As you’re reading this, 85.55% (according to Statista and World Bank) of the UK use social media but what does that do to their mental health? Same goes for school and homework, what can we do to protect the mental health of this nation? Read on as we discuss the findings of what’s happening…
Social Media has made the Fear of Missing Out or FOMO more prominent today than it ever has been, directly misleading people, adults included, into thinking that “other people are living better, more satisfying lives or that important opportunities are being missed.”- Kate Brush a technical and psychological writer for WhatIs.com. This creates a heavy burden on people to carry and has caused lower grades in all types of education in a study done in the Urmia University of Medical Sciences, they came up with this conclusion: “Smartphone addiction could harm students’ academic performance.”
FOMO and Body Imaging * all seriously impact and damage student’s wellbeing. However, Social Media does impact lives positively such as communicating and staying up to date with family and friends around the world; finding new friends; joining or promoting worthwhile causes; raising awareness on critical issues; helping emergency services in the capture of criminals; brightening people’s days with funny cat videos and more.
Although, FOMO and Social Media are big influences on mental health, for students, school is another. With homework, friends, peer pressure, bad or good teachers, exams and social lives, school can alter students just as much as Social Media can. Exams and homework cause enormous anxiety for all students no matter if you’re organised or not. Gateway High School ran a survey and said, “56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress.” This causes massive anxiety and little time for kids to be with their friends and enjoy themselves. This is not helped by the fact that most schools have implemented mandatory Independent Study, which is where the student assigns themselves homework found on the school website for all the lessons where they were not assigned homework, this takes them away from exploring the world and discovering things for themselves.
Ms. Carpenter the English Head and part of the school leadership team at Carre’s Grammar School, who implemented this in her school, said “We implemented Independent Study at the start of this academic year after research into other schools’ usage such as Bourne Grammar School. This was because parents were worried about how little homework students were getting.”
Independent Study is proven to help students academically, as shown with the London: Department for Children, Schools and Families Research Report 051 published in 2008: “The review found some evidence of the benefits of independent learning, including: improved academic performance; increased motivation and confidence; greater student awareness of their limitations and their ability to manage them; enabling teachers to provide differentiated tasks for students.”
Overall, I think that with Social Media’s and School’s impacts on mental health and anxiety are heavy. This is shown by the Office of National Statistics saying: “Between the academic year ending 2017 and the academic year ending 2020, the male suicide rate for higher education students was statistically significantly higher (5.6 deaths per 100,000 students; 202 suicide deaths).” However, it is not told whether this was caused by Social Media or not, all we can say is the impact of School.
Although, Social Media and School are big influences on mental health, may that be for the better or the worse, there is not compelling evidence for either. But please give us your thoughts on this in the comments below. And remember if you see anybody who is at a hard time in life or if you yourself are at one, please remember help is available.
By Ieuan Year 8
Carres Grammar School, Sleaford
*https://youngjournalistacademy.com/the-effects-of-social-media-on-body-imagery/
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Ieuan, what a fascinating read! I certainly have my reservations and fears about social media whilst also being an avid user! It’s a very interesting topic!
Excellent work, Ieuan. As a parent of two teenagers, I have certainly seen the pros and cons of social media!
A thought provoking article, Ieuan. It would be really interesting to hear what young people think we should do about the dangers of social media.
Really interesting article, Ieuan. I guess it is all about balance with social media and with school..
Nice article! The impact of social media on us as a species is BIZARRE, imagine telling someone in Victorian London that their entire personality would be shaped by a small pane of glass that they keep in their pocket. I wonder what changes we’ll go through in the future too..?
Very interesting article Ieuan – well done.