My research topic is how the ever changing social media platforms affect the mental health of younger generations- specifically individuals under 18 years of age.

Hypothesis: Individuals under 18 who scroll social media one or more times in a day have a higher risk of mental health issues.

Proposal Outline:

Introduction: An overview of the research topic, also including how many individuals use social media followed by a percentage who also have mental health issues (Bashir&Bhat, 2017). Go over what the research proposal goal is to prove/discover. Explain why this research is important in 2022 and moving forward as social media and humanity evolve.

• How does social media affect people’s mental health?
  • Diefenbach & Anders, 2022
  • Dubicka & Firth, 2019
  • McIntyre & Gibson, 2016
• How does social media target younger members of society?
  • Binns, 2014
  • Twenge, Blake, Haidt, & Campbell, 2020
  • Avinash, 2019
• Are there different types of people subject to mental illness from social media?
  • Sidani, Escobar-Viera, Primack, 2020
  • Mishna, Regehr, Lacombe-Duncan, Daciuk, Fearing, & Van Wert, 2018
  • Binns 2014

Methodology: 

• Two groups of individuals under 18, only parameter is age and access to social media
• Use a mental health evaluation as my pretest
• observe one group that uses social media platforms one or more times a day
• Observe the other group that uses social media platforms less than 2-3 times a week
• post test with another mental health evaluation, same as the first
• document if there is any difference between the two, between pre and post-test, and compare the pre and post-tests from each group to each other.

Discussion: 

• How significant were these changes?
  • Did they change for the worse or the better?
• What would happen if after this study, the two groups were reversed and studied again?
  • Would the group with access improve their mental health?
  • Would the group without decline in mental health?
• talk about what I found interesting within the research

Flowchart:

References:

Avinash, R. (2019, September). Marginalization and Social Media. Retrieved April 18, 2022, from https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&sid=a483b23b-e003-44eb-a567-009a19333dbd%40redis

Bashir, H., & Bhat, S. A. (2017). Effects of social media on mental health: A review. International Journal of Indian Psychology, 4(3), 125-131.

Binns, A. (2014). Twitter City and Facebook Village: teenage girls’ personas and experiences influenced by choice architecture in social networking sites. Journal of Media Practice, 15(2), 71–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/14682753.2014.960763

Diefenbach, S., & Anders, L. (2022). The psychology of likes: Relevance of feedback on Instagram and relationship to self-esteem and social status. Psychology of Popular Media, 11(2), 196–207. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000360

Dubicka, B., Martin, J., & Firth, J. (2019). Editorial: Screen time, social media and developing brains: a cause for good or corrupting young minds? Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 24(3), 203–204. https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12346

McIntyre, K. E., & Gibson, R. (2016). Positive News Makes Readers Feel Good: A “Silver-Lining” Approach to Negative News Can Attract Audiences. Retrieved April 18, 2022, from https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=10&sid=ee2f0e7e-c401-4d33-982c-603710201807%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=117877795&db=ufh.

Mishna, F., Regehr, C., Lacombe-Duncan, A., Daciuk, J., Fearing, G., & Van Wert, M. (2018). Social media, cyber-aggression and student mental health on a university campus. Journal of Mental Health, 27(3), 222–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2018.1437607

Sidani, J. E., Shensa, A., Escobar-Viera, C. G., & Primack, B. A. (2020). Associations between Comparison on Social Media and Depressive Symptoms: A Study of Young Parents. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 29(12), 3357–3368. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-020-01805-2

Twenge, J. M., Blake, A. B., Haidt, J., & Campbell, W. K. (2020). Commentary: Screens, teens, and psychological well-being: Evidence from three time-use-diary studies. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00181