Social Media and Parental Mental Health

Abstract

This review study aims to examine the multifaceted effects of social media use on parental mental health. Recently, social media platforms have become a significant resource for parents, providing not only access to information on child-rearing and expert advice for families but also a source of social support. Through these platforms, parents can quickly and easily access the information they need and share their experiences with others who are going through similar processes. However, the filtered and idealized portrayals of parenting that are frequently shared on social media often lead parents to compare themselves with others and feel pressured to behave similarly, which can result in or exacerbate negative outcomes such as feelings of inadequacy, guilt, stress, anxiety, and depression. In particular, parenting influencers who present their experiences as flawless may create additional pressure on new parents. Furthermore, the potentially addictive nature of social media can have negative consequences for parents. Social comparison theory forms the theoretical basis of this study and provides a framework for understanding how parents’ exposure to social media content influences their psychological well-being. Using a literature review method, studies published after 2014 were examined, revealing that the positive and negative effects of social media on parents vary according to usage purpose, type of content, personality traits, and level of exposure. Excessive and unregulated use can lead to addiction, burnout, social isolation, and weakened family communication. In contrast, mindful and selective use can foster social support, a sense of belonging, improved parenting skills, and reduced postpartum loneliness. Parents are therefore encouraged to manage their screen time effectively, stay aware of potential negative effects, and take steps to increase their privacy awareness.

Keywords

• social media
• parenting
• mental health
• psychological well-being

Sosyal Medya ve Ebeveyn Ruh Sağlığı

Öz

Bu derleme çalışması, sosyal medya kullanımının ebeveyn ruh sağlığı üzerindeki etkilerini farklı yönleriyle incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Son yıllarda sosyal medya platformları, ebeveynler için çocuk yetiştirme konularında bilgiye ve ailelerle çalışan uzmanlara erişimin yanında, sosyal destek de sağlayan, önemli bir kaynak hâline gelmiştir. Anne babalar, sosyal medya aracılığıyla aradıkları bilgilere kolay ve hızlı bir şekilde ulaşmakta ve kendileriyle benzer süreçlerden geçen diğer ebeveynlerle deneyimlerini paylaşmaktadır. Ancak sosyal medyada sıklıkla paylaşılan filtrelenmiş ve idealize edilmiş ebeveynlik temsilleri, ebeveynlerin kendilerini diğerleriyle karşılaştırmalarına ve benzer davranma konusunda baskı hissetmelerine yol açarak yetersizlik, suçluluk, stres, kaygı ve depresyon gibi olumsuz durumlara neden olabilmekte veya bunları artırabilmektedir. Özellikle içerik üreticisi ebeveynlerin, deneyimlerini kusursuzmuş gibi paylaşmaları, yeni ebeveynler üzerinde baskı yaratabilmektedir. Ayrıca sosyal medyanın bağımlılık yapıcı özelliği de ebeveynler için olumsuz sonuçlar doğurmaktadır. Sosyal karşılaştırma kuramı bu çalışmanın kuramsal temelini oluşturmuş ve ebeveynlerin sosyal medyada maruz kaldıkları içeriklerin psikolojik iyi oluşlarını nasıl etkilediğini anlamak için bir zemin hazırlamıştır. Literatür taraması yöntemiyle gerçekleştirilen bu araştırmada, veri tabanlarında 2014 sonrası yayınlanmış çalışmalar incelenmiş ve sosyal medyanın ebeveynler üzerindeki olumlu ve olumsuz etkilerinin kullanım amacı, içerik türü, ebeveynin kişilik özellikleri ve maruz kalma düzeyine göre değiştiği görülmüştür. Sosyal medya, aşırı ve bilinçsiz kullanıldığında bağımlılık, tükenmişlik, sosyal izolasyon ve aile içi iletişimde zayıflama gibi sonuçlara yol açarken, bilinçli ve seçici kullanıldığında sosyal destek, aidiyet hissi, ebeveynlik becerilerinde gelişim ve doğum sonrası yalnızlığın azalması gibi olumlu katkılar sunabilmektedir. Bu nedenle ebeveynlerin sosyal medya kullanırken kullanım süresini iyi yönetmeleri, olumsuz etkilerin farkında olmaları ve mahremiyet bilincini artırma yönünde adımlar atmaları önerilmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• sosyal medya
• ebeveynlik
• ruh sağlığı
• psikolojik iyi oluş

References

1. Abetz J, Moore J (2018) “Welcome to the mommy wars, ladies”: Making sense of the ideology of combative mothering in mommy blogs. Commun Cult Crit, 11:265-281.
2. Akram M, Farzand K (2022) Distracted parenting: Excessive parental utilization of social media and its impact on the communication and relationship between children and their parents. Educational Research and Innovation 2:37-50.
3. Amaro LM, Joseph NT, de los Santos TM (2019) Relationships of online social comparison and parenting satisfaction among new mothers: The mediating roles of belonging and emotion. J Fam Commun, 19:144-156.
4. Ammari T, Schoenebeck SY (2015) Understanding and supporting fathers and fatherhood on social media sites. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Eds B Begole, J Kim, K Inkpen, W Woo):1905-1914. April 18-23 2015, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Association for Computing Machinery.
5. Aydoğdu F, Güngör BŞ, Öz TA (2023) Does sharing bring happiness? Understanding the sharenting phenomenon. Child Youth Serv Rev, 154:107122.
6. Beuckels E, De Wolf R (2024) Social media influencers as new agents on parenthood? A systematic literature review of parent influencer research and a future research agenda. Inf Commun Soc, 28:744-762.
7. Büyükmumcu SB, Ceyhan AA (2020) Sosyal medya kullanıcılarının sosyal karşılaştırma eğilimlerinin incelenmesi. Anadolu Journal of Educational Sciences International, 10:273-302.
8. Chae J (2015) Am I a better mother than you? Media and 21st-century motherhood in the context of the social comparison theory. Communic Res, 42:503-525.

9. Chee RM, Capper TS, Muurlink OT (2024) Social media influencers' impact during pregnancy and parenting: A qualitative descriptive study. Res Nurs Health, 47:7-16.
10. Cizmeci E (2015) Yeni medya ve serbest zaman. In İletişim Çalışmaları (Ed. F Aydoğan):81-99. İstanbul, Derin Yayınları.
11. Coyne SM, McDaniel BT, Stockdale LA (2017) Do you dare to compare? Associations between maternal social comparisons on social networking sites and parenting, mental health, and romantic relationship outcomes. Comput Human Behav, 70:335-340.
12. Cramer EM, Song H, Drent AM (2016) Social comparison on Facebook: Motivation, affective consequences, self-esteem, and Facebook fatigue. Comput Human Behav, 64:739-746.
13. Çimke S, Yıldırım Gürkan D, Polat S (2018) Sosyal medyada çocuk hakkı ihlali: Sharenting. Güncel Pediatri, 16:261-267.
14. Çitil Akyol C, Sumbas E (2023) Sosyal medyada ebeveyn olmak: Babalar nerede? Abant Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 23:1282-1292.
15. Çoban İ, Doğan A (2022) Sosyal medya ebeveynliği: Ebeveynlerin sosyal medya davranışları üzerine bir derleme. Nesne Psikoloji Dergisi, 10:264-277.
16. Damkjaer MS (2018) Sharenting = good parenting? Four parental approaches to sharenting on Facebook. In Digital parenting: The challenges for families in the digital age (Eds G Mascheroni, C Ponte, A Jorge):209-218. Göteborg, Nordicom.
17. De Vries DA, Möller AM, Wieringa MS, Eigenraam AW, Hamelink K (2018) Social comparison as the thief of joy: Emotional consequences of viewing strangers’ Instagram posts. Media Psychol, 21:222-245.
18. Dennen V, Jung D, Cargill C, Hedquist A (2021) Social media and parenting support: A systematic scoping review (2010-2019). IADIS International Journal on WWW/Internet, 19:1-18.
19. Dhanabhakyam M, Sarath M (2023) Psychological Wellbeing: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Advanced Research in Science, Communication and Technology, 3:603-607.
20. Egmose I, Krogh MT, Stuart AC, Haase TW, Madsen EB, Væver MS (2022) How are mothers negatively affected and supported by following parenting-related Instagram profiles? A mixed-methods study. Acta Psychol, 227:103593.
21. Ergül G, Yıldız S (2021) Sosyal medyada sosyal annelik: Instagram anneliği. Kırıkkale Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 11:611-627.
22. Fardouly J, Diedrichs PC, Vartanian LR, Halliwell E (2015) Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women's body image concerns and mood. Body Image, 13:38-45.
23. Festinger L (1954) A theory of social comparison processes. Hum Relat, 7:117-140.
24. Fierloos IN, Windhorst DA, Fang Y, Mao Y, Crone MR, Hosman CMH et al. (2022) Factors associated with media use for parenting information: A cross-sectional study among parents of children aged 0-8 years. Nurs Open, 9:446-457.
25. Fox J, Vendemia MA (2016) Selective self-presentation and social comparison through photographs on social networking sites. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw, 19:593-600.
26. Frey E, Bonfiglioli C, Brunner M, Frawley J (2022) Parents’ use of social media as a health information source for their children: A scoping review. Acad Pediatr, 22:526-539.
27. Gerber JP, Wheeler L, Suls J (2018) A social comparison theory meta-analysis 60+ years on. Psychol Bull, 144:177-197.
28. Germic ER, Eckert S, Vultee F (2021) The impact of Instagram mommy blogger content on the perceived self-efficacy of mothers. Soc Media Soc, 7:1-19.
29. Gladding ST (2011) Aile terapisi, tarihi, kuram ve uygulamaları, 5th ed. (Çeviri Ed. İ Keklik, İ Doğaner). Ankara, Türk PDR Derneği.
30. Glatz T, Alsarve J, Daneback K, Sorbring E (2023) An examination of parents’ online activities and links to demographic characteristics among parents in Sweden. J Fam Soc Work, 26:45-66.
31. Güler Ş, Şahin Y, Balcı EV (2022) Sosyal medyada çevrimiçi benlik sunumunun öznel iyi oluş üzerine etkisi: Instagram kullanıcıları üzerine bir araştırma. Erciyes İletişim Dergisi, 9:361-380.
32. Hanbay YH, Yıldırım E (2023) Genç ve yaşlı yetişkinlerdeki sosyal medya kullanımının psikolojik iyi oluş üzerindeki etkisi. Social Review of Technology and Change, 1:34-51.
33. Haslam DM, Tee A, Baker S (2017) The use of social media as a mechanism of social support in parents. J Child Fam Stud, 26:2026-2037.
34. Hogg MA, Vaughan GM (2014) Sosyal psikoloji, 7th ed. (Çeviri Ed. İ Yıldız, A Gelmez). Ankara, Ütopya Yayınevi.
35. Kahraman A, Özbaşaran F (2024) Sanal destek, gerçek beslenme: Sosyal medyanın emzirme pratiği üzerindeki rolü. Çekmece Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 11:92-103.
36. Kemp S (2024) 2024 Digital 2024: Global overview report. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-global-overview-report (31.01.2024).
37. Lau NCP, Adnan NHM, Firdaus NA (2021) New moms’ use of media technology in parenting. Jurnal Komunikasi Borneo, 9:81-93.
38. Lee SY (2014) How do people compare themselves with others on social network sites?: The case of Facebook. Comput Human Behav, 32:253-260.
39. Lehto M, Paasonen S (2021) I feel the irritation and frustration all over the body: Affective ambiguities in networked parenting culture. Int J Cult Stud, 24:811-826.
40. Lim SS, Wang Y (2024) Social media and performative parenting. In Research handbook on social media and society (Eds MM Skoric, N Pang):2-11. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing.
41. Lippold MA, McDaniel BT, Jensen TM (2022) Mindful parenting and parent technology use: Examining the intersections and outlining future research directions. Soc Sci (Basel), 11:43.
42. Mackson SB, Brochu PM, Schneider BA (2019) Instagram: Friend or foe? The application’s association with psychological well-being. New Media Soc, 21:2160-2182.
43. Marttila E, Koivula A, Räsänen P (2021) Does excessive social media use decrease subjective well-being? A longitudinal analysis of the relationship between problematic use, loneliness and life satisfaction. Telemat Inform, 59:101556.
44. McDaniel BT, Coyne SM (2016) Technoference: The interference of technology in couple relationships and implications for women’s personal and relational well-being. Psychol Pop Media Cult, 5:85-98.
45. McDaniel BT, Radesky JS (2018) Technoference: Longitudinal associations between parent technology use, parenting stress, and child behavior problems. Pediatr Res, 84:210-218.
46. Moujaes M, Verrier D (2021) Instagram use, instamums, and anxiety in mothers of young children. J Media Psychol, 33:72-81.
47. Nesi J, Prinstein MJ (2015) Using social media for social comparison and feedback-seeking: Gender and popularity moderate associations with depressive symptoms. J Abnorm Child Psychol, 43:1427-1438.
48. Newland L (2015) Family well-being, parenting, and child well-being: Pathways to
49. healthy adjustment. Clin Psychol (Aust Psychol Soc), 19:3-14.
50. Öngen O (2017) Sosyal medya kullanıcılarının gerçeklik yanılgısı. Yeni Medya Elektronik Dergisi, 1:1-14.
51. Özdemir SS, Özdemir M, Polat E, Aksoy R (2014) Sosyal medya kavramı ve sosyal ağ sitelerinde yer alan online reklam uygulamalarının incelenmesi. Electronic Journal of Vocational Colleges, 4:58-64.
52. Özkan H, Özer BU (2022) Sosyal medyada annelik. Turkish Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 16:222-229.
53. Radesky JS, Kistin C, Eisenberg S, Gross J, Block G, Zuckerman B et al. (2016) Parent perspectives on their mobile technology use: The excitement and exhaustion of parenting while connected. J Dev Behav Pediatr, 37:694-701.
54. Rheu M, Peng W, Haung KT (2021) Leveraging upward social comparison in social media to promote healthy parenting. Health Commun, 38:205-215.
55. Ryff CD (1989) Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. J Pers Soc Psychol, 57:1069-1081.
56. Sagioglou C, Greitemeyer T (2014) Facebook’s emotional consequences: Why Facebook causes a decrease in mood and why people still use it. Comput Human Behav, 35:359-363.
57. Scheibling C (2020) Real heroes care: How dad bloggers are reconstructing fatherhood and masculinities. Men Masc, 23:3-19.
58. Sidani JE, Shensa A, Escobar-Viera CG, Primack BA (2020) Associations between comparison on social media and depressive symptoms: A study of young parents. J Child Fam Stud, 29:3357-3368.
59. Suls J, Martin R, Wheeler L (2002) Social comparison: Why, with whom and with what effect? Curr Dir Psychol Sci, 11:159-163.
60. Tayiz V, Vangölü MS, Özok Hİ, Tanhan F (2025) Concept of digital well-being. Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar, 17:673-686.
61. Tosun LP (2019) Use of social networking sites and subjective well-being. Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar, 11:304-317.
62. Vannucci A, Flannery KM, Ohannessian CM (2017) Social media use and anxiety in emerging adults. J Affect Disord, 207:163-166.
63. Vogel EA, Rose JP, Roberts LR, Eckles K (2014) Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychol Pop Media Cult, 3:206-222.
64. Vogel EA, Rose JP, Okdie BM, Eckles K, Franz B (2015) Who compares and despairs? The effect of social comparison orientation on social media use and its outcomes. Pers Individ Dif, 86:249-256.
65. Vogel EA, Rose JP (2016) Self-reflection and interpersonal connection: Making the most of self-presentation on social media. Transl Issues Psychol Sci, 2:294-302.
66. Warr P (1978) A study of psychological well-being. Br J Psychol, 69:111-121.