The Emotional Impact of Social Media in Higher Education

Abstract

College and university students have been observed increasing their usage of social media applications as it has become central to everyday life. Students can use different forms of social media to connect, share, and view a myriad of content. When influenced by posts, social media can have a significant impact on their lives. Social media can be a form of social support, but it can also have a negative effect on mental health. With the increase in use, social media can provoke individuals to begin self-comparing or gain an unrealistic expectation of themselves and other individuals. This can lead to lower self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-worth. This exploratory study attempts to determine the relationship between social media use and its impact on depression, anxiety, and stress amongst students in higher education.

Identifying Risk Factors Affecting the Usage of Digital and Social Media: A Preliminary Qualitative Study in the Dental Profession and Dental Education

“…Nevertheless, in this study, dental students and professionals extended their perceptions to include other aspects of privacy issues, such as a high incidence of hacking and personal data breaches, making them speculate the security of their personal information on DSM. Interestingly, psychological issues emerged from the interviews, which is in line with a growing number of studies that suggest a possible association between using DSM and a potential negative influence on self-esteem, depression, and emotions [24,25]. In this study, this could be explained by the fact that most DSM interactions were unprotected from negative remarks that may affect dental students and professionals' self-esteem, causing feelings of distress.…”

“…Interestingly, psychological issues emerged from the interviews, which is in line with a growing number of studies that suggest a possible association between using DSM and a potential negative influence on self-esteem, depression, and emotions [ 24 , 25 ]. In this study, this could be explained by the fact that most DSM interactions were unprotected from negative remarks that may affect dental students and professionals’ self-esteem, causing feelings of distress.…”

“…Another explanation could be due to the excessive time that dental students and professionals spend on DSM. According to a study by Iwamoto and Chun, significant positive correlations were found between the hours spent on DSM and stress, anxiety, and depression in a sample of undergraduate students [ 25 ].…”

Internet use and health in higher education students: a scoping review

“…Factors threatening mental health and well-being approached Internet use mainly from the problematic/addictive perspective including evidence with broad concept of poor mental health and well-being ( Tangmunkongvorakul et al , 2019 ; Tenzin et al , 2018 ; Zhou et al, 2020 ; Hou et al , 2019 ; Lattie et al , 2019 ). Some of the articles also specified the factors in more detail, for example: distress ( Al-Gamal et al , 2015 ; Mamun et al , 2020 ; Gedam et al , 2017 ); depression ( Khalil et al , 2016 , Othman and Lee, 2017 , Peterka-Bonetta et al , 2019 ; Younes et al, 2016 ; Iwamoto and Chun, 2020 ; Gedam et al , 2017 ; Tao et al , 2017 ; Asibong et al , 2020 ; Chupradit et al , 2020 ; Haand and Shuwang, 2020 ; Pang, 2020 ; Visnjic et al , 2018 ); anxiety ( Younes et al , 2016 ; Campisi et al , 2017 ; Iwamoto and Chun, 2020 ; Asibong et al , 2020 ; Panova et al , 2020 ; Gedam et al , 2017 ); stress ( Younes et al , 2016 ; Campisi et al , 2017 ; Liu et al , 2017 ; Iwamoto and Chun, 2020 ; Unsar et al , 2020 ); social anxiety ( Weinstein et al, 2015 ); fear of missing out or FOMO ( Lattie et al , 2019 ; Pang, 2020 ); low happiness ( Kitazawa et al , 2019 ) and increase in suicide risk ( Alpaslan et al , 2015 ; Kurt, 2015 ; Poorolajal et al , 2019 ).…”

Content Analysis on Mediamorphosis Assisted Learning in Higher Learning Institutions

“…This is more so when social networking is seen as a strong intermediary at the beginning of communication (Can and Gokce, 2019). Social media that served once as a resource for information, have now transformed into a domain for relieving stress, searching for acquaintances, sharing daily activities, and more (Iwamoto and Chun, 2020). Technological development has now been adopted by society in advancing the education system (Nicolaou et al, 2019).…”