Barretto, Jose Alberto Christopher D.

14-0235

Chapter 3

PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION OF FINDINGS

Research problem 1: To what extent does social media affect the mental health of

teenagers?

This chapter provides the gathered data and the researcher’s analysis and

interpretation of the results of the surveys that were randomly distributed. The data

were presented in a clear and concise form, most which used graphs and charts. The

data was gathered from people that are part of the age bracket of 17-22 years old.

According to the results of the survey, social media affects the mental health

of teenagers to the extent of: (1) having positive elements which gives positive

effects, (2) having negative elements which gives negative effects, (3) having certain

issues on people.

3.1 Having positive elements which gives positive effects

Based on the results of the survey, 78.2% of the teenage respondents are

aware of the positive elements of mental health while 21.8% of them are not aware

of these elements. Below is a chart of the data collected for 3.1 (Figure 3.1)

Figure 3.1.
 21.8
%

From the results that are presented in Figure 3.1, majority of the respondents

have knowledge or are aware of the positive elements of mental health. This agrees

with the RRL wherein Robert Hedaya said that a teenager’s brain is continuously

reshaped. Because of this, it is very important to observe or watch over what the

adolescent being exposed to on the internet, even more so in social media. It is also

vital for teenagers to be present in social media for it is an extension of themselves

because, going back to what O’Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson said, it is their way of

connecting or communicating with and meeting other people. It is a part of their

daily lives to the point where not a day goes by where they did not sign into their

many social media accounts. But as seen in Figure 3.2. you can see that there is a

percentage of the respondents who say that the effect of social media is not positive.
3.2 Positive effect of social media on the teenager

When asked if the effect of social media on the respondent is positive, 76.3%

of the respondents said that social media indeed has a positive effect on the

teenager, while 23.7% percent said otherwise.

Figure 3.2.

Based on the graph above, although majority of the respondents did say that

social media has a positive effect on them but there is still a significant percentage of

them who think that social media did not have a positive effect on them. When

asked why they think it affects them negatively, they said that it is because of all the

negativity they see or experience on social media these days and it just stresses

them out more because of the negative posts or comments that they receive or read.

They also think that it changes the way they perceive things. Which may be alarming
for these can be initial indicators of mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression,

as briefly mentioned in the RRL.

3.3 Effect of social media on one’s mental health

Of the 59 respondents, majority of them with 91.5% think that social media

can greatly affect an individual’s mental health while a small percentage of 8.5%

think that it does not.

Based on the responses of the respondents, most of them said that social

media can affect someone’s mental health because of how the negative comments

and posts they see on these social networking sites which may lead to the individual

to become obsessed with it and abuse it to the point where it may greatly affect the

way these individuals think and behave, which definitely affirms Christian

Nordqvist’s point where he defined mental health to be related to our cognitive and

emotional well-being. But as seen in the next graph, Figure 3.4, it is revealed that there
are many individuals who know of people that are greatly affected by social media to the

point that they suffer from different mental illnesses.

3.4 Knowledge of anyone close to them that have mental illnesses due to social

media

When asked if the respondents knew anyone who has experienced any

illnesses or issues because of social media 47.5% of them said that they did not

know anyone but 52 .5% said that they did know people who have suffered issues

due to social media.

Figure 3.4.

As seen in the data above, more than half of the respondents knew people

who have suffered from illnesses and issues due to social media and are part of the

large majority of people who do have mental illnesses as mentioned by the

Department of Health and Human Services in 2007. The researcher then asked the

respondents what illnesses in particular and a few of the most commonly mentioned

one was depression, bullying and anxiety. A few also mentioned how even if these

people are already suffering from these illnesses, they still continue to use social

media because they just can’t avoid it which supports what Dani-Elle Dube said.

These teenagers have become addicted to the internet and continue to abuse it even

if they are going through such circumstances. When the researcher asked the

respondents further if the people they knew still suffered from these mental

illnesses, they explained that some have already committed suicide due to the

extreme depression they have developed from being influenced and affected by

social media or social networking sites too much. It just comes to show how social

media does indeed greatly affect teenagers’ mental health and how it can lift you up

or bring you down.