Intrinsic social media literacy: a public relations strategy addressing problematic social media use among teenagers globally.

On average, 6 hours 58 minutes are spent on social media everyday by each user, and 98% of young people from ages 15 to 24 use the internet of which 96% are social media users. If used inappropriately, a social media user is at risk of poor mental health and behavioural problems. Also, Problematic social media users are vulnerable to several side effects and are more exposed to social media threats than any other user. Therefore, this study attempts to develop a preventive strategy by firstly, analysing the various approaches that address problematic social media use such as the legal, education and technology strategies. By assessing their strengths and weaknesses, the most effective approach- Social Media Literacy was identified. The second objective of this study is to address the weaknesses of all the approaches analysed, and by using public relations mechanisms, social media literacy was enhanced into a new approach called the Intrinsic Social Media Literacy, ISML. This new approach is not developed to stop other preventive approaches from addressing this issue. It is developed as the main approach in the prevention, and to some degree, the solving of problematic social media use among the young generation globally.