Does Social Media Influence the Mental Health Status of Jamaicans?

Abstract

Social networking (media) has radically transformed traditional communication. People can now access immediate correspondence and dialogue with others across a vast geo-political landscape. The new era of social networking brings with it benefits and disbenefits. This means that social media usage affects people’s well-being. Studies have found that social networking positively influences people’s mental health as well as negatively affects psychological well-being. There is no research-based consensus that social media only positively or negatively influences well-being. There are over 1.4 million social media users in Jamaica, and a search of the literature at the time of this research did not review a single study on whether social media influences Jamaicans’ psychological well-being (or mental health). This lack of research-based information retards planning and the implementation of needed interventions if needs be. The objective of this research is to evaluate whether social media usage influences the mental health status of Jamaican social media users, and what is the direction of this relationship if one exists.

A web-based cross-sectional survey was used to examine the research objective. Using Survey Monkey’s sample size calculator, the computed sample size was 1,068 Jamaicans. The researcher utilizes social media (WhatsApp, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) to obtain the respondents. A team of data collectors was trained and each was responsible for collecting data from social media users for a particular parish. Social media was found to be negatively associated with the mental health status of Jamaicans. On average, youths (ages ? 24 years) spent approximately 6±5 hours, adults spent 4±5 hours, and seniors used 3±4 hours on social networking daily. This research provides research-based information on how excessive social media usage is reducing the mental health of Jamaicans. This study is the platform for understanding the effect of social media usage and should be the catalyst for needed change before the matter becomes an epidemic.