Browsing by Subject "Katsaus"

Aims. Social media is present in our everyday life. It is actively used both at work and when we have free time. The consequences of use of social media, especially to adolescents’ wellbeing, have been the subject of interest among researchers. The researchers have received evidence for the negative impacts as well as for positive impacts relating to the use of social media among adolescents. There seems to be some kind of division at the field regarding whether the use of social media among adolescents should be viewed as a negative factor for their wellbeing. The purpose of this review was to explore the latest information and research on the use of social media and its positive and negative impacts on adolescents’ wellbeing as well as to consider which topics should be researched more in the future. Methods. The literature used for this review was retrieved from the databases of PubMed and Helka-library. The information search was conducted in English and search terms used were social media, adolescent, wellbeing, and mental health. The search terms were used with different inflections and different word combinations. The aim was to select as recent and new reviews and research as possible. Results and conclusions. Reviewed research found that the use of social media has connection with depression, self-harm, eating disorders and anxiety. Some research also found that adolescents can have addiction to social media. In some research social media was viewed in more positive light e.g., when it was used to relieve stress, to relax and to maintain social relationships. In addition, adolescents felt that social media is a good source of information and a place where one may receive peer support. A clear conclusion on whether the use of social media has only positive or negative impacts cannot be made because it seems to have both. The way social media affects to adolescents’ wellbeing may depend on e.g., one’s individual characteristics, for the time spent on using social media and for what one is doing there.