Social Media Use Among Adolescents Coping with Mental Health

Abstract

Within the last 10 years, social media has infiltrated the lives of adolescents in the USA and around the world. According to Pew Research Center (2015), 73% of adolescents have smartphones, 76% of those adolescents being 15–17 years old and 68% being 13–14 years old. Adolescents are gravitating toward social media and integrating it into critical aspects of their identities. A crucial aspect of social media use is how adolescents struggling with mental health issues are coping, relieving, and reacting on social media (Cavazos-Rehg in Crisis, 38(1), 1–9, 2016). The breadth of research on adolescent and social media use focuses on its negative impacts on mental health. While potential harms such as social filters, triggers, and cyber bullying or trolling exist, there are also plenty of potential benefits, for example, healthy self-expression, a sense of community and connectivity, and anonymously accessing mental health resources. It is imperative that educational professionals and school-based mental health providers familiarize and educate themselves on social media use by adolescents. Future research should focus on integrating social media use into identifying individuals in need of mental health services, interventions, and disseminating credible and professional resources.