Dr. Blumberg, a psychology professor at the University of California, states: “We did not see such insecurity before because social media highlights it, but that does not mean that the amount of insecure people changed with the start of Facebook. So, although social media may be a mess, it is ultimately a message about the human heart.”

This quotation shows that as a society, we are attempting to blame social media for behaviors we are not proud of.

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An example of an external factor that causes mental health issues, without the input of social media is natural disasters and the effect of traumatic experiences in relation to them. Hurricane Michael, which happened in California in the year 2018 caused lots of mental distress on residents, especially students in school.
According to PBS Newshour, teachers in school witnessed symptoms of PTSD, where students would cry at the mere sound of rain, due to the fact that it reminded them of the hurricane. Students as young as six years old also said they wanted to kill themselves. In an extreme case, young girls showed up to school with razor blades and threatened to slit their wrists. All such behaviors indicate high levels of mental health deterioration due to an environmental factor.
Another example is corruption in some countries around the world, where corrupt governments impose negative mental health effects on their people by not providing them with enough wages, inflation, unemployment etc. Considering the Arab spring, this is a case where social media was not only not a leading factor to mental health disorders, but also a refuge and tool the united the people to help them make a change.

In order to analyze the prevalence of social media carefully, we must also consider whether upbringing makes some more prone to developing mental health disorders. Psychologist Sigmund Frued was the first to propose the theory that early childhood plays a vital role in personal development. For example, children whose parents tend to fight often or are over impacts the likelihood of developing mental health issues, is genetics.
A recent study called nature genetics from University of California in San Diego, states that personality traits are heritable, but research has not identified to what extent. However, researchers found that certain genes are linked to certain traits, for example, genes WSCD2 and PCDH15 are connected to extraversion,It was also conducted that genes related to neuroticism (anxiety-fear-worry-jealousy) and openness to experience were clustered together in the same regions as genes linked to certain psychiatric disorders.

 

As previously mentioned, one of the factors that may cause mental health issues in the UAE is multiculturalism, an important aspect that we need to consider when analyzing why the UAE youth might be relatively unhappier, despite the role of social media.
When Arab youth were questioned about authoritarian practices in past decades the majority reported compliance with parental direction on social decisions, and failed to report suffering from authoritarian parenting styles. Yet, changes in recent decades in countries experiencing more rapid social transformation may reveal differing results.
A survey conducted by Burson Marsteller, in 16 Arab countries, showed that nearly half of Arab youth are keen to embrace “modernity”. The numbers were also reflective of the views in Emirati society and another survey showed 43 percent of Emirati youth are keen to embrace modern values and beliefs as traditional values are outdated and belong to the past.
 

We must also consider how loneliness plays a role in the state of our mental health, seeing as 88 percent of the UAE residents are expats, working away from their families and most can only afford visiting home countries once or twice a year at best. Loneliness was the top issue in a forum hosted by KHDA in the global education and skills forum. A report in the National highlighted the difficulties that university students in Dubai face making new friends, and it shows that they also affect a growing number of young adults. Loneliness can be a trigger for anxiety and depression for some.

Justin Thomas, Professor of psychology at Zayed University states,  “loneliness is a global phenomenon – anywhere that has embraced modernity has seen more people become isolated, alienated and disconnected”, he also added: “I think in the UAE, it can be exacerbated for some expats as they are additionally disconnected from the traditional support networks of family and long-term friends”.
Relationship and family issues and sexual, financial and physical problems often lead adults into isolation when not addressed. “The most common mental health issues within the UAE are depression and anxiety, particularly among expats,” says Dr. Baggaley, a consultant psychiatrist in Abu Dhabi.This is a case where social media is actually critical to the wellbeing of the subjects, as they rely on it to stay in touch with their families.

 

When it comes to obesity as a factor that leads to deteriorating mental health, despite using social media, with 37 percent of population (double of the world average) the UAE is the 20th most obese country in the world according to the world atlas.

A study in the Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing revealed that obesity is associated with high prevalence of psychological conditions that impact one’s quality of life. Another longitudinal study conducted by the Jama psychiatry network found bidirectional associations between depression and obesity, obese people had a 55 percent increased risk of developing depression over time, and depressed people had a 58 percent increased risk of becoming obese.

As already mentioned, lack of job security also plays an important role in the mental health of UAE residents, as most of them fear for their future, should they lose their jobs or residency visas. A new phenomenon among Dubai employees being referred to as “visa neurosis”.
Dr Rajeev Gupta, Consultant Cardiologist, noted in an article on Khaleej Times that fears of a possible layoff from a job is a major characteristic of the expatriate mindset in the Gulf countries. According to him, cardiac arrests triggered by stress and heat exposure are getting common. In a survey, the most voiced opinion was that constant uncertainties over changing labor rules trigger panic among employees. Things like VAT and the state of the economy are not promising for Dubai employees, a survey conducted by Yallacompare’s consumer confidence tracker found that more than 40 percent of UAE residents are less confident about their financial status than a year ago.

 

Finally, before we can begin to blame social media for mental health issues, we must ask ourselves, do we seek out social media and its credit system because we are already unhappy, or does social media actively make us unhappy?
A study conducted by Addiction Medicine Center General Hospital of Beijing Military Region reveals that Internet Addiction Disorder often occurs concurrently with mental symptoms and personality traits such as introversion and psychoticism. Adolescents with IAD consistently rated parental rearing behaviors as being over-intrusive, punitive, and lacking in responsiveness. These findings suggest that the influences of parenting style and family function are important factors in the development of Internet dependency.
The results of the researches conducted by the National Center for Biotechnology Information show that subjects who are more likely to depend on the internet and are addicted, have a tendency to be like that due to poor parenting, therefore they seek the internet for satisfaction.
This is relevant to the theory of uses and gratifications, which states that people actively seek out certain media to satisfy specific needs, which in the case of social media, the needs are attention and self-expression. 

 

In a world where mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), it is easy for us to blame the phenomenon of the century, social media. However, we cannot ignore the many other factors that have been causing mental issues among adolescents for decades, long before social media platforms existed, and that continue to do so, until today. Such factors include substance abuse, emotional distress (armed conflicts, discrimination, lack of access to organizations) and child abuse.

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MAJID ALHUSSEINI

discrimination they face and the lack of access to organizations that provide mental health support.Studies have shown that poor housing, overcrowdedness and armed conflicts lead to emotional distress and later on mental illness. In the UK for example, The Guardian reported that 33 percent of the British population said that housing costs are causing depression and anxiety within the family and this is affecting especially children. The Guardian also reported that Children who have lived in temporary homes for more than a year are three times as likely to experience depression, anxiety and other mental health problems. 

 

As previously mentioned, armed conflicts are also a big factor in causing emotional distress. According to the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression in children and adolescents was found to be from 23 percent to 70 percent in Palestine, from 10 percent to 30 percent in Iraq.
In particular, this is the case of refugee camps, such as in Jabalial (Gaza) and in Zaataria (Jordan). These are prime examples of places that have poor housing, over crowdedness, armed conflict, and adolescents have no access to social media. However, adolescents in these camps have severe mental issues.
According to “Center On Human Rights Education”, on average, refugees experience these disorders 5-15 percent with children experiencing them 6-40 percent of the time. 

Discrimination is also a factor that causes mental health that has nothing to do with social media.  Discrimination comes in many forms, it can be towards one’s sexual orientation, race, disability or gender; however, we will take racial discrimination as an example.
This issue has been linked with negative health outcomes among racial minorities, including increased rates of mental health problems such as panic attacks, generalized anxiety disorder, depression and suicidal ideation.

As reported in the April 2015 issue of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, researchers at the University of Georgia collected self-report data from 222 African American males at five different time points between the ages of 16 and twenty.
Their findings show that exposure to racial discrimination from ages 16 to 18 predicted depressive symptoms at age 20. PsychaiatryAdvisor.com, also reported 504 African American male and female adolescents from grades seven to ten that experienced racial discrimination were positively associated with depressive symptoms one year later across all waves of measurement.

 

Another cause of emotional distress and later mental health among adolescents that is more crucial than social media is a lack of access to organizations that help treat mental health issues.  Facilities like Rashid Hospital and Al Amal Psychiatric Hospital in Awir in Dubai are crucial to decreasing mental health issues among the youth; however, not every place in the world has it.
According to Jenni Middleton, editor at nursing times.net “Many people’s lives are ruined - and ended - by a lack of mental health support. It’s time everyone recognized that good mental health services are just as important as those for physical health.”
 

Children who are physically or sexually abused are at greater risk for developing mental health problems later in life. Child abuse comes in many forms, it can be emotional, physical, mental, sexual or neglect.
Researchers from the UAB College of Arts and Sciences interviewed adolescents and emerging adults who self-reported the abuse, the study indicated that children ages 6 to 12 who are physically or sexually abused are more likely to develop symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD. Children age 13 or older who are sexually abused are also more likely to experience symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD.

 

There are multiple reasons that explain why social media is not to be blamed for the increase in mental disorders in the youth. Below are the limitations of the studies that try to prove the notion that social media is in fact directly linked to the increase in mental disorders amongst the youth.
Studies carried out about how social media affects mental health are not as thorough and well-researched to generalize an issue. The main concerns that are often mentioned in the studies include depression, anxiety, sleep disorders & lack of self-esteem.

A study by Woods et al (2016) examined how social media is related to poor sleep quality, low self-esteem, depression & anxiety in 467 adolescents by making them answer a questionnaire. The results showed a small-scale correlation between social media and sleep quality, however, the direct link between social media use and mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression, remains unclear.
This evidence is crucial to improve our understanding of how social media use may impact on adolescent wellbeing, in order to establish healthy social media practices. Although the proposed explanations assume that social media leads to poor sleep quality, it is also possible that poor sleep leads to increased media use as a coping strategy or sleep aid. 

 

Another study by Vernon et al (2017) documented the negative impact of disturbed sleep on adolescent functioning. Although it was a longitudinal study over the span of 3 years (high school years), the study’s limited evidence failed to prove whether social media use causes depression in adolescents. The research did not use a control and a comparison group to differentiate between those who were exposed to social media sites and those who were not. Therefore, it’s difficult to determine whether there was an increase in depression in those who were exposed to social media more compared to those who were less or not at all. 

It should be noted that most of the research done so far on social networking and mental health was done on a healthy population (i.e., high school students, university students, adolescents in general). When it is stated that, for example, “time spent on social networking is related to depression,”the authors usually mean that this time correlates with physiological mood oscillations (measured with various psychological scales), rather than depression as a clinical entity.

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Also, as Valkenburg & Peter (2016) concluded in their discussion of Computer Mediated Communication, “Future research should further explore the exact conditions, and mechanisms that explain the effects of social media use. Future research should also attempt to understand whether and how social media effects occur, so that interventions can be designed to mitigate negative effects.”

 

To conclude, it is important that we keep in mind that social networks are a relatively new phenomenon, many questions regarding their potential impact on mental health remain unanswered.