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On today's show, we discuss some of the research behind the positive and negative impacts that social media can have on mental health and how to find balance online. The main research and resources we chat about can be found below. If you are keen to learn more about social media and mental health, give them a read!
Boniel-Nissim, M., Marino, C., Galeotti, T., Blinka, L., Ozoliņa, K., Craig, W., Lahti, H., Wong, S. L., Brown, J., Wilson, M., Inchley, J., & van den Eijnden, R. (2024). A focus on adolescent social media use and gaming in Europe, central Asia and Canada: Health Behaviour in School-aged Children international report from the 2021/2022 survey. World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/378982
General (OSG), O. of the S. (2023). Social Media Has Both Positive and Negative Impacts on Children and Adolescents. In Social Media and Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory [Internet]. US Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK594763/
Koh, G. K., Ow Yong, J. Q. Y., Lee, A. R. Y. B., Ong, B. S. Y., Yau, C. E., Ho, C. S. H., & Goh, Y. S. (2024). Social media use and its impact on adults’ mental health and well-being: A scoping review. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 21(4), 345–394. https://doi.org/10.1111/wvn.12727
Plackett, R., Blyth, A., & Schartau, P. (2023a). The Impact of Social Media Use Interventions on Mental Well-Being: Systematic Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25(1), e44922. https://doi.org/10.2196/44922
Skeggs, A., & Orben, A. (2025). Social media interventions to improve well-being. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02167-9
Statistics on the number of social media users:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1552375/australia-time-spent-using-social-media-apps/
Some of the Headspace strategies we discussed can be found here:
If you or a loved one needs further support, we strongly encourage you to speak with your GP, psychologist, or another qualified healthcare professional.
Further support can be found through:
Beyond Blue - https://www.beyondblue.org.au 1300 22 4636
LifeLine - https://988lifeline.org/get-help/ 13 11 14
Headspace - https://headspace.org.au 1800 650 890 (for those aged 25 or under)