Page 12 - Petelin, Ana, et al. 2019. Eds. Zdravje otrok in mladostnikov / Health of Children and Adolescents. Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press
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avje otrok in mladostnikov | health of children and adolescents 10 these changes may affect certain normal aspects of human behavior and cause
psychiatric disorders (Pantic, 2014). Studies on adults have linked decreased
self-esteem with SM use, and potentially more significant health effects with
children (Richards et al., 2015).
There are many definition and concepts of SM. Most basic definition
states that SM can be defined as ‘’a group of Internet based applications that al-
low the creation and exchange of user-generated content’’ (Kaplan and Haen-
lein, 2010; Primack and Escobar-Viera, 2017).
SM is being used increasingly by children and young people. Although
SM can have a positive impact on the health and well-being of children and
young people, but it can pose risks for these vulnerable population groups
(Richards et al., 2015). It allows to staying connected with friends and fami-
ly, making new friends, sharing pictures and exchanging ideas etc. But at the
same time can also become a risk to adolescents (O’Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson,
2011). There are documented risks and benefits of the use of digital technology
and SM, range from affecting school performance, increasing loneliness and
social anxiety, to enhancing communication and broadening social connec-
tions (Clifton et al., 2013), but can also cause profound psychosocial outcomes
including depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances (Primack and Escobar-Viera,
2017), severe isolation, and suicide (Hinduja and Patchin, 2010).
The 2018 survey in the United States of America (USA) shows that a ma-
jority of Americans use Facebook and YouTube, but young adults and adoles-
cents mostly use Snapchat and Instagram as the primary social media. The re-
port states that around 88% of the young population uses social media of any
form (Pew Research Center, 2018). The Statista (2018) reports that in USA 63%
of teenagers, aged between 13-14 years, and 74% aged between 15-17 years are us-
ing Snapchat. In 2017 there were in total more than 45,6 milions Snapchat and
18,7 million Instagram users in USA aged under 17.
Methods
A descriptive research method with a critical review of Slovenian and English
professional and scientific literature was performed using the Cumulative in-
dex to nursing and allied health literature - CINAHL, Medline, ERIC, Google
schoolar, Cochrane library and the COBIB.SI database. The keywords with the
use of Bool’s operators AND and OR were: children, adolescent, youth, child,
teenager, social media, social networking sites, Facebook, Instragram, Snap-
chat, Twitter, mental health, mental disorder. Literature inclusion criteria were
articles published between 2009 and 2019, English or Slovenian language and
appropriate content. We included only scientific articles, that analysed children
up to the age of 18. We set a research question: “What is the impact of social me-
dia on children and adolescent mental health?”
psychiatric disorders (Pantic, 2014). Studies on adults have linked decreased
self-esteem with SM use, and potentially more significant health effects with
children (Richards et al., 2015).
There are many definition and concepts of SM. Most basic definition
states that SM can be defined as ‘’a group of Internet based applications that al-
low the creation and exchange of user-generated content’’ (Kaplan and Haen-
lein, 2010; Primack and Escobar-Viera, 2017).
SM is being used increasingly by children and young people. Although
SM can have a positive impact on the health and well-being of children and
young people, but it can pose risks for these vulnerable population groups
(Richards et al., 2015). It allows to staying connected with friends and fami-
ly, making new friends, sharing pictures and exchanging ideas etc. But at the
same time can also become a risk to adolescents (O’Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson,
2011). There are documented risks and benefits of the use of digital technology
and SM, range from affecting school performance, increasing loneliness and
social anxiety, to enhancing communication and broadening social connec-
tions (Clifton et al., 2013), but can also cause profound psychosocial outcomes
including depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances (Primack and Escobar-Viera,
2017), severe isolation, and suicide (Hinduja and Patchin, 2010).
The 2018 survey in the United States of America (USA) shows that a ma-
jority of Americans use Facebook and YouTube, but young adults and adoles-
cents mostly use Snapchat and Instagram as the primary social media. The re-
port states that around 88% of the young population uses social media of any
form (Pew Research Center, 2018). The Statista (2018) reports that in USA 63%
of teenagers, aged between 13-14 years, and 74% aged between 15-17 years are us-
ing Snapchat. In 2017 there were in total more than 45,6 milions Snapchat and
18,7 million Instagram users in USA aged under 17.
Methods
A descriptive research method with a critical review of Slovenian and English
professional and scientific literature was performed using the Cumulative in-
dex to nursing and allied health literature - CINAHL, Medline, ERIC, Google
schoolar, Cochrane library and the COBIB.SI database. The keywords with the
use of Bool’s operators AND and OR were: children, adolescent, youth, child,
teenager, social media, social networking sites, Facebook, Instragram, Snap-
chat, Twitter, mental health, mental disorder. Literature inclusion criteria were
articles published between 2009 and 2019, English or Slovenian language and
appropriate content. We included only scientific articles, that analysed children
up to the age of 18. We set a research question: “What is the impact of social me-
dia on children and adolescent mental health?”
