A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE ON MENTAL HEALTH IN MALAYSIA

Sorotan Karya Bersistematik Kesan Penggunaan Media Sosial Terhadap Kesihatan Mental di Malaysia

Abstract

By early 2023, Malaysia had achieved a high Internet penetration rate of 96.8% of its total population. This rate demonstrates that the usage of new media in Malaysia is comparable to that of other developed countries. However, the increase in social media users does not necessarily indicate happiness, as preliminary studies have found a correlation between social media use and mental health in Malaysia. However, previous studies have not thoroughly examined the relationship between social media use and mental health. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of social media use on mental health issues using a systematic literature review (SLR) method. The Scopus database searched for keywords related to social media use and mental health issues, resulting in 34,056 articles. These articles were then filtered using several criteria, resulting in 195 articles, and further manually filtered down to 53 articles. These articles were once again filtered to meet the study criteria, focusing on the effects of social media use on mental health. Finally, 11 articles were filtered down. The study found that social media use in Malaysia is at a high level, leading to addiction among the Malaysian population, especially among young people aged 15 to 30 years. Additionally, the study found that mental health issues resulting from social media use in Malaysia include depression, problematic smartphone use (PSU), anxiety, stress, loneliness, technostress, lifestyle disturbances, and neuroticism. This article discusses recommendations to address social media users' physical, mental, and spiritual problems. These findings can serve as a guide for future studies, particularly cross-sectional studies, to examine the prevalence of use and its relationship with mental health.