Introduction
With the advent of communication technologies and social networking, digital self-harm has become a rising issue influencing adolescents’ mental health. It occurs when individuals post harmful content online to communicate their psychological distress indirectly or cyberbully themselves. It contrasts with offline self-harm that manifests in deliberate but nonsuicidal body harm such as scratching and cutting. Lutkevich (2020) reports that this destructive behavior is typical among students between the ages of 12 and 17. Self-trolling and self-cyberbullying are more common among males than females and victims of actual bullying. Digital self-harm behaviors are associated with substance abuse, symptoms of depression, and behavioral issues. This research paper will focus on the causes of such conduct online and ultimately provide possible solutions and recommendations. It also aims to investigate social media’s contribution to digital self-harm/self-harm among adolescents. To understand how social media shapes individual perceptions and behaviors, the Cultivation Theory and Social Cognitive Theory will be applied. Although social media platforms ease communication, they reserve a room for cyberbullying and self-harm that is difficult to monitor and prevent.
Digital Self-Harm Among Adolescents
Self-Harm vs. Digital Self-Harm
Digital self-harm is a new form of traditional self-harm that emerged due to technological advent. The latter is a mental illness associated with such destructive behaviors as burning, hitting, bleaching, cutting one’s body, restrictive/binge eating, or ingestion of hazardous chemicals (Pater & Mynatt, 2017). Direct self-harm, also known as self-mutilation, self-wounding, and self-injury, is about deliberate but nonsuicidal infliction of injury to one’s body tissues. Contrary, indirect self-harm is expressed through physical mistreatment or abuse without causing direct harm to the body. For example, individuals may engage in substance abuse, risky behavior, abusive relationships, or eating disorder (ED) behaviors. It is essential to understand that not all people who self-harm want to end their own life. It often works as a defense mechanism to cope with stress, negative emotions, and bullying (Styx, 2020). The introduction of communication technologies expanded the variety of self-harm activities that primarily target mental wellbeing. The presence of institutions and people who support and promote nonsuicidal destructive behaviors or ideas in social media took the issue to the next level.
In contrast, digital self-harm is manifested in mean and hurtful content toward oneself posted on social media. Instead of direct or indirect harm to the body, this type of self-harm focuses on emotional harm and reflects the state of one’s mental health. For instance, an overweight student may post an anonymous message under his photo that shames his body shape. In this case, he does it to grab the attention, see users’ reactions, deal with social pressure, and combat dissociation. Today people gain access to unlimited sources of information at increasingly young ages using different portable gadgets such as smartphones, tablets, or laptops. The latter become more affordable, while the Internet coverage network and connection quality continue to improve all over the world. Adolescents tend to spend too much time online and consume content provided by various social media platforms. For that reason, it may become their place away from real social life and negatively impact their mental health.
Current Issue
Social isolation and other pandemic measures massively contributed to the rising issue of digital self-harm among adolescents. The latter became more vulnerable to this kind of behavior because they are irritable, lonely, and depressed. Patchin and Hinduja (2017) reveal that 6% of respondents, American middle and high school-aged students, self-reported cyberbullying themselves at least once, while 13.2% confessed that they did it multiple times. Researchers found that age and race is a weak mediators compared to gender. Males are self-reported to engage more in leaving mean anonymous comments about themselves than females. The research conducted by Meldrum et al. (2020) also found that 10% of adolescents had practiced online self-harm last year, and 6% of them bullied themselves in the past month. This is a significant issue, especially if one realizes that one out of ten kids nationally struggle to cope with his/her problems and does digital self-harm.
Reasons and Main Causes
Excessive dependence on the Internet and smartphones among children distorts their self-esteem. Styx (2020) explains that recognition in social media becomes more and more critical for young people and impacts their identity formation process. For instance, some of them care more about the number of likes their new Instagram post got than about preparation for the next test in school. When one’s personality is irrelevant or ignored by others online, he/she may develop depression or anxiety. Even negative attention is perceived as a better option than being irrelevant by adolescents. Thus, children often turn to anonymous hurtful comments targeted at them to get additional attention. For example, adolescents often cyberbully themselves on ask. fm encouraging others to respond with sympathy (Fraga, 2021). Self-trolling and self-cyberbullying using fake accounts help them get the attention they seek negatively.
Adolescence is a critical developmental phase associated with seeking to belong, insecurity, and feeling various emotions. During this period, young males and females face challenging events and experience negative things for the first time in their life. For instance, one may lose a best friend or fail to accommodate/fit in the new school. This kind of experience is associated with anger, disappointment, and hopelessness, especially when there is a lack of support from relatives and peers. What is more, the highly digitalized life sees adolescents seeking solace on the Internet rather than engaging in physical self-harm. Hence, they practice digital self-harm to address the pain and cope with psychological distress (Meldrum et al., 2020). Researchers add that victimized adolescents are more likely to engage in digital self-harm. The same is true regarding LGBTIQ and marginalized youth who often face prejudice and intolerance. After being bullied, some individuals create anonymous accounts to post hateful comments about themselves to regain control over the situation and narrative. Fraga (2021) reports that researchers are not sure how this behavior impacts mental health in the long run. However, they are concerned with possible links between cyberbullying and depression/anxiety.
Thus, there are many reasons why young people engage in this behavior. Patchin and Hinduja’s (2017) survey revealed that American teens (aged 12-17) turn to digital self-harm because they seek attention from adults, friends, or peers, feel depressed, hate themselves, or want to make fun of themselves. Research also identified the list of risk factors that include deviant behavior, depressive symptoms, drug use, sexual orientation, and previous experience with school bullying/cyberbullying. Adolescents engage in posting mean anonymous content online to cope with their problems and make people worry about them. Hence, parents and other people should treat it as a “cry for help” and adequately intervene.
Social Media Impact
The Cultivation Theory (CT) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) help to understand the roots of adolescents’ behavior on the Internet. SCT which deals with cognitive psychology assumes that society significantly influences one’s change in behavior. Individuals tend to observe particular conduct and its consequences and remember and use them to inform their future actions (Patchin & Hinduja, 2017). Environment, society, and psychological conditions impact the way humans behave. The extent of self-efficacy, belief in one’s ability to change something in their life, is also essential. For instance, in the case of traditional self-harm, a belief in the ability to resist self-injury decreases one’s chances of harming their body to cope with their emotions and pain. Consequently, adolescents who had already practiced nonsuicidal self-injury are more likely to engage in self-harm once again.
Technology enables children to learn behaviors from the electronic mass media instead of their immediate environment. However, social media contributes to a distorted sense of “health” and “norma.” Content experienced online in part influences an individual’s confidence in disengaging or engaging in self-harm behaviors (Patchin & Hinduja, 2017). Various online social platforms and interest groups provide information (triggering content) about and encourage self-harm practices. Experienced members share guides and media with subscribers shaping their self-efficacy. For instance, Eating Disorder (ED) and body-cutting communities inspire adolescents to relieve their pain and express their body dissatisfaction by engaging in these activities. In such communities on Facebook, Telegram, and other social media, a young person may find many inspirational videos, images, and even guides/instructions.
Contrary, Cultivation Theory focuses on the repetitiveness and persuasiveness of media inputs that constantly form one’s perception. Undoubtedly, media influences users’ values and believes and contributes to the development of depression and loneliness among them. Arendt et al. (2019) found that exposure to graphic depictions of self-harm on Instagram is a contributing risk factor. What is more, exposure to mean the content was found highly associated with emotional disturbance and suicidal ideation. It means that adolescents who regularly view self-harm content are at higher risk of adopting the same behavior or considering suicide due to media persuasiveness.
Adolescents who create anonymous profiles try to establish pseudo-reality by cyberbullying themselves and increasing their social relevance. Social media provide platforms where children can share their interests and learn more about others. At the same time, they often face repetitive information that distorts their perceptions and influences their life. What is more, people tend to embellish their real-life facts by posting “perfect” photos or sharing “perfect” stories about their life events. Children who overuse the Internet and smartphones are more vulnerable to depressive conditions as they are constantly comparing their less pleasant life to the “perfect” one of their peers. In this case, digital self-harm is a kind of rescue for them that helps control situations and elicit emotions from others.
Although social networking expands teen social connections, it is associated with several adverse effects such as disrupted sleep, exposure to bullying, and an unrealistic view of other people’s lives. The risk of self-harm is higher when individuals use social media more than three times a day. Teens tend to spend more time surfing the web by day and increase nighttime social media. Such high levels of social media use are linked to poor mental health (anxiety and depression symptoms) and dissatisfaction with life. According to Fraga (2021), excessive presence in social networking causes psychological distress in adolescents that leads to self-harm. Social media is indispensable in modern life; however, excessive use of social platforms and exposure to harmful content cause mental problems in users.
Possible Interventions and Solutions
Social platforms, especially those earlier used to support and promote destructive behaviors, should develop a better design and specific interventions. Many modern platforms moderate posts for inappropriate images, and illegal content and prohibit the use of other people’s faces. Nevertheless, adolescents bypass it by sharing specific body parts images without faces and continue to impact others. Peter and Mynatt (2017) suggest a comprehensive platform augmenting policy and responsible design based on the predictive model as possible solutions. For instance, both can help identify those at high risk of engaging in self-harm or who have already done it. Designers and social media developers also have to pay attention to the quality of posted content on their platforms.
Identifying young people capable of doing self-harm or promoting it is a tough challenge for social media platforms. For that reason, Fraga (2021) highlights the importance of parental control and support from the family. The latter should pay more attention to their kids and their concerns/problems since most of them turn to digital self-harm as a solution instead of directly asking for assistance. Parents should also adequately monitor teens’ social messages for harmful content; instruct them on what is a responsible use of social media and what is not, and how privacy policy works. Nevertheless, it is crucial to balance adolescents’ privacy and monitoring activities by letting them know what and when will be checked. Moreover, family members can recognize the emotions young people feel using social media and then intervene. Fraga (2017) recommends solutions such as finding new hobbies for kids, counseling, and encouraging them to spend more time with friends offline. Cliffe et al. (2021) found that mHealth apps that do not provide face-to-face assistance reduce self-harm among their users. Although it has limited availability, this is an excellent treatment option for kids who cyber-bullying themselves.
Conclusion
To conclude, digital self-harm is a new type of self-injury that emerged as a consequence of communication technology development. In contrast to common physical self-harm, it is difficult to monitor, prevent, and identify the digital one. Adolescents turn to destructive online behaviors to regain control over the situation, be funny, get attention from others, regulate their emotions, and combat dissociation or boredom. The reviewed literature reveals that mean messages should be treated as an indirect “cry of help.” Already victimized, bullied individuals are more likely to engage in online self-trolling and self-cyberbullying, while males are at higher risk than females. Under the CT and SCT, social media shapes one’s perceptions and worldview, distorting common values and beliefs. The repetitiveness of destructive information on the social platform may change how teenagers see the world around them and value themselves.
It is important to limit time spent on social networking and the Internet to avoid possible adverse mental health consequences such as sleep issues, depression, or anxiety. Responsible design and platform augmenting policy would be an excellent solution for the developers of social media platforms. Parents should adequately control and monitor the use of social media by their children and intervene if needed. Special solutions such as mHealth apps can be helpful to combat self-harm among teenagers. Although social media is an integrated part of every person’s life, it significantly contributes to the rising digital self-harm issue among teenagers that parents and social media owners should address.
References
Arendt, F., Scherr, S., & Romer, D. (2019). Effects of exposure to self-harm on social media: Evidence from a two-wave panel study among young adults. New Media & Society, 21(11-12): 2422-2442.
Cliffe, B., Tingley, J., Greenhalgh, I., & Stallard, P. (2021). Mobile health interventions for self-harm: Scoping review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(4), 1-17.
Fraga, J. (2021). Digital self-harm: What to do when kids cyberbully themselves?The Washington Post.
Lutkevich, B. Digital self-harm. Whatls.com.
Meldrum, R. C., Patchin, J. W., Young, J. T., & Hinduja, S. (2020). Bullying victimization, negative emotions, and digital self-harm: Testing a theoretical model of indirect effects. Deviant Behavior, 1-19.
Pater, J., & Mynatt, E. (2017). Defining digital self-harm. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (pp. 1501-1513). Association for Computing Machinery.
Styx, L. (2020). Digital self-harm is on the rise, study says. Verywell Mind.