Snapchat and Instagram are the most harmful to wellbeing and mental health of young people, as per a new report on Internet based on social media platforms, which also revealed that YouTube had the most optimistic impact.
The new report studied the negative and positive effects of social media on health of young people. Scientist performed a study on around 1,500 people between the age of 14 and 24 from across the UK. The study requested them to rate how every social media platforms they utilize impacts on 14 wellbeing and health-related problems, which were recognized by experts as the most important such as loneliness, anxiety, and depression.
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On the basis of the scores given to each platform for the wellbeing and health-related problems, the five major well-known platforms were given a net standard rating. YouTube grabbed the top position in the list followed by Facebook and Twitter in descending order. Instagram and Snapchat were discovered to have the most unenthusiastic effect on mental health. “Social media has been explained as extremely addictive as compared to alcohol and cigarettes, and is at present so deep-rooted in the life of teenagers that it is no longer feasible to overlook it when talking about mental health problems of young people,” claimed Chief Executive, Shirley Cramer.
“It is fascinating to see Snapchat and Instagram ranking as the most horrible for wellbeing and mental health, both platforms are very image-focused and it seems they may be booting feelings of anxiety and inadequacy in teenagers,” Cramer claimed.
“It is vital that we have balances and checks as a substitute to turn social media not as much of a wild west when it comes to wellbeing and mental health of young people,” she added. “For teenagers, employing digital technologies and social media as a tool to aid with mental health make logic for many factors,” said Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge in the U.K., Becky Inkster.
“It might assist to increase self-awareness of mental health, enhance psychoeducation, and act as a defensive measure. Teenagers now and then feel more relaxed talking about private problems online,” Inkster said.
In a nutshell, please do reduce the use of Instagram and Snapchat.
