A team of students from the Canadian University in Dubai conducted an extensive study on the impact of using social media on youth in the region.

The project, which aims to raise mental health standards, was recently crowned with a debate entitled "The Spread of Mental Health Disorders among Young People ... To what extent can social media be blamed?"

In addition to social media, the research cited a range of other developmental and social factors that would affect the mental health of young people, and concluded that deeper studies should be conducted to look more broadly in these different contexts.

As part of the BA degree in Media and Media Effectiveness, this research was conducted to explore the nature and extent of the use of social media among young people in the region. The results revealed that social media are widely used in the Arab world. GCC countries for access and spread of social networking sites.

The results also showed that 69.7% of UAE students use social media for up to five hours or more per day, and each of them is allowed to flood at least once. In addition, 56% of respondents admitted that they had failed to stop using social networking sites during the past 12 months.

"Long hours of social networking have led me to recognize and understand the positive and negative effects of social media on mental health in order to avoid their dire consequences," said Gaia Qianxi, a sophomore sophomore at the Public Relations Department who collected the report in its final form.

"Through research, we concluded that social media may be a factor in mental health disorders, so it is important to control their use, not rely entirely on them, and share all aspects of our lives."

On the other hand, the third year student, Fatima Ali, said: "According to my own experience, social communication is necessary. For me, it is not only for entertainment but also useful for career-related jobs, The potential negative impact of social media on mental health, and therefore I have to protect myself from these effects. "

"Although communication and media students should be familiar with the outstanding theories of the impact of media and social networking, including those related to computers and computers, Understand these theories and better understand them through sound educational practices. "

"It is interesting, as stated in some dissenting opinions, that we are still familiar with the developmental, social, economic and cultural contexts associated with the use of social media, which will more clearly explain the prevalence of mental health disorders among young people," he said.

Positive and negative

"The impact of social media on my life has been a combination of some negative and positive points," said Leslie Ogunkon, a student of her experience.

"Currently available data linking the use of social media and mental health disorders is inadequate, especially since communication is a relatively new tool, and we continue to adapt ourselves to its use. Research is gaining more value over long periods of time, The maturity of communication means enough to link directly with mental health disorders ».

69.7%

Of UAE students use the means of communication for up to five hours or more per day, according to research.