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Vernese Durolin

Professor Colecio

ENC 1102

5, November 2021

Research Paper

INTRODUCTION

Social media has become a common tool that one utilizes in order to communicate and

connect with others around the world. Well-known examples of these are Twitter, Facebook,

Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok, and many more. This paper focuses mainly on the site of Twitter.

Twitter is a social media platform that has been around since early 2006 and has only grown

rapidly ever since, with a user base that has extended to over 300 million monthly active users.

But what exactly is Twitter? As stated, Twitter is, “ an online news and social networking site

where people communicate in short messages called tweets.” A vast amount of people utilize

Twitter to discover a divergent group of others. It allows one to express their thoughts and

opinions with a large audience without having to have any specific credentials. It is well-liked, it

is convenient., and of course, it is free. When speaking in terms of genre, Twitter contains

varying kinds of genres that allow them to reach their goal, and to stand out from different

discourse communities that are in the same categories as it. This includes the tweets themselves,

twitters’ ‘dm’, comments, etc. However, tweets are the genre that I will be placing our focus on.

In simple terms, tweets are messages sent on Twitter. Who uses tweets? Well, more than 80% of

twitter's user base are users under 50 years old, mainly teenagers. How is it used? When the app

is opened users would click the blue feather button that is usually located in the bottom right

corner to begin creating a tweet. It has a limit of 280 characters. It is mainly used to allow users
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to express their thoughts and their point of view on a subject at a given time. Tweets can contain

a contrasting type of information depending on how one is feeling at the time when creating it.

Rules that tweeters must follow are: no violent tweets against an individual or group of people,

you may not threaten or promote terrorism or violent extremism, you may not publish or post

other people's private information, you may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone,

or incite other people to do so. This includes wishing or hoping that someone experiences

physical harm, etc. All these rules help ensure users’ safety and wellbeing.

The controversial topic of social media is well known for its ability to allow others

around the world to be able to communicate in a very fast and easy way. It is an imperative part

of people’s daily lives and society. It has also become the basic need and quality of human beings

to be social. However, the effect social media can have on ones’ overall mental health is not

specifically stated or talked about amongst groups. Authors such as Karim, F., Oyewande, A. A.,

Abdalla, L. F., Chaudhry Ehsanullah, R., & Khan, S, and, many more conduct reviews about

social media use and its connection to mental health. I will be researching the topic of how social

media affects one's overall mental health. I will incorporate sources that focus specifically on the

importance of mental stability, while also tying it back into the overall objective of this paper.

On the other hand, many people would oppose the idea that social media does indeed

affect mental health, believing that social media is not an aspect that can play a role in how one

behaves or affects one mental state. Why? Some would believe this because many believe that

social media is a blessing to society rather than a curse. I will include sources that go against the

entire purpose of this paper, only to shine a light on the counter-claim of my argument. Raising

questions, that allows the readers to see that there is more to this question than one can think of.

Despite this, I have decided to devote my time to deeply analyzing how social media; Twitter,
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Snapchat, Facebook, and many more, affect someone’s sanity​with the hopes to answer the

question, How Does Social Media increase isolation and depression?

My goal for this study is to address the issue of how Twitter can affect one’s mental

health. This study is necessary because it is essential that one understands why they act the way

they act. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects

the way we handle stress, the way we think, the way we feel, the way we make choices, and

much more. Having poor mental health can lead to a downfall in all of these aspects, and

eventually the destruction of the most important part of the body, the brain. From the end of this

research, I hope to gain more knowledge on how to use Twitter without letting it get the best of

my mind. I also hope to learn how one can improve their mental health when it is needed.

METHODS

Finding sources, or data that related back to the purpose of my research was the least

difficult part of this process. In order to find sources related to this topic, I would search up

phrases such as “social media affecting mental health”, or just “mental health”, and “the negative

impact of social media”. By typing these phrases in, it played out and presented an overflowing

amount of documents, research, and articles that related to the impact social media can have on

ones’ mental health, framing that the increased use of social media also resulted in the increase

of poor mental stability. At times I found myself devoting so much time to reading articles for

such a long time, scanning the articles, marking key points that stood out to me or were relevant

to my findings. Choosing which source to utilize I found to be a little more difficult than actually

finding them.

To pick sources that I needed I narrowed my search and began to code the data from each

source into different groups. I created a category that focuses mainly on mental health, with no
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mention of social media. I created a second category that concentrated mainly on social media as

a whole. I also created a category that talked about both mental health and social media as one.

After doing this, analyzing which source I wanted to make use of became a lot easier. I ended up

having a few sources in just the mental health only category while having many sources in the

other two. I decided from there that I should choose sources that I related to in a sense, or found

most intriguing. After a long process of organizing, decision-making, I ultimately selected my

main sources for my research. My main sources are: Screen Time Argument Essay by Geunseok

Song, “How is Twitter Affecting Our Mental Health?” created by Luke O’Neil., Study shows that

social media does not affect mental health, written by Amad, A, Social media use and its

connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review, and What is the importance of mental

health?

RESULTS/DISCUSSION:

The data collected within this entire research supports my claim that the increased use of

social media starts to break up and demolish someones’ mental state. Highlighting ways one can

be affected, and how to prevent such matters.“How is Twitter Affecting Our Mental Health?”

created by Luke O’Neil, published on Nov 9, 2019, goes into depth about the subject. In this text,

O’Neil goes in-depth to explicate how spending so much time online, or on social media sites

can also lead to an increase in brain damage. O’Neil states, “People on Twitter like to joke about

how spending so much time there has given us all brain damage. Being online, or worse, Very

Online can often feel indistinguishable from descending into madness. Our brains simply cannot

have been designed to withstand such a constant onslaught of conflicting information at once.”

For many people, Twitter is a place where they get news, where they check on friends, or maybe

go to even get a good laugh. However, Twitter is also a place where anxiety can escalate on top
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of everything else. While there are studies on how social media affects someone’s ability to

sleep, someone’s self-esteem, and someone’s attention span, there has not yet been a study about

how social media is affecting us as a whole. People take it upon themselves to go on Twitter to

talk about their issues because as always, there is always someone willing to listen on the

internet. A Tweet states, “Mental health is an absolute heartbreaking topic. No matter how

people can present themselves to a group or to an individual NOBODY can ever, ever see what’s

building up in their mind and the pain that they’re suffering and that is what is absolutely

heartbreaking about it.”

MENTAL HEALTH:

The source, Rehab, P. by P. R. C. (2021, July 8). What is the importance of mental

health? PRC focuses on mental health entirely. Having a healthy mental state is an essential part

of overall wellbeing, comfort, security, happiness, and adequate health. It includes Mental Health

statistics, specifically a study called Globen burden of Disease that states 792 million people live

with a mental health disorder. This source defines mental health as “ a state of well-being in

which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life,

can work productively, and is able to contribute to his or her community”. They further this by

listing characteristics of poor and good mental health. People who are not mentally well or

healthy can emerge significant various issues or mental illnesses that could be lethal. This article

because it goes in-depth to talk about the importance of mental health, and what is it as a whole.

As I read through this source I was intrigued by the number of facts and information I was

learning and gaining just from reading. Although I knew mental health was important, I had little

to no idea of how mental health could affect someones’ entire life. Ranging from being able to

solve life problems effectively, being able to make better judgment and decisions, being able to
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have high self-esteem and self-confidence, and many more. I was amazed to see that mental

health plays a crucial role in all stages and areas of life, literally. Realizing that eating healthy,

and exercising daily, is not enough. If the mind is not mentally fit, or ‘exercise’ all of those other

things will not mean anything.

SCREEN TIME:

In the source, Screen Time Argument Essay. Geunseok Song Writing celebration, Song

talks in detail to explain that a great deal amount of screen time does not result in a decrease of

intelligence, brainpower, and health, it also results in conflicts with friends and acquaintances. To

support his thought, Song incorporates a survey, “Screen time may damage teens’ sleep '' by

Kathryn Doyle. In this survey, they found that 90% of girls and 80% of boys reported utilizing

their cellphones in the hour before bed. This results in them being tired the next day in school,

with less ability to concentrate. In addition, Song also utilizes the article “How is your device

controlling you” by Jan Bruce, Ceo, that states, “61% of people have felt jealous, depressed, sad,

or annoyed after checking updates on their social media account, and 81% of people admit to

interrupting conversation mealtime or playtime with family or friends to check their social

media, text messages, or email.” In conclusion, this source summarizes how the use of screen

time for social media can be detrimental to people. Although this source it does not specifically

talk about specific social media sites, Staring at a phone correlates with staring at a social media

site. With iPhones, There is a setting called “Screen Time” that allows one to see the average

amount of time they spend on certain social media or let one see their most-used app. As I read

this source, I started to compare the average amount of time I, myself, spend on the different

types of social media. Based on my average screen time in a week, I spend 11 hours and 4

minutes on social apps, 1 hour and 45 minutes on education apps, and 1 hour and 37 minutes on
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travel apps. My most used app is Snapchat with an average time of 7 hours and 19 minutes in a

week. Taking this source into consideration, with my weekly average screen time, I can

personally say that this source has a point. Decreasing my average amount of screen time would

benefit both my health and well-being. I can do this by instead of going on my phone at night

time to look at social media sites, reading a book would not only benefit me but also increase my

mental ability.

COUNTERCLAIM:

Source, Study shows that social media does not affect mental health, written by Amad, A,

talks about how there is no exact factual clarification that directly links social media to the

mental health of an individual, or the suicidal tendencies of an individual. With the belief that

online interactions can actually help lift the mood of a certain individual who is undergoing

mental health problems. Pointing out that there are also credible organizations found on social

media sites that deal with possible mental issues for anyone to reach out to if they feel as though

they need help. Stating that although social media can be linked to various mental issues, it can

also be linked to providing emotional support and also provide one with mental health issue

knowledge that can be very beneficial in the long run. Compared to my other sources that all talk

about how the use of social media damages ones’ mental health, this particular source allows the

reader to see a different viewpoint on the matter. Many would oppose the idea that social media

does indeed affect mental health, believing that social media is not an aspect that can play a role

in how one behaves or affects one mental health.

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SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS:

The sources, Social media use and its connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review,

summarizes the effects of social media usage on mental health. They classify everything into two

categories: anxiety and depression. They concluded that although there is evidence for a positive

link between social media and mental health, reports have revealed the opposite. Studies found,

as stated, “no relationship between the amount of time spent on social media and depression or

between social media-related activities, such as the number of online friends and the number of

“selfies”, and depression”. Social media is a new study that is rapidly growing and gaining

popularity. However, there are numerous undiscovered and unforeseen constructive answers

linked with it. supporting graphs and tables, as shown below, to help further their point. Figure 1

illustrates the number of monthly active users worldwide. This enhances our understanding of

the impact of social media on teenagers' lives. Passive social media use appears to be increased

by depressive symptoms, loneliness, and high

levels of stress, concluding that advance in technologies does not help with this problem. The

results from this study can be used to explore and inspect more relationships with a further

manufacturer, this would allow and supplement the findings to diminish anxiety and depression.
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TWEETS:

As I examined through numerous

tweets, I came across one that stated, “Goin through shit at home & coming on hea to more bs is

so sad.” What can one make of this? We can gather and assume that people who already are

having personal issues at home, or have to deal with certain things that negatively impact them,

do not seek Twitter as an escape door. Many find social media as a source to mentally ‘get-away’

however, as stated by the user, twitter consists of ‘bs’ that makes the personal issues at home

worsened.

CONCLUSION:

All in all, as illustrated, it is safe to say that the inflation use of social media correlates

with negative mental health. There are those who would oppose this statement, however, based

on the evidence that I’ve gathered, and based on the information gathered from each source

chosen, I can conclude that those who disagree with this are wrong. Conducting more surveys

and studies will help strengthen this claim, while also expanding the overall meaning.
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Works Cited

Amad, A. (2016, January 22). Study shows that social media does not affect mental health.

Science Times. Retrieved October 13, 2021, from

https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/8252/20160122/study-shows-social-media-affect-

mental-health.htm.

Karim, F., Oyewande, A. A., Abdalla, L. F., Chaudhry Ehsanullah, R., & Khan, S. (2020,

June 15). Social media use and its connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review.

Cureus. Retrieved October 2, 2021, from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7364393/.

O'Neil, Luke. “How Is Twitter Affecting Our Mental Health?” Esquire, Esquire, 21 Aug. 2020,

www.esquire.com/lifestyle/health/a13083796/twitter-mental-health/.

Screen Time Argument Essay. Geunseok Song Writing celebration. (n.d.). Retrieved

October 5, 2021, from

https://writinggeunseok.weebly.com/screen-time-argument-essay.html.

Rehab, P. by P. R. C. (2021, July 8). What is the importance of mental health? PRC.

Retrieved October 13, 2021, from

https://prcrehab.org/what-is-the-importance-of-mental-health/.