Impact of Social Media Exposure on Mental Health of Selected Grade 11/12 Senior High School Students of General de Jesus College

Abstract

Today's youth are the most active users of social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Google, Twitter, and Instagram. Research has shown that social media significantly impacts students' lives because it allows them to educate themselves at any time. However, besides these benefits, social media has some drawbacks. The study aims to determine the various impacts of social media exposure on the respondents' mental health. The descriptive method was used in this study, concentrating on the impact of social media exposure on the mental well-being of the 80 respondents from HUMSS students of General De Jesus College. Online structured questionnaires served as the basis of the survey questions employing the simple random technique to select the respondents who would participate in the study. The study results showed that too much media exposure moderately impacted the respondents’ mental health in terms of their communication, sleeping schedule, emotional well-being, and behavior. The findings highlight social media exposure's negative and positive impact on the respondents’ mental health in today's digital age. These findings indicate that social media influences their behavior's development, impacting their mental health. In this regard, they have to properly manage the use of social media to avoid its negative impacts.