The increase in the use of social media causes a drop in self-esteem and an increase in symptoms associated with eating disorders in adolescents.
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This was revealed by a study conducted by Patricia J. Conrod, researcher at the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, also establishing that the situation is all the more worrying since it occurs during a crucial period in the development of young and that it endures.
This study confirmed that the biggest users of screen time are the most likely to have low self-esteem from the first year of use.
And this effect is particularly marked among social media users, whose low self-esteem persists and leads to a marked increase in food-related symptoms two years later.
“There is an urgent need for social media platforms to collaborate transparently with scientists. Owners will have to choose between their profit and the mental health of their users, in order to quickly find solutions to mitigate the physical and psychological effects of social networks on young people,” insisted Patricia J. Conrod, also a professor in the department of psychiatry and of addictology from the University of Montreal.
“Until now, researchers have had no access to the structure and internal functioning of these platforms,” she added. While waiting for more openness, we must nevertheless make young people aware of their insidious effects.
The study was published in the journal Psychology & Health and carried out from a panel of 3800 young people in about thirty secondary schools in Greater Montreal who were interviewed annually over a period of 5 years as part of this study. .