Position Paper

The Effects Of Social Media On Our Mental Health

By Jhon Paul Quiring,
Eddie Gonzales,
Carl James Toong,
Yan April Toong,
John Reynel Corpuz,
Benedick Sabellita,
Kent James Pateño
Earl Jhon Cuaresma

Introduction
Social media platform provides services that disseminate information, providing
trends, news, and other contents. Different sites on social media includes, Facebook,
Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter and many more. Social media users gradually
increased every day. Currently, 61.4 % of people worldwide use social media and in the last
quarter, 76 million new users joined the platform. Does social media give a positive effect?
Or negative effects? And how does using social media in this generation affect our mental
health. Multiple studies have shown that using media is a vital material that could increase
the risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, and even suicidal thoughts to most teenagers.
Given this, I do imply that using social media nowadays could be the number one factor that
brings negative effects to our mental health.

This paper aims to discuss primarily the negative effects of using social media, thus,
also examining the positive effects that it provides.

Counter Argument

The first argument is that social media does not contribute to social anxiety and
depression; rather, it boosts the self-esteem of a person. Social media allows you to express
yourself in any possible way that boosts your self-esteem. Everyone could express
themselves and get positive feedback, either from relatives or friends.

In response to:

High usage of social media could trigger depression and anxiety. In my opinion, using
social media will make you less confident, especially if cyberbullying arises. By this, you do
feel like you are different from others. According to Pantic (2014), spending more time
online is linked to less communication with family members and a smaller social circle of
internet users, both of which might worsen feelings of feeling isolated and helpless. This idea
could lead to anxiety and depression.

Counter Argument

The second argument is that there is no harm in using social media. Being active
nowadays on different online platforms provides opportunities and could create friendships.
Socializing with different people worldwide, sharing different experiences and jobs, thus
making our mental health okay.

In response to:

Using social media could possibly lead to harm. Fake accounts on social media are
now arising, and this could be the number one contributor to creating hacks and fake news.
From our point of view, the fake news circulating could trigger mental health issues. The
feeling of realizing that the information you usually believe is not true. All this can cause low
self-esteem, distraction from other tasks, and even feelings of anxiety and depression.
According to the WHO, misinformation, and disinformation on social media affect health in
general.

Conclusion

The effects of social media vary from person to person. Thus, the use of social media
significantly impacts mental health. It may improve bonds, boost confidence, and strengthen
a sense of belonging. However, it can also result in extreme tension, the need to measure
oneself against others, and a greater sense of loneliness. In most cases, it could lead to
depression and anxiety. For the management plan, it is effective to use social media
moderately, disregard the bad opinions of others, only focus on real-life friends, and always
seek help from mental health practitioners if needed.

Criteria:

 Content 35%
 Organization 25%
 Style 20%
  Grammar and mechanics 10%
 Documentation and sources 10%

TOTAL: 100%