Increasingly the internet has become synonymous with social media, no matter what we use it for, we are constantly encouraged to share our online activities with our friends and followers on social media platforms. . Social networking services (SNS) are more popular than ever among young people, and sharing our online activities on SNS is often seen as a reflection on an individual's interests, thoughts and opinions. With technology becoming an integral part of education, it can be difficult for young people, as students, to distinguish between social media as an educational resource intended to enhance learning and a platform for sharing information. online activities as a means of gaining recognition from their peers. Many studies have looked at the effect of using SNS in this way and how it might affect mental health and wellbeing, but the question of how it might impact an individual's academic performance remains controversial. This essay will therefore analyze the existing relationship between mental health problems and academic achievement, before addressing the impact that social media can have on mental health and education, critically discussing these issues, before to conclude with some beneficial revisions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayIn 2017, the number of SNS users in the United Kingdom (UK) was estimated at 42 million, which equates to around 62% of the total UK population. the population (Statista, 2017). This indicates the vast reach of social media, and with the increasing accessibility of smartphones to young people, these statistics are likely to increase. The Pew Research Center found that 84% of people aged 18 to 29 in the United States are on Facebook, more than any other age group. Another recent report from the Pew Research Center found that “96% of adolescents have access to a smartphone. and are constantly on social media.” Although this data may be correct for 96% of teens surveyed, the title of this data seems sensationalist. It is an exaggeration to believe that the majority of adolescents are “constantly” on social networks. However, according to OECD data, more than a third of British fifteen-year-olds are defined as “extreme Internet users”, using the Internet for more than six hours. , outside of school, on a typical weekend day. Although statistical data can often be unreliable, what we can learn from this information is that young people use social media more than adults and use it more often; Perhaps, more importantly, we can conclude that social media has a greater hold on young people compared to older generations. It is undeniable that young people are suffering more and more from mental health problems. For example, in 1999, ten percent of children between five and fifteen suffered from mental disorders: five percent suffered from clinically significant conduct disorders; four percent were rated as suffering from emotional disorders, such as anxiety and depression, and one percent were rated as hyperactive. The same survey carried out five years later, in 2003, revealed a slight increase in results: again, one in ten children between five and fifteen years old suffered from a mental disorder. However, when the survey was repeated in 2017, the data revealed a significant increase in the prevalence of disordersmental health, rising from 9.7% in 1999 and 10.1% in 2004, to 11.2% in 2017. One in eight (12.8%), five to Nineteen-year-olds now suffer from at least least a mental disorder, according to an assessment done in 2017. In line with this increase in statistics, many studies have been conducted around the idea that mental health affects academic performance. It has been shown, for example, that students suffering from depression, stress and anxiety have increasing difficulty retaining information, studying for exams and generally enjoying their experience. school as a whole. Although this research is widely considered, it could be argued that all students are under pressure when studying for exams, and therefore all students experiencing the stress of revision and exams could theoretically be diagnosed with a mental health problem. What is more important is to discern which students are experiencing external educational pressures or, given difficulties in their past or family lives, experiences negatively attributed to mental health problems. This could allow specialists to distinguish between pre-existing mental health problems and those that arise naturally due to the pressures of the school environment. While many early researchers advocated the use of school-based mental health programs to help young people (Opie and Slater 1998), Puskar and Bernardo (2007, pp. 216), went further, demonstrating that twenty percent of students in the United States had undiagnosed mental health problems leading to “difficulties” in their studies. While this may be true of the students interviewed at the time, much of this research could be considered outdated. What is important is to examine whether school-based mental health programs are effectively helping today's students. Due to budget cuts, many UK primary schools no longer employ a school nurse. This can pose a problem because without an adequate mental health assessment program, undiagnosed issues could affect a child's ability to reach their maximum potential as a student, negatively impacting their general well-being. This is evidenced by Maslow's (1943) hierarchy of needs, in which the first four stages of his well-being pyramid could potentially be affected by mental health disorders. The hierarchy of needs remains in use today as a relevant concept for assessing stages of well-being associated with student learning. Obviously, the correlation between mental health problems and academic performance often negatively affects education, and although statistics have proven cases of mental health disorders among young people are on the rise, some research has attempted to show that the use of social networks is the main cause of this increase. According to a recent Ofcom report on internet use, one in ten people surveyed said they access the internet more than fifty times a day (Ofcom, 2016, p. 30). The average time spent online increased from twenty-five hours per week among adults to twenty-nine hours among 16-24 year olds. 41% of respondents admitted to spending too much time online, with some experiencing the negative effects of excessive internet use. Although these studies have shown that certain aspects of social media, described in more detail below, can be harmful, I believe that many of the negative effects experienced by users could be reversed through proper education about the dangers of spending too much time. from time to timeline. Numerous journal articles in the field of behavioral psychology have linked increased social media use among young people to increasing levels of anxiety, depression, and stress (Farahani, 2012). Banjanin et al. (2015) agreed that links between increased stress and low levels of self-esteem are often linked to the amount of time an individual spends daily using social media, while Woods and Scott (2012) examined how extent heavy social media use was linked to sleep. deprivation, low self-esteem, anxiety and depression, seeing an increase in time spent online, are directly linked to a negative impact on academic performance. Perhaps one of the biggest causes of mental health issues when using social networking sites is the need for users to present themselves in the most positive way possible. For some people, social media could almost be considered a “highlight”; an online persona created to manipulate an individual's identity in a way that does not reflect their general life. The majority of people rarely choose to post negative images on social media pages, instead using them as a tool to express their accomplishments and achievements. The effect of this behavior leads social circles to compete to present the best version of themselves. However, it could be argued that social media users give too much credence to other people's online personalities and profiles. Studies show that the human ego plays a larger role in our online presence than we consciously realize. Peter and Schouten (2006) found a correlation between low levels of self-esteem and excessive Facebook use, while Gonzales and Hancock (2011) agree, finding that even viewing a network profile social increases self-esteem. This is also demonstrated by Valkenburg et al. (2006), where receiving positive or negative comments on an online profile was found to increase or decrease self-esteem accordingly. Although these studies attempt to use quantitative data to understand issues arising from social media use, the results could be considered subjective to the opinion of the respondent. I believe that Freud's (1923) seminal work on psychoanalysis could explain our online behavior. His tripartite definition of the subconscious of human behavior could hold the answers to why we seek gratification from our peers when using social media, and how this could lead to mental health problems. His theory of personality (1923), although never conclusively proven, in my opinion, describes an effective tool for both understanding our natural response to online content, and also for allowing us to rethink our subconscious responses, by thus regaining some form of control. our natural reactions. An example of this might be our instantaneous, and often unconscious, reaction to viewing the online profile of someone from a higher socio-economic stratum. When we use social media, we may react with unconscious feelings of low self-esteem, as Peter and Schouten pointed out above (2006), questioning our own personal achievements, or we may feel envious from others, even going so far as to feel signs of lack of self-esteem. depression surrounding our own current life circumstances. Freud would attribute this phenomenon to the unconscious partof our psyche, known as id, which responds to natural instincts and leads us to manifest selfish desires, “godly in nature” (McLeod, 2016). Our ability to deny these instincts is defined by Freud as our ego, whereby these natural desires are controlled by rational thought. For example, we may view a social media profile and initially feel jealous of another individual's lifestyle, but our ego reminds us to postpone gratification or compromise in order to avoid negative consequences. According to Freud, these negative consequences could include depression, anxiety, even stress, if not managed effectively by the ego. In some cases, this could be the cause of an online mental health problem, although it could be argued that social media sites are not the only platform through which we are exposed to this phenomenon. Television celebrities were a staple of our on-screen entertainment, long before Facebook existed, and as a culture we are constantly exposed to advertisements for consumer products affecting our subconscious. As adults, overexposure to advertisements, experienced over a long period of time, leaves us normalized to the feelings they provoke. Our ego ultimately leads us to compromise by understanding that we cannot buy and own every product that is advertised to us. The opposite, however, is true for an undeveloped mind, the expression of a child in a candy store comes to mind, where an undeveloped ego causes the id to riot and push us to gratify our natural instincts. In summary, I theorize that an underdeveloped ego, or inability to think critically about the repercussions of our online activity, could explain why young people in particular are more likely to develop mental health disorders when using social networking sites. That said, a young person could theoretically go online and see that a friend has posted an image of their new smartphone. Although this act may contribute to jealousy, it is unlikely to affect the child's mental well-being. Conversely, this event could begin to affect an individual's mental health, if an SNS user became overly invested in online activities, constantly compared themselves to others, became depressed about their own online personality and began to develop low self-esteem around his own image. This concept is illustrated by another potentially harmful effect of social media: body image. With more and more emphasis placed on portraying the perfect personality online, we consistently see young people having a negative perception of their body image. As early as 1999, Siegel et al. found that body image was linked to low self-esteem and depression in youth, with a significant difference between girls and boys. While other studies have shown a correlation between social media use and its effects on self-esteem, often leading to depression and anxiety in adolescents, one key factor appears to influence much of Research on the subject: Tiggeman & Slater (2014), found the link between poor body image was affected by the increased time users spent on social media, with this phenomenon being particularly prevalent among girls. It seems that the same issues are being raised over and over again: those who spend too much time online and are too invested in the image they create of themselves on social media suffer the most from the negative effects that it can create. Although this may continue to be the most influential issue in the mediasocial issues affecting mental health, an important factor to consider when examining personal beliefs regarding body image is the threat of cyberbullying. As mentioned earlier, young people's social circles seem to encourage each other to present themselves perfectly, adhering to the unwritten rules that everyone should only display their best side. If a user posts an embarrassing photo or says inappropriate things on a social networking site, this can increasingly lead to cyberbullying (Kowalaski et al., 2012). The NSPCC has shown that cases of cyberbullying on social media platforms have increased significantly (2014), while more recent statistics from the Educational Policy Institute (2017) show that the number of young people being cyberbullied has gradually increased. Douglas et al. (2012), argue that cyberbullying provides offenders with a certain level of anonymity, while other studies have indicated that victims of cyberbullying already know the perpetrators offline (Spears et al., 2015). This data correlates with my own finding: users are harassed more by peers in social circles than by strangers. While this could be because social media is more accessible than ever, with internet access widely available on smartphones, these platforms are often neither the cause nor the sole culprit of cyberbullying. Many studies agree on the relationship between online and offline bullying among schoolchildren. Although bullying, in any form, can affect an individual's mental health in obvious ways, Kiriakidis and Kavoura (2010) found that cyberbullying can have a negative impact on the psychosocial development of young people and that , just like offline bullying, cyberbullying can have harmful effects on oneself. - self-confidence causes social anxiety, depression and, in the worst cases, leads to self-harm. Although cyberbullying is a constant threat from social media, research conducted by the BMC has found a relationship between the time young people spend on social media and an increased risk of being a victim of cyberbullying. Importantly, this study supports my previous argument that users are much more likely to be affected by the negative effects of social media if they spend too much time online. Even more data, from ONS statistics, showed a “clear association” between the time an individual spends on social media and an increase in mental health problems. Figures show that young people who use social media are twice as likely to develop symptoms of mental health problems if they use social media on a school day. It seems that the same issues are being raised consistently: young users spend too much time on social media and are not effectively informed of the harmful effects it could cause for some people. Having discussed the relationship between mental health issues and academic outcomes, and critically examining the evidence surrounding the effects that social media may have on young people's mental health, some key issues continually arise. . The studies are consistent with my own findings, showing that a link between students' digital literacy, combined with the length of time children use social media unsupervised, directly increases the risk of experiencing the potential negative effects of social media ( EPI, 2017). . When theSocial media is so overused, this can undoubtedly increase social anxiety, depression and stress, causing young people to feel insecure, even within their own friendship groups. My psychosocial examination of online behavior, using Freud's (1923) theory, argues that young people are more vulnerable than adults to developing mental health problems. This could be due to insecurity issues, such as poor body image or, more seriously, cyberbullying. In either case, these issues could again lead to symptoms of anxiety, depression, and self-harm. My following assessment of these issues results in some possible beneficial revisions to the issues listed above: Most importantly, the need to effectively inform and educate students and young people about the possible dangers of social media is evident, by attempting to help them understand these dangers are often caused by spending too much time online. By promoting digital literacy, students can learn to self-assess their own online behavior and create online boundaries, which help avoid the possible negative impacts of SNS. By clearly distinguishing how social media can affect us positively or negatively, young people can be educated to recognize when they are putting themselves in danger online, making it easier for them to avoid certain situations in the future. Self-auditing in this way not only helps keep young people safe online, but also teaches useful life skills, such as behavioral awareness, time management and productivity, helping students to become critically engage with real-life issues at a mature level. I've always thought that social media, overall, is a positive tool for sharing information with broader communities. Unfortunately, they seem to be used less in this capacity by young people. Social media is in most of our pockets, most of the day, so while the broader question of how we use our cell phones could be debated, the more pertinent question is whether we should checking SNS as much as we do. People say they "can't live without their phones," and there has been research showing that physical anxiety is present when people are forcibly removed from them. It is this concept that leads me to consider an analogy with SNSs which I believe could go a long way in educating young people and avoiding possible mental health problems arising from their use. We have all, at some point, participated in activities that we know might not be beneficial for us, whether it's eating junk food, staying up too late, drinking too much alcohol , whatever it may be. These experiences, of course, can be enjoyable, but they must be managed in moderation to live a physically healthy life. Social media is similar, it's enjoyable, we love sharing and viewing posts online, but we need to moderate our usage in order to live a mentally healthy life. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers.Get a custom essayIn conclusion, statistics have shown that cases of mental health problems are increasing among young people and research has shown the negative effects that stress, depression and anxiety can affect academic performance. The correlation between mental health problems and education is therefore clear, but the extent to which this.