Fear-Based Negative Messaging About Social Media

Question: What is the most said quote about social media being harmful to teenagers? Why does the media focus so heavily on the negative impacts of social media?

Answer: While we can't know for sure what the most said quote is about social media being harmful to teenagers, the media does often focus on negative impacts of social media use despite research showing that the impact is nuanced or complex. Depending on many factors, such as when and how it is used, social media can offer both benefits and risks for the user. There are a couple of key reasons why the media might take a particularly negative stance when discussing the impact of social media, especially in regard to youth mental health.

Negativity Bias & Sensationalism

One explanation may have to do with the concept of negativity bias, which is the tendency to devote greater attention to negative information than positive information. This effect can be seen in the context of news media exposure: humans, on average, tend to pay greater attention to negative news stories than positive ones. Research shows that news headlines with negative language are more likely to be clicked on, and links to negative news stories are more likely to be shared on social media. Journalists and news outlets are more likely to create this type of content to maintain high viewership. 

The same is true for sensationalist reporting styles, in which journalists tend to emphasize negative or controversial content and use attention-grabbing editing techniques (i.e., sound effects). Greater sensationalism in news reporting has been shown to increase viewer time of news stories, especially those with a more negative tone. 

An Alternative Explanation

These explanations view negativity in news reporting as intentional and driven by profit, but there may be other reasons why the media focuses so heavily on negative findings, specifically on social media. 

While scientists and journalists both want to share information, they have different styles of communicating. For example, media articles and news reports often need to be brief and simplistic to be quickly and easily understood by large audiences. These brief reports and stories can increase the likelihood that journalists will brush over some of the more nuanced positions and careful wording that researchers use in reporting their findings. As a result, a miscommunication can occur between these two disciplines, leading to a more sensationalized report of findings that may not accurately reflect complex research findings. This explanation may come closer to why the media tends to use fear-based and negative language when reporting specifically on social media research. The connection between social media and mental health is complicated and personal. Everyone responds to social media differently. Those differences and nuances are difficult to summarize in brief and simplistic media updates.

For more information on why the media tends to use negative framing, check out this article from Pepperdine University that provides steps on how to limit negative news consumption and spot sensationalist media reporting to ensure you are receiving well-informed, unbiased information. 

References

• Hendriks Vettehen, P., & Kleemans, M. (2018). Proving the obvious? What sensationalism contributes to the time spent on news video. Electronic News, 12(2), 113–127. 
• Lane, D. S., Overbye-Thompson, H., & Gagrčin, E. (2024). The story of social media: Evolving news coverage of social media in American politics, 2006–2021. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 29(1), zmad039. 
• Ransohoff, D. F., & Ransohoff, R. M. (2001). Sensationalism in the media: When scientists and journalists may be complicit collaborators. Effective Clinical Practice: ECP, 4(4), 185–188.  
• Robertson, C. E., Pröllochs, N., Schwarzenegger, K., Pärnamets, P., Van Bavel, J. J., & Feuerriegel, S. (2023). Negativity drives online news consumption. Nature Human Behaviour, 7(5), 812–822. 
• Soroka, S., Fournier, P., & Nir, L. (2019). Cross-national evidence of a negativity bias in psychophysiological reactions to news. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(38), 18888–18892. 
• Watson, J., Linden, S. van der, Watson, M., & Stillwell, D. (2024). Negative online news articles are shared more to social media. Scientific Reports, 14, 21592. 

Age: 12-17

Topics: media, social media, mental health

Role: Teen