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Is social media harmful?

Human beings are social creatures. They need the companionship for others to thrive in life and the strength of our connections has a huge impact on our mental health and happiness. Being socially connected to others can anxiety, ease stress and depression, boost self-worth, prevent loneliness, and provide comfort, joy, and many years to your life. On the flip side, lacking strong social media platform connections can pose a serious risk to your mental and emotional health.

In recently, many of us rely on social media platforms including Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to find or connect with each other. While each has its benefits, it is important to remember that social media can never be a replacement for the real-world human connection. It does require in-person contact with others to trigger the hormones that alleviate stress or make you feel healthier, happier, and more positive. Ironically for a technology that’s designed to bring the people closer together, spending too much time engaging with social media can actually make you feel more lonely and isolated and exacerbate mental health problems likes anxiety and depression.

If you’re spending an excessive amount of time on social media platform and feelings of sadness, frustration, dissatisfaction and loneliness are impacting your life, it may be time to reexamine your online habits or find a healthier balance.  

 It is a relatively latest technology; there is small research to establish the long-term consequences, good/bad, of social media use. Nevertheless, multiple studies have found a strong link between heavy social media and much more increased risk for anxiety, depression, loneliness, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts.

Social media may promote negative experiences such as:

Depression and anxiety

Human beings need face-to-face contact to be mentally healthy. Nothing reduces stress and boosts your mood faster or more effectively than eye-to-eye contact with someone who cares about you. The more you prioritize social media interaction over in-person relationships, the more you are at high risk for developing or exacerbating mood disorders like anxiety and depression.

Fear of missing out (FOMO)

While FOMO has been around far longer than social media, sites such as Facebook and Instagram seem to exacerbate feelings that others are having more fun or living better lives than you are. The idea that you’re missing out on certain things can impact trigger anxiety, your self-esteem or fuel even greater social media use. FOMO can compel you to pick up your phone for every few minutes to check for updates and compulsively respond to each and for every alert even, if that means taking risks while you are driving, missing out on sleep at night and prioritizing social media interaction over real world relationships. 

Inadequacy about your life and appearance

Even if you know that images you are viewing on social media are manipulated, they can still make you feel insecure about how you look and what’s going on in your own life. Similarly, we are all aware that other people tend to share highlights of their lives, rarely the low points that everyone experiences. But that doesn’t lessen those feelings of envy and dissatisfaction when you are scrolling through a friend’s airbrushed photos of their tropical beach holiday and reading about their exciting new promotion at work.

Isolation

A study at the University found that high usage of social media  such as Snapchat, Facebook or Instagram increases rather decreases feelings of loneliness. Conversely, the study found that reducing social media usage can actually make you feel less lonely or isolated and improve your overall wellbeing.

Cyberbullying

Approximate 10% of teens report being bullied on social media and many other users are subjected to offensive comments. Social media platforms like Twitter can be hotspots for spreading hurtful rumors, lies, and abuse that can leave lasting emotional scars.

Self-absorption

Sharing endless selfies and all your innermost thoughts on social media can create an unhealthy self-centeredness or distance you from real-life connections.

Some modifying social media use to improve mental health

Reduce time online

Since 2018, University of Pennsylvania study found that reducing social media use to 30 minutes a day resulted in a significant reduction in levels of anxiety, loneliness, depression, sleep problems and FOMO. But does not need to cut back on your social media use that drastically to improve your mental health. The same study concluded that just being very mindful of your social media use can have beneficial results on your mood and focus. While 30 minutes a day may not be a realistic target for many of us, they can still benefit from reducing the amount of time we spend on social media.

Concentrated on your work

Many of us access social media purely out of habit or to mindlessly kill moments of downtime. But by focusing on your motivation for logging on, you can not only reduce the time you spend on social media, you can also improve your experience and avoid many of the negative aspects. If you are accessing social media to find specific information, check on a friend who’s been ill, and share new photos of your kids with family, for instance, your experience is likely to be very different than if you are logging on very easily.

Spend more time with offline friends

They have all need the face-to-face company of others to be happy or healthy. The social media is a great tool for facilitating real-life connections. But if you have allowed virtual connections to replace real-life friendships in your life, there are plenty of ways to build meaningful connections without relying on social media site.