Alvarez 1

Leslie Alvarez
Dr. Charity Nelson
ENGL 1302 101
16 September 2022

The Effect of Social Networks in Mental Health

Introduction

Social networks form a crucial part in the daily life of many people today. It can be used

to talk with friends and family, as if it is to work. As is mentioned in this statement “Social

network interactions have therefore come to be regarded as routine relationship practices”

(Blasco, et al., 1). In addition, many studies have been dedicated to demonstrating the impact that

social networks have caused in the mentality of those who are younger. Many believe that it has

been negatively affected, while others believe the opposite. Regardless of the position you have,

about if social networks affect mentalities in a positive or negative form, it is a reality that social

networks affect the mentality of younger people.

Method
A 4-day experiment was conducted to see the reaction of a 20-year-old student of the

Texas A&M International University to being completely cut off from social media and test the

impact that this has in the mentality of the student, such as her performance in school and her

mood of the day. The experiment was conducted during a course of 4 days, from Monday to

Thursday, where the subject counted on her attendance at classes in school and her task of the

day. It is necessary to address that the subject of the experiment have a routine of waking up at

5:00 a.m. for school. During the experiment, from Monday to Tuesday the student used her

social networks normally, however, she admitted going to sleep at the time of 2:30 a.m. the next
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morning since she spent the time using her social networks. Then from Wednesday to Thursday,

the student separates completely of her social networks, and admitted that she goes to sleep at the

time of 10:0 p.m. on Wednesday and waking up more motivated on Thursday.

It must be emphasized that a questionnaire was conducted separately from the subject

used for the experiment, where a group of people were asked a couple of questions related to

social networks, and the time they spent on them. This research was done separately to further

part of the research where other college students, young people, and adults were used (A total of

twelve persons).

Results
The results of this research were divided into three categories: rest, anxiety, and

productivity; this with the goal of calculating the impact that withdrawal from social networks

has in the student used in the research. From Monday to Tuesday the student presented a low

level of rest, a medium level of anxiety, and an exceptionally low level of productivity during the

days with social networks. However, from Wednesday to Thursday, when the student left social

networks, the student presented a better academic performance due to the rest, a better mood, and

more productivity during the day.

Results
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Monday Thuesday Wednesday Thursday

Rest Anxiety Productivity

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As additional information, the investigation realized between the other subjects, show the

time they spend on social networks and how this impacts their life and mental health. The

research with these volunteers demonstrates that the majority spends at least 6 hours or more on

social networks, but the situation about this information is crucial due their confessions. Even

that most of the volunteers admitted having an addiction to their social networks; they also

admitted that they would be happier, productive, and less distracted if they withdrew from social

media.

Rest
There were significant findings from the experiment that was conducted that will

recognize how social networks affect the rest of someone and how this will affect their mental

health. Some theories suggests that time spent engaging with social media might displace other

more important activities that might be helpful for mental health, such as sleep (Scott, H., and H.

C. Woods, 61) On Monday and Tuesday, there was a great level of tiredness. The reason relapses

in the student, who spent more hours on her social networks, sacrificing her sleep. This creates a

disbalance in her sleep schedule, mood, memory, and efficiency in school. The student admitted

that she feels demotivated and tired due to spend more hours in her social networks. However, in

the graph, we can see the student have least and least tiredness on Wednesday and Thursday.

This demonstrates how the student have a better rest during the days the student did not use her

social network.

Anxiety
The student levels of anxiety were steady during the control phase. For a university

student, the amount of anxiety reported could be considered as normal due to an exam,

homework, or responsibilities due for university, and not with the use of social networks.
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Nonetheless, the moment this student was withdrawn from social media on Wednesday, it is

notorious raise in the levels of anxiety in the student. The following statement describes one of

the examples of anxiety created for no using social networks between young people: “It is also

found that younger generation feels restlessness when they were not able to access messages of

their social networking applications apart from their counterparts, giving rise to Phantom

vibration syndrome (PVS)” (Bashir, Hilal, and Ahmad Bhat Shabir, 127). It can be known with

this finding that young people tend to develop a problem called Phantom vibration syndrome,

which can be described as the imagination that your phone is calling you even if it does not

vibrate a single time. This is created thanks to the anxiety and dependency the student has in her

phone where she uses her social networks. Another statement that will be helpful in the research

about the aspect of anxiety would be “… if social media really does impact mental health, then

we would reasonably expect that adolescents who use more social media would also report

higher levels of depression or anxiety.” (Coyne, Sarah M., et al., 2). Although the subject used

in the experiment already had certain levels of anxiety, these levels were drastically elevated

when the student moved away from their social networks. Revealing to the research that high

levels of anxiety can be related to the use of social networks. Even if for constant use o for

withdrawn completely, social networks have an impact in the level of anxiety of the users

affecting their mental health.

Productivity
Productivity was the last significant finding from the experiment that help to understand

the benefits of withdrawal from social networks. From Monday to Tuesday, the student presents

low levels of productivity, this due for the distraction that her social networks provide her.

Where the student even loses to submit some of her homework. However, from Wednesday to
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Thursday, the student presented an elevated level of productivity, where she was more give more

attention at her classes due to not having her social networks, presenting a better performance in

school. In fact, the student has the time to enjoy some of her hobbies such as reading and

dancing, with this reaffirm she feels more happy and less stressed thanks to have zero

distractions and have the time to focus on what really matter for her.

Conclusion
The data gathered from this experiment help determine that withdrawal from social

networks has a notorious impact in mental health. The study showed that the days with where the

subject continues with the usual use of social networks, affected the mental health in the student.

Such as lack of sleep and lack of concentration affect in a negative way the mentality of the

student. However, the days the subject withdrew completely from social networks where the

days were with a positive result for the mental health of the student, for example, better

performance in school, good rest, more happiness due having time to do the things the student

likes.

The information gathered from this experiment its important because shows the positive

outcome that withdraw from social networks have in mental health. Therefore, young people

should consider the positive impact that withdrawing from their social networks would cause in

their daily life. It would be difficult, and even impossible not have or interact with social

network, but young people should consider the time they spent in these networks.
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Works Cited
Bashir, Hilal, and Ahmad Bhat Shabir. “Effects of Social Media on Mental Health: A Review.”

The International Journal of Indian Psychology, vol. 4, no. 3, 2017, pp. 125-131,

ResearchGate, 10.25215/0403.134.

Blasco, Lozano R, et al. “Social Network Addiction and Its Impact on Anxiety Level among

University Students.” Sustainability, Vol 12, No. 13, 2020, pp. 1-14,

MDPI, https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135397.

Coyne, Sarah M., et al. “Does time spent using social media impact mental health? An eight-year

longitudinal study.” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 104, no. 106160, 2020, pp. 1-9,

Science Direct, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.106160.

Scott, H., and H. C. Woods. “Fear of missing out and sleep: Cognitive behavioral factors in

adolescents’ nighttime social media use.” Journal of Adolescence, vol.68, no. 1, 2018, pp.

61–65, Willey Online Library, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.07.009.