Article Link: https://www.centreformentalhea...eoples-mental-health

This article explores the impact of social media on youth mental health. It notes that social media use can result in "urges" to check accounts to experience the instant gratification/dopamine hit from "likes" and comments. It notes that if the instant gratification is not available, a person may scroll their feeds until they receive that feeling, or they will internalize it, which may manifest as loneliness and anxiety.

"The evidence suggests that social media use is strongly associated with anxiety, loneliness and depression. Whether it is causal or just a correlation will need to be further examined by researchers, mental health policy stakeholders and the social media industry. In the meantime, we must think very carefully about how we can manage its impact on mental health, for instance, through integrating social media 'lessons' into subjects in school, the use of behavioural economics and increased signposting efforts by social media firms."

An interesting point of future research may be to study if youth who have higher levels of anxiety and/or loneliness are more prone to excessive technology use than their peers.