Social media has become a part of our daily activities; many spend hours on Messenger, Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms. As a result, many academics and researchers investigate how social media and its applications affect many facets of people’s lives. Besides, 3.484 billion people used social media globally in 2019, an increase of 9% year-on-year.
Only 38% of Twitter users are men, according to a study from January 2020, whereas 61% of Snapchat users are male. Females are more likely to use Facebook and LinkedIn, in comparison. Social media has undoubtedly grown to play a significant role in the lives of many individuals.
Although social media has many pleasurable and good aspects, it can also harm mental health. Women are found to be far more likely to experience mental health than men.
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Social Media And Mental Health- The Social Dilemma
Instagram gained attention for reducing likes last year to stop the comparisons and bad feelings brought on by associating popularity with sharing content. But do these programs treat mental health issues, or are they bandaids?
Jacqueline Sperling, Ph.D., a psychologist at McLean Hospital who treats young people with anxiety problems, views Instagram’s most current limitation as a little step in the right way.
“There are still chances for comparisons and comments even if you eliminate the likes. People can still make comparisons to others and even post comments. People would do everything to compete in the battle for subscribers, preferences, and following. Some even purchase Instagram followers for this purpose, and this concept is increasing every other day.
How Does Social Media Affect Mental Health?
Humans are social animals. To succeed in life, we need the company of others, and the quality of our relationships significantly impacts our mental health. Social interaction with others has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, improve self-esteem, bring comfort and joy, avoid loneliness, and even lengthen life. A lack of solid social interaction can seriously jeopardize your mental and emotional well-being.
Many people now use social media websites like Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp to communicate with one another.
While each has advantages, it’s important to remember that social media can never fully replace face-to-face interaction.
When you are in direct physical contact with other people, the hormones lower stress and make you feel happier, healthier, and more optimistic. Ironically, social media, meant to bring people together, can make you feel more alone and alienated and aggravate mental health issues like anxiety and depression if you spend too much time using it.
It could be time to reevaluate your online behaviors and achieve a healthy balance if you’re using social media excessively and experience melancholy, discontent, irritation, or loneliness.
The Digital Age Of Vulnerability
Social media sites have a more substantial influence on mental health since kids and teens begin using them. For females, this is especially true. Teenage girls sometimes act aggressively in relationships by isolating people and making unpleasant statements, but adolescent boys often exhibit aggression physically. Such hazardous contacts are more likely to occur thanks to social media.
Social media not only gives young people a window through which to see wasted opportunities but also casts a false light on appearances and reality. A period when young bodies are changing increases the probability of viewing unrealistic, filtered photographs on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
Teenagers used to read magazines that included altered images of the models. These pictures are now always only a thumb scroll away. It’s easy to locate and use apps that provide the user with airbrushing, teeth whitening, and more filters. Everyone has a flawless appearance; it’s not only celebs.
Teenagers may find it difficult to distinguish between what is genuine and what isn’t when a filter is applied to the digital world, which is physically and emotionally challenging. Even adults are susceptible. Plastic surgeons have noticed increased demands from clients who want to resemble their filtered Instagram and Snapchat photographs in recent years.
Ways Social Media Is Affecting Our Mental Health
- It’s addictive.
- Making life comparisons with other people is mentally damaging.
- More sadness and less well-being are brought on by it.
- You’re not necessarily more sociable if you have more friends on social media.
- It can cause envy, which starts a vicious cycle.
- We fall victim to the illusion that it would be beneficial.
Tips For Teens And Children
The first step in combating the adverse effects of young people‘s social media usage is educating teens and young adults about the risks these platforms provide. The following tactics should be included in recommendations for young people’s safe, healthy use of social media.
- Know how using social media affects your mood.
- Limit the time they spend on social media.
- Keep in mind that social media content is not accurate.
- Stay away from the negativity trap.
Tips For Parents
Awareness of what their children are doing on social media is the main difficulty for parents who wish to guarantee that their children’s social media usage is beneficial. Parents may convey to their children the value of following use standards for their health, safety, and well-being by seriously considering the effects of social media.
- Watch how your kids feel about using social media.
- Check social messages to make sure they aren’t harmful.
- Establish and enforce rules for kids’ social media use.
- Be an excellent example of social media use.
Tips For Teachers
When students feel good about themselves and others, they learn better. The safety of pupils from the harmful impacts of social media use is of particular concern to teachers. Here are three ways instructors may encourage students to utilize social media constructively.
- Recognize the symptoms of students’ harmful social media use.
- Give students a few good social media usage examples.
- Provide appropriate social media knowledge.
Wrapping Up!
Social media usage may have both good and bad impacts. This is not to suggest that social media has no benefit; it helps us reconnect with individuals we’ve lost contact with in the past and maintains our connections even when enormous distances separate us. However, it’s probably not a good idea to go on to social media when you have some free time or, worse when you need an emotional boost.
Additionally, research shows that stepping away from Facebook might improve psychological health. Take a brief break if you’re bold, and see how it goes. Furthermore, if you’re going to continue “using,” at least make an effort to do it moderately.
People should control how much time they spend on social media since it may negatively influence many facets of their lives.
