Being one person on social media and someone else in reality : A qualitative study on the impact of social media on adolescents self-assessed perception of mental health

As social media has emerged and integrated into our lives, the psychosomatic symptoms in adolescence has increased. Previous studies has shown how social media can contribute to a sense of belonging, but in contrast, it can also cause exklusion and a sense of alienation. Therefore, this study aimed to understand the consequences social media can cause in relation to mental health in adolescence. This study was based on a qualitative method where four adolescents between 17-18 years old were interviewed. The purpose was to understand how social media can affect their mental health based on their personal experiences and perceptions. The results were analyzed through Erving Goffman's theory of idealizing performances, Hartmut Rosa's theory of acceleration and Jean Baudrillard's theory of hyper-reality. The results showed that the adolescents are affected in a variety of ways by social media, where influencers set standards of perfection which are unattainable. Social media is a virtual room where the adolescents can take on new roles, where the underlying reason for role taking is fear of being excluded from the community. Social media creates a gap between the virtual world and reality, where the adolescents lose a sense of themselves. As one of the respondents expressed: you’re one person on social media and someone else in reality