Mental Health 

What are some metal health conditions that may occur due to the internet?

Mind (2021) refers to the fact that some mental health conditions that may occur include; depression, anxiety, eating disorders, panic attacks, self harm and sleeping problems. when relating to metal health problems and how they have impacted children more  because of the internet, research demonstrates from Pendry and Salvatore (2015)that, when children spend too much time online could lead to their wellbeing being impacted when relating to developing anxiety, depression and starting to be withdrawn when relating to interacting face to face with family, friends and relatives. Although, Mind (2021) refers to some of the affects of children spending too much time online, Children's bureau (2021) states that other affects could link to children's addiction to screen time. It states that it is becoming a bigger issue and coursing depression, low self esteem and loneliness to be impacted massively. Children's bureau refers to the fact that many children with these symptoms have led them to be diagnosed with mental illnesses and worsening issues that were not already present. when including how many children have experienced these symptoms, research demonstrates  from OCED (2018),  that when completing a survey across 10 countries in the UK shown that  of young people had a mental disorder. It shows that 10% of boys and 14% of girls aged 11 years old reported feeling low more than once a week in the last six months. They also state that their results demonstrated that when the age of the children increased  the percentage also increased from the ages 11 years- 15 years old, it  was an overall increase resulting to 29% of girls feeling low and 13% of boys.  

How does the internet impact teenagers mental health?

One issue that has highlighted how the internet has impacted children's mental health is that people are always comparing themselves to others. Research shows from Piedmont healthcare (2021) that we are comparing our life to the lives of others. He refers to the fact that this could result to not enjoying things that are in the moment. Although Piedmont healthcare (2021) states this,  Walker (2021) refers to the fact that people that are comparing themselves to others occurs more on social media sites such as Instagram. Walker (2021) also states that It’s our innate human nature to compare ourselves to others, weather it's their body image or their confidence. 

Another example of  the internet impacting children's mental health includes the amount of time children spend online. when relating to mental health occurring in young people due to the amount of time children spend online, research demonstrates that in 2015 the office for national statistics shows that there is a clear association between the amount of time children spend online on social media and children's mental health problems increasing (Frith, 2017). Research demonstrated that as little as 12% of children spend no time on social media networking websites have had symptoms of mental health illnesses however the figure increases to 27% for those children who are on social media sites for three to five hours a day. Although  Frith (2017) states this, Glazzard and Stones (2019, P.2) refers to the fact that out of four of the five most used social media platforms has led to young people's feeling of anxiety worse. They state that people that access the internet on social media sites for more that two hours a day are more likely to report poor mental health problems occurring. 

One other explanation of mental health being impacted further due to social media is children and teenagers being addicted to their phones to access social media. Kobirruzzaman, Waheed, Yaakup,  Osman, Malaysia (2018) refers to the fact that when relating to addiction targeting teenagers, 210 million people are addicted to social media. Research shows that people have became more disconnected from their social life due to the internet leading 71% of people sleeping with their phones next to them which can have an overall impact on them sleeping, which could lead to their school learning being impacted massively. Mentally Health Schools (2021) refers to the fact that Children who use social media at night may not be getting enough sleep. This could lead to impacts with their learning at school and can impact them further when relating to mental health problems occurring such as depression and anxiety. Research demonstrated from Mentally Health Schools that children between the ages 5-16 years old need approximal 9 hours- 11 hours sleep at night for their body to work well. 

Facts 

NHS (2018), explores some statistics from 2017 about mental health and how social media has impacted this, these include:

•  (NHS, 2018) when assessed in 2017, research demonstrated  that when looking at the ages 5-19 year olds, one in eight (12.8%) of children had at least one mental disorder. 
• (NHS ,2018) when looked at in 2017 research demonstrated that when categorising mental disorders into four groups ; emotional, behavioural, hyperactivity and other less common disorders, research demonstrated that when looking at 5- 19 year olds  that one of the most common to occur was an emotional disorder with 8.1%. 
• (NHS, 2018) Emotional disorders have become more common in five to 15 year-olds , in 1999 the total was 4.3% and has increased in 2004 to 5.5%  then increasing again to 5.8% in 2017.

• Pendry and Salvatore (2015) states that  in  offline setting research has demonstrated that those who are communicating more and have close relationships with friends, family are less stressed and feel much happier and healthier, whereas those who have fewer closer relationships  , social recourses and support tend to feel more lonely and depressed. 
• (Mental Health Foundation, 2018) states that 99.9% of 15 year olds use at least one kind of digital technology everyday. 

Theory

George Herbert 

George Herbert Mead's theory is the social self theory. This theory focusses on the concept of self , me and I, this is based on the perspectives that the self emerges from social interactions and the way in which you respond to others opinions. George Herbert believed that when your younger people don't really care about what others think of them, however as you grow up he believes that the way people perceive us becomes more important and can lead to their human development being impacted , this could relate to   their mental health being impacted (Khan Academy, 2015). 

His theory is split into three stages this includes; stage 1- The preparatory stage , stage 2- play stage  and stage 3- games stage. when relating to stage 1- the preparatory stage, this is were children imitate the people around them such as family and friends were they continually interact with. An example of this when relating to mental health could be a child is observing that somebody they know well is becoming sad and always crying so this could lead them to copy this behaviour and become anxious and cry too. Another example when relating to mental health could be the child is observing an adult help others when they are anxious leading the individual to smile so then the child smiles. At stage one children are learning developing their human development by interacting with others as they grow learning through others language, gestures and words to help them develop further. when relating to stage 2- play stage , this is were children are becoming more aware of building social relationships. At this stage children start to pretend to be other people and start to take the role of 'role taking' . Role taking is when a person mentally assuming the perspective  of another and responding from that imagined viewpoint. when relating to stage 3- the game stage, the child begins to refer to' generalized other' which means the attitudes, viewpoints and expectations which the child taking into account as a whole when relating to his/her behaviour. An example of this when relating to mental health includes that children know what they are expected to do by observing others around them so if somebody else that is going through metal health issues and they show it them that individual will also show their feeling through their behaviours as that is what they have learn to do (Amirul Hafiz, 2017). 

Overall when relating to George Herbert's theory and how it aids an understanding of the influence of media on human development , his theory reflects on how children are constantly observing and learning from role models around them. The internet can have a massive role in this by promoting behaviours positively as well as negatively. 

Social Learning Theory 

(Porter 2021, P. 107) refers to the fact that a theorist called Albert Bandura  created a theory called ' the social learning theory'. His theory focusses on the idea that people learn from one another through either;  observation,  imitation and modelling. when relating to mental health and how his theory relates to the internets role of how it has impacted individuals he suggests within his theory that he believes  "only ones environment courses ones behaviour". when relating this to the internet, children are constantly being promoted to access the internet, this could lead them to learning new skills, behaviours etc. but could also lead them to positively or negatively course affects to their own development.  This could either be due to behaviour they are witnessing in person or behaviour they are witnessing online. 

social Learning theory could also play a role within your development by witnessing others around you promoting behaviours such as allowing yourself from a young age to have as much time as you want on the internet which leads yourself to have learnt a ' learnt behaviour' such as addiction to screen time. This could lead to you having negative impacts on your development such as tiredness, headaches, sore eyes, loss of sleep. 

Clip about Mental Health

Psych Hub (2020) 

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