A large body of evidence suggests that adolescent mental health has worsened in recent years, particularly amongst young women. One of the possible factors affecting this has been considered to be social media use, which has become increasingly common in the lives of young people over the past decade. Almost 100% of young people now have smartphones and access to the internet 24 hrs a day. This is also an issue that the government is very concerned about, and the department of education has recently ordered a ban on phone use during school hours in junior cycle years. It is very important to get detailed information on how the type and frequency of social media use influences young people’s mental health.
I will investigate the relationship between social media use, and mental health problems in young people in Ireland, between the years 2021 and 2023. I will also examine whether there are different effects in females and males. I will use the Planet youth data set, which is a cross-sectional population based survey of 4th year secondary school students , conducted in schools in both 2021, and 2023, in one urban region (North Dublin) and one rural region (Cavan, Monaghan). This is data provided by young people themselves with up to date information on their mental health and their social media activity. The data is anonymous. I will examine mental health outcomes (using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)) and also self-harm behaviours. This project will shed light on this important and topical issue in the lives of young people.