The Impact of Social Media Use on Adolescent Mental Health: Exploring Anxiety, Depression, and Self-Esteem
1Hub E Ali, 2Dr. Omer Jalal, 3Zamin Abbas, 4Dr Muhammad Sami Bilal, 5Qamar Abbas, 6Dr. Naeem Amjad
1Assistant professor, Mayo Hospital, Lahore
2Consultant psychiatrist, HOD psychiatry, Assistant professor of psychiatry, Combined Military Hospital Kohat, KPK
3Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar,
4Assistant Professor, College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSP) Pakistan
5Allama Iqbal Medical College, Jinnah Hospital, Lahore
6Associate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Shahida Islam Medical college, Lodhran
Vol: 14/02
Received: January 25, 2024 Accepted: March 02, 2024 Published: July 06, 2024
ABSTRACT:
Background: Social media has also presented adolescents with a way of connectivity and creating amusement, yet there are worries about the psychological effect. The rise in use of screens, or comparison through online resources and cyberbullying, as well as digital validation can be a factor of mental health difficulties, especially anxiety, depression and lack of self-esteem in teenagers. Aim: This paper has tried to determine the effects of use of social media on the mental health of adolescents concerning the prevalence and relationship between exposure to social media and presence of anxiety, depression and self-esteem measures. Methods: It is a cross-sectional study which was carried out in Mayo Hospital, Lahore between April2024 and March 2025. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 120 adolescents with the age range of 1319 years. Respondents had the participation of standardized questionnaires that included; generalized anxiety disorder-7 (GAD-7) in anxiety, patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) as measures of depression and Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale. Information concerning the usage of social media and the type of use was also taken. A statistical treatment was done to uncover relationships between mental health outcomes and social media use. Results: Results showed that 68.3 percent of the participants with over 3 hours per day spent on social media demonstrated moderate and severe symptoms of anxiety and 54.2 percent of participants indicated moderate and severe symptoms of depression. In addition, a majority of the frequent users manifested low self-esteem (61.7 percent). The relationship between high amounts of social media use and high anxiety and depression scores, as well as low self-esteem scores, came out to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). The rankings of mental health outcomes were poor on participants who had passive browsing or those who fell victim to cyberbullying compared to those who had balanced or intentional use of social media. Conclusion: The high usage of social media was strongly linked to anxiety and depression and lower self esteem in adolescents. These results highlight the necessity of creating awareness programs, parents guidance, and policy initiatives that help people develop healthier digital lifestyles and protect the mental health of youth. Keywords: social media, adolescent mental health, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, digital behavior, screen time.