Bortom datorskärmen : En allmän litteraturöversikt om sociala mediers positiva och negativa inverkan på tonåringars psykiska hälsa

The Internet has become an accessible place for teens to seek help, support and information if they are experiencing mental illness. The feeling of being anonymous can be an important reason to why teens are using internet and social media for this purpose. However, it appears through earlier studies that there may be risks involving social media as utilities for these matters. In this study we therefore examine both the risk- and protective factors that impacts on teen’s mental illnesses in relation to their use of social media as a tool for help, support and information, but also how professional social workers can increase their use of social media as a tool in their work with these teens. To be able to do this we conducted a literature review of the current available research in this field. The results presented have been analyzed with the developmental psychopathology perspective and with the theory of digital social capital. The results indicates that there are both negative and positive outcomes with the use of social media as a tool when teens are experiencing mental illness, and that there is a lack of professional social workers in social media even though they are both needed and desired