The influence of social media on the adolescent population’s psychological health is a topic thoroughly discussed in contemporary literature. On the one hand, the impact can be positive because social media enables the communication between peers, which may be associated with the emergence of coping mechanisms against stress and anxiety. According to Siddiqui and Singh (2016), the youth may search for advice and information on social networking sites.
Moreover, social media helps to find psychological support from peers at the time of crises (Siddiqui & Singh, 2016). However, Benson (2018) mentions that social media use is associated with negative consequences. For instance, recent studies identify a strong correlation between eating disorders, depression, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (2018). The problem is that social media creates unrealistic expectations about life, which has a considerable impact on adolescents.
Social media can be beneficial for healthcare professionals for providing health education and delivering health-related information to patients. During my practicum in the family walk-in clinic, the authorities used social media for making community announcements and replied to questions about health most common health concerns, such as COVID-19. Such actions are adherent to ICT principle, among which is to “facilitate appropriate consumer use of health information and communication technologies” (EU-US eHealth Work, 2020, p. 17). At the same time, the clinic utilized an electronic health record (EHR) system with particular attention to information security, which is vital according to HIM principles in health information exchange (EU-US eHealth Work, 2020).
References
Benson, J. M. (2018). An integrative literature review: Examining the impact of contemporary social media on adolescent psychopathology (Doctoral dissertation, The Wright Institute). Web.
EU-US eHealth Work (2020). Health informatics principles. Web.
Siddiqui, S., & Singh, T. (2016). Social media its impact with positive and negative aspects. International Journal of Computer Applications Technology and Research, 5(2), 71-75.