My position:
Social media has had negative effects to
users mental health when used at high frequencies as outcomes
have been increased suicidal thoughts, anxiety, stress, and
depression.
Argument #1: Social media can be
used as an outlet for body-positivity and encouragement
"[social media] can bring people from all over the world
together and remind us how similar our struggles truly are"
(Howard, 2016).
"
Taken together, the current findings indicate that body positive
accounts on Instagram may provide a unique perspective in
an otherwise perfectly manicured environment for young women
to view bodies much like their own with natural 'lumps, bumps,
and curves” that are displayed openly'" (Coher, Irwin,
Newton-John & Slater, 2018, p. 53).
"From sporting body hair to ditchin the bra, over the recent
years, women have been participating in many campaigns and
social media movements to challenge the mainstream notions of
beauty" (Bindrani, 2019, p. 1).
Argument #2: Many people who suffer from shyness can
use social media as an outlet to express themselves and connect
with more people, helping their mental health
"However, in line
with the findings of Kraut et al. (2002), social media use has
a positive effect when people follow fewer strangers and
receive positive feedback from others" (Glaser et al., 2018,
p. 12).
"The
augmentation hypothesis states that use of the internet
builds on and adds to existing face to face relationships,
and may improve the giving and receiving of social support,
resulting in better mental health for the user" (Glaser et al.,
2018, 13).
"The findings of the
present study suggest that people are likely to feel more
social
well-being as a result of routinely using and/or integrating
social media use into their social routines" (Bekalu, McCloud
& Viswanath, 2019, p. 77S).
Sources:
Bekalu, M.
A., McCloud, R. F., & Viswanath, K. (2019). Association
of social media use
withsocial
well-being, positive
mental health, and self-rated health: Disentangling routine
use from emotional
connection to use. Health
Education & Behavior, 46(2_suppl), 69S-80S.
Bindrani, K. (2019). Women embrace grey hair,
stretch marks to promote body positivity on social media. The
Times of India.
Cohen, R., Irwin, L., Newton-John, T., & Slater, A. (2019).
Bodypositivity: a content analysis of body positive accounts on
instagram. Body Images, 29, 47-57.
Glaser, P.
(2018). Is social media use for networking positive or
negative?: Offline
social capital and
internet addiction as
mediators for the relationship between social media use
and mental
health. New Zealand Journal of
Psychology, 47(3), 12-18.