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The impact of social media is profound on human beings. People are social beings, and to prosper in life, we require the company of others, and the quality of our relationships has a significant bearing on both our mental health and enjoyment.
Social media can be informative and even soothing, as well as a much-needed vacation from the pressures and stresses of daily life, but anything in excess can be harmful. We don't discuss excessive social media use enough, although it can cause chronic stress, sadness, and anxiety.
Impact of Social Media on Mental Health
Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram are just a few popular social media sites that many of us use to interact with and follow one another.
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While they have several advantages, it's crucial to remember that social media can never fully replace face-to-face interaction. The hormones that relieve stress and help you feel happier, healthier, and more optimistic must be released through face-to-face interaction with other people.
The world of social media can have detrimental consequences for users' mental health, according to population-based studies and national surveys. Teenage suicide attempts increased by 25% in the U.S. alone between 2009 and 2017 owing to this, according to survey results.
According to popular belief, social media can make you feel more alone and isolated and exacerbate mental health issues like anxiety and depression. This is ironic considering that the technology was created to bring people together.
It might be time to reevaluate your online behavior and strike a healthier balance if you're spending too much time on social media and loneliness, unhappiness, dissatisfaction, or other negative emotions are interfering with your life. The adverse impact of social media on mental health includes:
1) Self-absorption
The constant posting of selfies and personal commentary on every conceivable social circumstance might result in an unhealthy feeling of self. Self-centred behavior like this can create distance and a chasm between you and the people in your life.
2) Mood Disorders and Worry
Face-to-face interaction is necessary for human mental wellness. Nothing calms you down and improves your mood more quickly or more powerfully than making eye contact with someone you care about. The risk of acquiring or worsening mood disorders like anxiety and depression increases the more social media activity you value over real-world interactions.
3) Favors Virtual Friendship
There appears to be a limit to how many friends a person's brain can support, and maintaining these connections requires actual social engagement (rather than virtual interaction), according to research published a couple of years ago. As a result, pretending to be social by using Facebook doesn't work.
Receiving genuine social support is crucial since loneliness results in a wide range of physical and mental health issues, including early mortality. Time spent with virtual friends doesn't have the same healing power as time spent with actual friends.
4) Difficulty Falling Asleep
Is browsing social media the final activity of your night, the first thing you do in the morning, or even the first thing you do when you wake up at night? Lights from cell phones and other electronic devices can make it difficult for you to fall asleep, which can have a negative effect on your mental health and throw off your circadian rhythm, which can lead to a host of other issues.
5) Anxiety or Depression
You might feel more nervous, unhappy, or lonely after utilizing social media instead of experiencing positive sentiments or having your mood elevated. This causes using social media to worsen your symptoms, which makes things harder to handle and more complicated.
The impact of social media isn't necessarily a bad thing. As we've already said, when used properly, it can improve some people's mental health. Although virtual social contacts don't have the same psychological advantages as in-person encounters, they can nonetheless keep us in touch with our loved ones, which ultimately improves our well-being.
The Impact of Social Media on Teens
The impact of social media can expose teens towards cyberbullying, body image problems, and tech addiction, and reduce the amount of time they spend engaging in healthy, outside activities.
Some researchers postulate that significant increases in teen depression symptoms and suicide rates commencing in the same time period may be explained by the rise in social media and excessive screen usage between 2010 and 2015.
Moreover, several professionals believe that the impact of social media causes the nervous system to go into fight-or-flight mode, aggravating problems including ADHD, depression, anxiety, and oppositional defiant disorder.
Adolescents who use social media platforms frequently observe the lives and online personas of their classmates, which results in ongoing comparisons that can be detrimental to one's self-esteem and perception of one's physique. The root causes and harmful effects of excessive social media usage can be overcome by kids with the help of mental health treatment.
The impact of social media usage and mental health should be carefully considered. Setting up some guidelines for your social media usage can be time-consuming, but it's necessary if you find that you're spending more time on different sites and experiencing negative impacts.
While mental health symptoms continue to interfere with your ability to function despite your efforts to reduce your social media use, it's essential to dig deeper to determine what the potential core reasons may be.
Get treatment if you think you need it since disorders like anxiety, depression, loneliness, and others are treatable. Regardless of the mental health issues you're dealing with or if the impact of social media is a factor in your symptoms, talk therapy and short-term drug use can be quite successful in making you feel better.
Janvi Kapur is a counselor with a Master's degree in applied psychology with a specialization in clinical psychology.
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