within the problem. We need to use it to
counter its effect by engaging in positive dialogues with adolescents and young adults.

Recommendations

Mr. Mark, according to a survey by themillennialminds.com, more than 80% of respondents in

the survey who belonged to the millennial age group, were more prone to engaging in discussion
about mental health issues. So, in this way, social media can serve as an effective platform to
address this issue.

Figure 5 Matters of mind survey, American University 2015

Another way of

supporting this cause is by enabling the people and entrepreneurs working to bring in mental
health advice and counseling to already affected people. By giving grants to seed funding,
Facebook can further this noble cause by giving people the resources they need to fight this
epidemic. In its mental health Atlas report of 2017, WHO has stated that Functional prevention
and promotion programs managed jointly between the government and other partners represent
20% of total functioning programs reported. 12% of reported functional programs are managed
by NGOs, while those managed by the private sector represent only 2% of programs reported.
So, Facebook should make it a policy under CSR to work jointly with governments, NPTs as
well as entrepreneurs to solve this crisis. The likes of Ananya Jain (a young entrepreneur and
recipient of the Diana award of this year) who are playing a very important role to face this issue
need this vital help from Facebook. So, Mr. Mark, you should make this one of your company’s
priorities to help such great individuals who are the asset of this whole world.

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References

Barrett, K. (2018). Social Media's Impact on Students' Mental Health Comes Into Focus.
National Education Association.
Ethan Kross, P. V. (2013). Facebook Use Predicts Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young
Adults. PLOS ONE.
Holly B. Shakya, N. A. (2017). Association of Facebook Use With Compromised Well-Being: A
Longitudinal Study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 203-211.
Kuehn KS, W. A. (2015). Estimating the magnitude of the relation between bullying, e-bullying,
and suicidal behaviors among United States youth. The Journal of Crisis Intervention and
Suicide Prevention 2018.
Morten Tromholt, M. (2016). The Facebook Experiment: Quitting Facebook Leads to Higher
Levels of Well-Being. Mary Ann Liebert, 661-666.
Pantic, I. (2014). Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking. PMC U.S library of
National Medicine, NIH, 652–657.
Ravi Chandra M.D., D. (2018). Is Facebook Destroying Society and Your Mental Health?
Psychology today.
Selkie EM, F. J. (2016). Cyberbullying prevalence among US middle and high school–aged
adolescents: A systematic review and quality assessment . Journal of Adolescent Health,
125-33.