INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, the relevance acquired by the Internet, and everything associated with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has drastically transformed our daily lives. Social media have grown at a high rate in the virtual world, becoming one of the primary means of social interaction, especially for adolescents, who are the age group that most frequently and commonly uses digital devices (^{Aliverdi et al., 2022}; ^{Gómez-Urrutia & Jiménez, 2022}). Likewise, although the use of social media, since before the global health emergency of COVID-19, already stood as a widespread experience among adolescents capable of influencing their psychosocial development (^{Pertegal-Vega et al., 2019}), it is from the context of mandatory social isolation, along with other preventive measures to contain the pandemic, in which the effects of high use of the Internet and social network on the mental health of adolescents became more conspicuously evident (^{Fernandes et al., 2020}).

This increasing intensive use of online communication technologies reveals the possibility of moving from frequent non-problematic use of social media to the emergence of problematic or maladaptive behaviors that negatively affect the daily activities, interpersonal relationships, and physical health of adolescents (^{Díaz-Vicario et al., 2019}; ^{Becerra et al., 2021}). It can even derive from behavioral disorders that undermine social coexistence (^{Medina & Regalado, 2021}) and express indicators similar to those of substance addiction, for example, withdrawal or discomfort that appears when the connection is suspended or restricted, and tolerance; that is, the need to be increasingly more time connected (^{Kuss & Griffiths, 2017}; ^{Servidio, 2021}).

In this sense, addictive behavior to social media is considered a subtype of Internet addiction, characterized mainly by the repetitive, compulsive, and prolonged use of these virtual applications, generating an inability to control or interrupt their consumption (^{Vargas-Serrudo et al., 2021}). For their part, ^{Escurra and Salas (2014}) argue that this construct has three factors: 1) obsession with social media, related to constantly thinking and fantasizing about what is happening on social media, 2) lack of personal control, linked to the lack of control in the use of social media and the subsequent neglect of daily activities, and 3) excessive use of social media, alluding to the inability to end or decrease the time of use of these applications.

Similarly, intensive exposure to these technologies brings negative psychological consequences, such as difficulties in cognitive flexibility, affective impoverishment, increased levels of distress and anxiety, irritability, and problems in working memory (^{Peña et al., 2019}; ^{Valencia-Ortiz et al., 2021}). These unfavorable aspects are intensified in adolescents because they continue developing as people and are still developing the personal resources to adequately face the situation posed. Moreover, due to the desire to be accepted by the social group through trendy practices, many of them are unaware of the compulsive use or addiction to virtual social media and the Internet, or they admit not being able to control themselves or just not wanting to do so (^{Valencia-Ortiz et al.,2020}).

Regarding the empirical context of the topic of interest, ^{Huamani (2022}) analyzed various references from the last four years on the influence of Virtual Social Media (VSM) on the mental health of Latin American adolescents. From his relevant findings, he evidenced that the use of these technologies increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, both in academic and social environments. In addition, he revealed various effects of recurrent use of VSMs on mental health, such as depression, anxiety, irritability, poor academic performance, and behavioral disorders. In turn, ^{Huamán-Moya et al. (2022}) conducted a systematic review of articles produced between 2012 and 2021 to analyze the most relevant effects of social media addiction in adolescents, mainly Latin Americans. Their results showed a high percentage (44%) of young people with problems of excessive use of VSMs and various psychological and social consequences related to this addiction. Finally, ^{Troya et al. (2022}) analyzed the impact of social media on the mental health of Spanish adolescents by reviewing literature on the scientific evidence produced in 2021 and 2022. The articles studied revealed that the excessive use of social media aggravated various mental disorders, both pre-existing and those arising in the COVID-19 pandemic. They also concluded that the impact of VSMs is more negative than positive, so they recommend focusing on prevention and promotion to minimize their effects on psychological well-being.

Furthermore, globally, as a repercussion of the pandemic, adolescents have changed the traditional ways of doing things, devoting much of their time to using virtual media, whether to study, play online games, watch movies, conduct business, communicate, and exchange digital content (^{Amador-Ortiz, 2021}; ^{Dong et al., 2020}; ^{Klimenko et al., 2021}). Among the virtual social media most used by the so-called digital generation, made up of people aged between 12 and 25 (^{Gómez-Urrutia & Jiménez, 2022}), are TikTok, considered the fastest user-growing, and others more consolidated on the Internet such as Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, Telegram, and Twitter (^{González-Martínez & Villamar, 2022}; ^{Ochoa & Barragán, 2022}).

The present post-pandemic reality shows us that technological media are useful tools in everyday tasks and can provide various benefits for the vital development of adolescents, such as access to varied and timely information, communication improvement and interaction with others, participation in collaborative activities, fostering creativity, and aiding in learning processes (^{Rojas-Jara, 2018}; ^{Ramírez-Gil et al.,2021}). Another positive feature of ICTs is that they satisfy the autonomy needs of adolescents, influencing the building of their identity and strengthening their confidence and self-esteem by obtaining emotional support from a certain group (^{Moro et al., 2022}).

However, all the effects of the emergency measures adopted to counteract the pandemic on the mental health of adolescents are not yet visible (^{Fegert et al., 2020}). In this sense, due to the negative consequences of the situation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to address the problems related to the excessive use of virtual media and pay greater attention to the difficulties that arise when adolescents adopt lifestyles centered on the digital world (^{Medina & Regalado, 2021}; ^{Moro et al., 2022}).

Thus, from a conceptual point of view, this systematic review will cover the need for theoretical studies that examine and systematize the findings of empirical research on the topic of interest in the adolescent population, considering the context of the pandemic. Also, at a methodological level, it will constitute a reliable starting point and provide information for future studies on the topic. Finally, the contributions will have social relevance as they will serve as input for prevention actions for the benefit of mental health and quality of life of adolescents.

Therefore, this work aims to analyze the phenomenon of social media addiction in Latin American adolescents from 2020 to 2022, emphasizing the level of presence of addictive behaviors and the identification of variables associated with the excessive consumption of these technologies.

METHOD

RESULTS

The most important results of the review conducted are shown below, beginning with a description of the bibliographic search and selection process and then presenting the general characteristics of the articles, their methodological particularities, and the relevant data related to the purpose of this study.

The scientific articles on the topic were located between September and November 2022. Eight electronic databases were searched, with the following results: Redalyc (n=38), SciELO (n=12), Dialnet (n=35), APA PsycInfo (n=8), Scopus (n=18), Web of Science (n=17), World Wide Web (n=67) and PubMed (n=35). A total of 230 documents were found, of which 153 were removed as duplicates. After reviewing the title and abstracts of the remaining records, 39 publications were removed because they were non-empirical studies, leaving 38 to be examined following the eligibility criteria. After this process, 21 articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria were removed, so that 17 documents were identified for quality analysis using the SSAHS. Once this scale was applied, seven studies were also excluded, totaling ten studies that were included for the review. Figure 1 shows the flowchart of the process described.

Source. Elaborated by the author.

Figure 1 PRISMA flowchart of the selection of reviewed articles 

Although the search for articles considered the period from 2020 to 2022, the number of productions on the topic was variable in that period, with 2021 and 2022 having the highest number of productions (n=8). Regarding the country of origin of the research, they were mostly conducted in Peru (^{Chiza et al., 2021}; Estrada & Gallegos, 2020; ^{Roque et al., 2022}; ^{Solís & Quispe, 2021}; ^{Villalba et al., 2021}; ^{Yana-Salluca et al., 2022}), followed by Colombia (^{Acosta et al., 2022}; ^{Klimenko et al., 2021}), and Mexico (^{Rendón et al., 2022}; ^{Valencia-Ortiz et al., 2021}). Table 1 shows the locations and general characteristics of the studies analyzed.

Table 1 General characteristics of the publications selected for the review. 

Source. Elaborated by the author.

The articles were published in nine different journals, distributed in four thematic areas: Psychology, Health Sciences, and Education, especially Psychology and Health Sciences (70%). The sample size ranged from 117 to 17,600 participants, with 30% of the research reviewed having a sample larger than 1,000 people. The participants' ages ranged between 11 and 20 years old, with a higher concentration between 15 and 17 years old (90%), the age bracket corresponding to the stage called middle adolescence (^{Hidalgo-Vicario & Ceñal, 2014}). Likewise, almost all the studies analyzed included secondary school students (n=9). Only one study was conducted with the participation of first-years university students (^{Villalba et al., 2021}). Moreover, publications with participants of both genders were more frequent (n=8), with the female population being the majority in 60% of the studies. Only two articles did not specify the gender of the participants (^{Solís & Quispe, 2021}; ^{Rendón et al., 2022}).

Similarly, it should be noted that only two studies in this review analyzed the phenomenon of social media addiction by the gender of the participants (^{Klimenko et al., 2021}; ^{Yana-Salluca et al., 2022}). Although no significant differences between genders were evidenced, one research identified for some dimensions higher levels of risk of addiction to social media and the Internet in women (^{Klimenko et al., 2021}). Likewise, the other study showed a difference of 0.5% for the female gender with respect to the presence of addictive behaviors to social media (^{Yana-Salluca et al., 2022}).

Regarding the assessment of the quality of the studies, it was verified that all met the items of the SSAHS checklist, reaching 95.8% of the maximum score in the total number of articles, so they were classified as high quality.

Table 2 shows the methodological characteristics of each study analyzed in the review. All the articles opted for a non-experimental cross-sectional design since the variables were not manipulated but were analyzed as they were expressed in their environment, and data were collected at a single point in time. In addition, most articles were correlational in scope (80%), that is, they sought to know the relationship among variables, the remaining ones being descriptive (^{Acosta et al., 2022}; ^{Valencia-Ortiz et al., 2021}). Regarding the instruments used, all the studies conducted analyses to obtain evidence of validity (content or construct) and reliability in their respective samples, obtaining satisfactory values for both indices. Likewise, 50% of the studies applied questionnaires and/or scales adapted to their national contexts. Similarly, 40% collected information collectively through virtual forms.

Table 2 Methodological characteristics of the selected studies 

Source. Elaborated by the author.

Regarding the objectives of the articles reviewed, those that aimed to measure the degree of relationship between social media addiction and other variables within a particular context predominated (80%), of which only two presented results with correlations interpreted as high and significant (Estrada & Gallegos, 2020; ^{Yana-Salluca et al., 2022}). Likewise, the samples reported high levels of social media addiction, ranging from 11% to 75% of the total number of participants. It is noteworthy that 70% of the studies reported prevalence percentages, mentioning the strategy used, while the rest did not report any percentages (^{Acosta et al., 2022}) or used predefined scores to categorize the prevalence of social media addiction in their respective samples as medium or moderate (^{Klimenko et al., 2021}; ^{Valencia-Ortiz et al., 2021}).

Table 3 summarizes the aspects above mentioned, including the main results and conclusions of the research analyzed in this review.

Table 3 Summary of the selected articles. 

Source. Elaborated by the author

DISCUSSION

This review aimed to analyze the phenomenon of social media addiction in Latin American adolescents according to the scientific literature produced between 2020 and 2022. In this regard, the findings obtained were detailed according to the systematization of the main results and conclusions. First, it was found that in the period indicated, most studies reported high levels of social media addiction in more than a third of the adolescent population (^{Acosta et al., 2022}; ^{Chiza et al., 2021}; Estrada & Gallegos, 2020; ^{Klimenko et al., 2021}; ^{Solís & Quispe, 2021}; ^{Yana-Salluca et al., 2022}). This situation is related to what is proposed by ^{Dong et al. (2020}) and ^{Fernandes et al. (2020}) who evidenced the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically that of the mandatory social isolation measures, on the increase in the frequency and duration of the use of social media and the Internet by principally children and adolescents, which would generate negative consequences on mental health, expressed in the development of addictive behaviors. It also agrees with ^{Aliverdi et al. (2022}) regarding the fact that, at present, virtual social media are growing fast and are the principal medium through which adolescents interact.

Beyond the frequency of addictive behaviors, the possible effects on adolescents' mental health stand out. In this regard, the studies analyzed have reported a series of negative consequences related to the appearance of violent behaviors, neglect of daily activities, and the presence of cognitive distortions that prevent the perception of problematic use of social media (^{Chiza et al., 2021}; ^{Roque et al., 2022}; ^{Valencia-Ortiz et al., 2021}; ^{Villalba et al., 2021}; ^{Yana-Salluca et al., 2022}). These findings are consistent with what was found by ^{Becerra et al. (2021}), ^{Valencia-Ortiz et al. (2021}), and ^{Medina & Regalado (2021}) on the presence of psychosomatic problems derived from the maladaptive use of online communication technologies, which negatively affect daily activities, social relationships, physical health (poor sleep quality, obesity, vision impairment) and psychological adjustment of adolescents. Such unfavorable aspects are intensified at this evolutionary stage due to the vulnerability involved, as people are not yet fully autonomous and are exposed to various risky situations (^{Valencia-Ortiz et al., 2020}).

With respect to the main results, the levels of perceived social support were indirectly related to the risk of social media addiction, that is, the perception that adolescents have of adequate support, attention, and consideration, mainly from their families, acts as a protective factor against different problematic situations, such as social media addiction (^{Solís & Quispe, 2021}). This contribution suggests the importance of considering protective factors in adolescence, considering the findings of ^{Huamani (2022}) and ^{Troya et al. (2022}) that the COVID-19 pandemic worsened various psychological problems so that, in general, the impact of the use of social media in the youth population was negative.

Furthermore, the so-called soft skills were negatively and moderately related to the risk of social media addiction. Therefore, the development of socio-emotional skills and life skills could prevent the risk of addiction to the use of these media (^{Klimenko et al., 2021}). Along these lines, ^{Acosta et al. (2022}) pointed out that individual, social, and family conditions influence coping styles and the formation of personal protective resources in the face of adverse events.

A high and positive correlation was also evidenced between academic procrastination and social media addiction, with a higher prevalence of the latter variable in the female gender (^{Yana-Salluca et al., 2022}). These results can be compared with the conclusions of ^{Amador-Ortíz (2021}) with respect to the significant association between academic failure and social media addiction, making a negative impact on academic performance more likely in students with high social media use. Moreover, with respect to differences in the risk of social media addiction by gender, the results of ^{Klimenko et al. (2021}) confirmed a higher tendency in adolescent females to develop addictive behaviors related to the use of social media.

Similarly, weak positive correlations were found between social media addiction and cyberbullying (^{Chiza et al., 2021}), aggressive behavior (^{Roque et al., 2022}), and acceptance of technological devices (^{Villalba et al., 2021}), which is linked to the findings of ^{Moro et al. (2022}) on the correlation, with high scores, between the abusive use of social media and video games with antisocial behavior and bullying.

Furthermore, one of the articles pointed out that, in the case of adolescents aged between 15 and 19, sexual behavior and addictive use of social media are independent of each other (^{Rendón et al., 2022}). These results contrast with ^{Peña et al. (2019}) who argue that the referred addiction is also linked to surfing and interacting on sexual concerns or topics since these audiovisual platforms, being Internet spaces, allow access to all kinds of information, regardless of whether it is appropriate or not, which influences the knowledge and attitudes of users.

Additionally, it has been found that, in the analysis of the conclusions, descriptive-cross-sectional studies emphasize the importance of establishing psychoeducational actions that allow students to develop the digital competencies and emotional self-regulation necessary to make functional use of social media and can prevent risky behaviors associated with exposure to technologies since they recorded medium and high levels of social media addiction in the samples evaluated (^{Acosta et al., 2022}; ^{Valencia-Ortiz et al., 2021}). In this sense, it is related to what was pointed out by ^{Medina and Regalado (2021}), ^{Huamani (2022}), and ^{Troya et al. (2022}), referring to the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic and the social isolation measures have aggravated the dependence on social media and the Internet, especially in adolescents and young people. Therefore, they proposed implementing strategies that contribute to the responsible use of communication and information technologies.

Regarding the conclusions of the correlational studies, they have shown consistency with their proposed objectives (see Table 3), with respect to finding a relationship between social media addiction and other variables, although with different degrees of association between them. These findings support what is stated by ^{Fegert et al. (2020}) that further research is needed to assess the implications of policies enacted to contain the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of children and adolescents and identify risk factors associated with social media addiction to prevent future negative consequences.

Finally, in reviewing the selected studies, there were some limitations, such as the data since only articles published in Spanish and English were considered as the latter language has greater international visibility, leaving aside publications in Portuguese, which is spoken mainly in Brazil, a country that belongs to the Latin American sphere. Similarly, difficulties were encountered in filtering the bibliography to obtain an adequate number of articles according to the eligibility criteria. Likewise, another limitation in this work is related to the type of study carried out since it does not allow extrapolation to the general population, using statistical techniques, of the results extracted from the sample analyzed, as would be the case in a meta-analysis (^{Escrig et al., 2021}). Nevertheless, the results found allow us to highlight the importance of analyzing and addressing the consequences of the phenomenon of social media addiction in adolescents from a peri-post pandemic perspective.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the evidence found and according to the objective of analyzing the phenomenon of social media addiction in adolescents in the Latin American and the COVID-19 pandemic contexts, this review has found that most studies were conducted between 2021 and 2022, were from Peru, covered a total sample of 22,791 participants, with a predominance of females, of an age bracket corresponding to middle adolescence, and who are secondary school students. Likewise, all the articles analyzed had a non-experimental cross-sectional design, being eight correlational and two descriptive. In addition, all reported evidence of validity and reliability of the instruments used, evaluating the topic of interest mainly with the Social Media Addiction (SMA) Questionnaire.

Furthermore, the most frequent objectives in the studies reviewed were those that sought to determine the degree of relationship of addictive behavior to social media with various variables, which led to the conclusion that deficiencies in the attributes of a family when facing problematic situations, as well as low levels in the perceived social support system and the poor development of both cognitive and socioemotional personological resources, could be related to the increased level of addiction to these technologies in adolescents.

Similarly, at a general level, the findings suggest that social media-related addictive behaviors can lead to postponing the academic activities of adolescent students, negatively impacting their school performance. Also, it was found that participants with a high level of social media addiction exhibit a high predisposition to engage in cyberbullying, experience interpersonal conflicts, manifest aggressive behaviors, and inappropriately incorporate the use of technologies in their daily lives.

However, it is important to add as a conclusion that the continuous use of these virtual platforms does not necessarily imply the alteration of the dimensions of self-concept, such as self-image, or the presence of risky sexual behaviors, since the latter factor depends basically on the age at which adolescents begin their sexual life, being a highly variable aspect.

In addition, evidence has been found in the difficulties that adolescents may have in perceiving harmful behaviors related to the use of the digital tools above mentioned, which could lead to a distortion between the real and virtual worlds. This situation is complicated when there is no adequate parental supervision, so it would be necessary to establish training programs for the responsible use of new technologies in educational centers.

In another vein, most studies reported data on the prevalence of social media addiction in the adolescents evaluated, with medium and high levels predominating in more than 50% of the participants. Although not all the studies analyzed the differences of those addictions by gender, an insignificant variation between both genders was identified, with a slightly higher tendency in female adolescents to develop patterns of dysfunctional uses of new technologies.

Based on the above, it is necessary to emphasize that the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the massive use of online communication technologies, mainly among children and adolescents, and that the full psychosocial effects of the social isolation measures adopted in response to the health emergency have yet to be fully understood. Therefore, based on the data provided by the selected studies, the need to prevent, evaluate, and intervene in the possible negative impacts of COVID-19 confinement on adolescents' mental health from multiple levels, such as the individual, family, school, and community, is highlighted.

Finally, despite the limitations of this review, it was possible to understand aspects linked to the general objective outlined; in this sense, it is recommended to continue deepening research on this topic through more complex and sophisticated designs, as well as assess the practical uses of the findings revealed for the development of psychoeducational strategies to address the problem of social media addiction in adolescents, considering the context of the pandemic and post-pandemic