@ridaaxo's honor's project - Social Media and Mental Health
Social Media and Mental Health in todays youth
The uses of social media vary between platforms and the people that use them. It can be used to our benefit, with regards to communication, information, and spreading positivity amongst online communities, however maladaptive and harmful consequences can also come out of our technologically advancing world.
Self – Esteem
Social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, while being fun engaging platforms that can be used to communicate and update friends and family, can also actually cause esteem issues, especially in young people. The internet mainly only sheds light on the superficial surface of peoples lives. We see only what people want us to see, and these things are almost never an accurate representation of other peoples lives. Seeing pictures and videos of the glamorous parts of our friends and even celebrity lifestyles can bring real harm to the easily influenced youth of today. Highly edited and fake photos posted up online can lead to negative feelings of envy in oneself, which can cause someone to compare themselves to this superficiality. Feelings of self-consciousness, not being good enough for society and not fitting in can seriously cause anxiety and low feelings in a young teen. We might think that these pictures is what life should look like, which increases pressure on young teens to be perfect all the time, thus impacting self-esteem.
When we look at social media and see friends or other people we know hanging out together, or at a party, we may feel left out or excluded from the group. This can also impact the way we view ourselves. We may feel like were not good enough or that we arent liked by other people. Research from Beck has shown that we develop negative views about ourselves, the future, and the world. We may start to find ways to doubt ourselves, justifying the reasons why people dont like us, due to the anxiety that develops due to such feelings. These irrational thoughts and feelings that arent based on objective data can cause us to feel hopeless and useless, which are some symptoms of depression. This effect of social media can also cause us to overthink the little things and catastrophise/ magnify certain events that take place in out lives, all because we looked at something on social media and overanalysed it to the point where we start to question our worth. This can have seriously damaging effects on our self-esteem, especially in todays culture of popularity being one of the most important things in our youth.
Anxiety Disorder
Social media can also produce a lot of anxiety, as over time, many people begin to become addicted to it. University of Chicago found that social media can actually be more addictive than cigarettes! People often find themselves waking up in the morning, and checking their socials before doing anything else. It is the first and last thing people do in their day, which sounds incredibly unhealthy. Almost 20% of people with social media accounts cannot go more than three hours without checking them, which is an alarming amount of people. Excessive social media can lead to a real mental illness, known as Social Media Anxiety Disorder. This is when staying away from social media for a few minutes can bring about extreme anxiety.
What are the symptoms?
- Interrupting conversations to check your social media accounts
- Lying to others about how much time you spend on social media
- Withdrawal from friends and family
- Neglecting work to use social media instead
- Experiencing withdrawal symptoms when you are not able to access social media
- Spending over six hours per day on social networking sites
- Overwhelming need to share things with others on social media sites
- Severe nervousness or anxiety when you are not able to check your notifications
Does this sound like you? Having some or all of these symptoms doesnt always mean you have Social Media Anxiety Disorder, however it should raise some concerns with regards to how long you are spending online. About 30% of those who use social media spend more than 15 hours per week online. This can have negative impacts on your life, as you may start to neglect and ignore the more important things in your life, such as friends, family, and work. Researchers have found that using social media excessively can cause more than just anxiety. Using too much internet can cause depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), impulsive disorder, problems with mental functioning, paranoia, and loneliness.
What can I do about it?
We often look to social media to receive validation from other people who may not even matter much to us. The number of followers we have, the number of likes and comments we get, and the number of people that message us all fuel into our self-esteem, and we judge ourselves based on these numbers. This shouldnt define who we are, as it adds no value to who we are, yet we allow it to affect us anyway. We are growing in a world where acceptance and validation from society and social media is regarded by many as the most important thing. Why? Why do we let social media alter the way we look at ourselves? This is what we should be asking ourselves, and be considering why it is so important that we receive this validation from people we dont truly care about. We need to realize that what we see online is just a façade of reality, masking the truth of real life. We need to realize that no one is perfect and we all have our flaws. Once we accept this, we will be one step closer to being happier and content with what we have.
Questions!
How does social media affect your life?
Do you think you use social media too much? Or have you found the perfect balance?
Did you learn anything new after reading this?
Some links for further reading:
https://www.psycom.net/social-media-teen-mental-health
