In 2023, the United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory report on the impact of social media on the mental health of young adults. This report acknowledged potential benefits from social media, but focused on the potential harm that social media can have on children and adolescences. The report highlighted the dangers related to frequency of use and content exposure, and in 2024, Dr. Murthy wrote an essay in the New York Times arguing for warning labels on social media platforms.
The advisory report indicated that more information is needed to discover the exact pathways in which social media can harm mental health and well-being. One of these potential pathways is the impact of social media on relationships, especially regarding interpersonal boundaries, conflict resolution, and general attachment styles. Understanding the impact of social media on these specific domains will promote awareness that the potential dangers of social media are more than just frequency of use or what content the user is exposed to. Social media can influence how people generally relate to others, and this is especially important for youth and emerging adults.
The Impact Of Social Media On Interpersonal Boundaries
In 2020, Frontiers in Psychology published a study showing a connection between high self-disclosure on social media/social networking sites and a tendency to neglect long-term risks. The study is based on a theory that risky behaviors stem from impulsive and short-term thinking, whereas reflective and long-term thinking often yields better decision making. Many social media sites utilize real-time posts, which focuses on immediate and short-term thinking. Thus, according to the theory, it’s expected that many individuals will make poor decisions while on social media sites. The 2020 study focused on the decisions to make risky self-disclosures online, but other examples include making explicit comments, sharing inappropriate pictures, or revealing overly sensitive information. In 2017, Education Week published a story listing ten social media controversies regarding student use of social media.
By focusing on immediate and short-term thinking, the use of social media often clouds the importance of interpersonal boundaries. Most social media sites emphasis individual profiles, which can potentially result in some users becoming myopic and disconnected with the broad implications of their posts.
The Impact Of Social Media On Conflict Resolution Skills
A hallmark of social media is the ability to have anonymity. Even without total anonymity, most social media users can limit how much identifying information is released to the public. In addition, many social media users are never held accountability of their actions while online. The combination of anonymity with a general lack of accountability can result in many social media users acting aggressively toward others. This aggressiveness can take the form of cyberbullying, and in 2024, the American Association of Colleges and Universities reported that 22 percent of college students reported being a victim of online bullying. However, this aggressiveness likely occurs more often in the form of a reduced motivation to engage in effective conflict resolution with social media contacts. It’s easier to criticize or block a social media contract than it is to foster empathy and active listening. Furthermore, some social media content might promote misinformation, and as stated above, could promote immediate and social term thinking. Both of these factors might hinder the willingness to engage in effective conflict resolution while online.
The Impact Of Social Media On Attachment Styles
As described in a seminal 1991 study in the Journal of Personality of Social Psychology, Bartholomew and Horowitz developed a model of interpersonal attachment based on a combination of positive and negative views of self and others. Secure attachment reflects positive and general views of self and others. However, these cognitive beliefs can change, and if/when they do, a person’s attachment style might also be altered. The Surgeon General’s advisory report discussed the potential harm that social media can have on self-esteem and self-comparison. It’s possible that this harm could result in some social media users becoming generally anxious, fearful, or dismissive about most relationships.
As the Surgeon General noted, there are potential benefits in the use of social media. Protective factors to consider while utilizing social media include engaging in long-term/reflective thinking while making certain posts, interacting with social media contacts as if they were in-person contacts, and engaging with social media content that promotes positive views about self and others.
