We live in a time where social media has saturated our daily lives. It’s difficult to avoid social media because it often plays an imperative role in our life: work, media, news updates, photos, socializing etc. While social media can do a lot of good things, it also takes a negative tole on our life as well. If you’re not already aware, here are some of the ways how social media affects mental health:
Comparison
Let’s be honest with ourselves: we all follow people on social media who are living the ideal life we would like to live. And so, we spend hours (literally) scrolling through Instagram and other social media platforms comparing our life – and feeling like our own lives don’t measure up – to the ones we constantly look at on social media. This takes a toll on how we feel about ourselves mentally. Quantifying what we don’t have and what we feel we should have can lead to depression. This study explains how Facebook was linked to less life satisfaction, stating that “Facebook provides an invaluable resource for fulfilling such needs by allowing people to instantly connect. Rather than enhancing well-being, as frequent interactions with supporting offline’ social networks powerfully do, the current findings demonstrate that interacting with Facebook may predict the opposite result for young adults – it may undermine it.’
Another study looked at the idea of how we make comparisons to other posts with feelings of either better or worse off than our friends – which is very disturbing.
Addiction
When you find yourself in a public space, take a look around and be conscious of how many people are looking at their phones rather than their surroundings. Do you ever find yourself in a moment where you don’t need to look at your phone, but you do…just out of boredom? Or how about when you are meeting up with a friend – are you in the moment with them? Or do you take a minute at any point during the meeting to ‘check your phone’? Our society is addicted to our smart devices. So much that we rarely stop to notice our surroundings and be present. A study from Swansea University found that people experienced the psychological symptoms of withdrawal when they stopped using social media, and their follow up study found when people stopped using they also undergo small, but measurable psychological effects. Being addicted to our phones affects our mental health because we have this frightening attachment to our devices that can affect us if we leave our phone at home when we go to work, have to give it up for a period of time…or even when we need to disconnect.
These simple actions can cause anxiety and withdrawal.
Obsession With Likes
If we post a photo, we expect ‘likes’. The more likes we get on a photo the better we feel about ourselves. We get this temporary high that gives us social validation. But when we don’t get the number of likes we expected, we suddenly feel doubt, consider deleting the photo, wonder what’s wrong with the photo – and more concerning when the photo is a selfie or photo of ourselves, we get start wondering what is wrong with ourselves, which can lead to body dysmorphia, self-esteem issues and puts many of us on a dangerous pursuit for perfection. There is talk of Instagram removing likes, which is a great step toward improving social media – but will that be enough?
We Only Post About The Happy Times
On social media, we all like to portray our best selves. We highlight our happiest times, our wins, and special moments. But it’s rare that our downsides are displayed, which for others paints a picture-perfect life. While it’s reasonable to say that no one wants to see negativity, there is so much that goes on behind a happy photo and we often don’t discuss it. While some of us are going through a tough time, we are scrolling through happy photos feeling isolated with negative feelings. This article does a great job of showing the reality of many photos that are posted on social media.
There is some truth to be conscious and safe when you log on to social media. It’s important to prepare yourself to not fall victim to some of the mental health issues it can burden us with. Limit the amount of time you spend on it, don’t follow users who make you upset about your own life and always be conscious of how you feel about what you read and look at.