BCM YOUTH INCREASINGLY PRONE TO MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES DUE TO SOCIAL MEDIA

The excessive use of social media by young adults in the Buffalo City Municipal area is one of the key contributors to the detriment of their mental and physical health, according to recent research by WSU academics.

Dr Jose Lukose, Dr Gardner Mwansa, Mr Ricky Ngandu and Dr Olukayode Oki from WSU’s ICT Department conducted a study which sought to understand the effects of social media usage on the mental health status of young adults by using Buffalo city as a case study.

The study titled Investigating the Impact of Social Media Usage on the Mental Health of Young Adults in Buffalo City, South Africa pointedly showed that the excessive use of social media was negatively contributing to the mental health status of young adults.

Amongst the detrimental effects of social media, the researchers mentioned sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and ultimately the tendency to commit suicide. These in turn affected their academic and other areas of life.

“Social media usage is rapidly replacing the time spent on reading, sleeping, face-to-face interactions, discussions and physical activities among young adults. Excess usage of social media can be detrimental to the emotional and physical well-being of young adults. Thus, we found it vital for us to research on the effects of social media on the mental health of young adults, in particular among young adults in Buffalo City Municipality,” said Lukose.

Eighty-three percent of the research respondents acknowledged that excessive usage of social media had resulted in sleep deprivation, which when coupled with the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) caused a detrimental impact on their self-esteem and caused symptoms of depression and anxiety.

At least seventy-eight percent respondents said they occasionally felt like their friends were having more fun and living better lives than they were.

“From the results of the study, we can clearly conclude that that there is a strong link between social media usage and the mental health of young adults. The link is revealed through the two key findings that stood out. These are the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) phenomena and sleep deprivation which is causing a lot of mental health issues and adversely affecting the productivity in their life. FoMO is making a lot of youth to lose focus on their academics, careers and life in general. The unspoken material acquisition competitions, which often lead to depression, low self-esteem and in some instances tendency to commit suicide,” said Mwansa.

To curb or at least reduce the negative effects of social media on youth, the researchers suggested that higher education institutions in partnership with community organizations embark on urgent and continuous awareness campaigns to help sensitise the young adults on the dangers of excessive use of social media platforms, both on their mental health status and life in general.

Furthermore, the life skills curriculum at schools from an early stage should be amended to include the pros and cons of the usage of social media platforms.

Oki added: “The mental health practitioners and health care providers must be sensitised to the potential dangers that social media has on young adults’ mental health so that they use the most effective and appropriate support to young adults.”

By Yanga Ziwele