THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON MENTAL HEALTH

Do You Know The Impact of Social Media on our daily lives ?

Social Media are interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, etc through the building of virtual networks and communities. By design, social media internet-based and gives users quick electronic communication of content

SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

Social media has become an integral part of our daily lives , over 1 billion active Facebook users visit the site each day, there are over 500 million tweets per day and around 80 million posts shared on Instagram

The idea of portraying an aesthetic lifestyle has increased Instagram’s popularity immensely, more and more people play the like game using themes and filters to aid them. They enjoy being able to share some of they most cherished moments with their families and friends.

With a few clicks we are able to share life experiences with other people whether they’re old colleagues, friends from high school or people we’ve not yet had the opportunity to meet offline and might never have encountered if it wasn’t for social media

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON OUR DAILY LIVES

Online communication can make face to face offline relationships stronger. Parents are able to keep in close contact with their children who are travelling abroad or going away to university and global friendships are still able to flourish.

As a student, Social Media allows me to effortlessly stay in contact with my friends and family around the world. More importantly social media acts as a positive implication for many people living in developing countries and some of the world’s largest social media companies are at the heart of these positive changes.

16 Proven Impact of Social Media on youth

NEGATIVE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Despite having such unique advantages, social media is taken into account to be one among the foremost harmful elements of society. If the use of social media is not monitored, it can lead to grave consequences such as inadequacy about your life or appearance, Isolation, Depression and Anxiety, Cyberbullying, Self-absorption, A fear of missing out (FOMO) can keep you returning to social media over and once again .

1. Getting too involved in social media can cause an addiction that inculcates bad habits. Students like better to chat with friends for hours, and this results in a waste of your time that could have been used for studying, playing or learning new skills.
2. We’ve moved faraway from having a tools-based technology environment to an addiction and manipulation-based technology environment. Social Media is not just a tool that is waiting to be used. It has its own goals, and it’s its own means of pursuing them by using your psychology against you.
3. Breadcrumbing which is in the context of social media in the New York Times it was called the laziest most non-committal communication possible , an example of breadcrumbing would be someone saying miss you or we should hang out and then two weeks later or a month later you hear nothing. There are several other terms as well, one of which is “GHOSTING “ It is when you completely disappear from real life but you actually continue to text, tweet, and snapchat people, but you have no intention of meeting up with them..

The reason why we are so addicted to our phones is actually because we get a hit of dopamine every time we use them, Dopamine plays a role in how we feel. So every time we get a like or we get a tweet or we get anything.

Social media makes you question your self worth and interferes with your self- awareness. When we are uncomfortable or lonely or uncertain or afraid we’ve got a digital pacifier for ourselves which is a significant Impact of Social Media.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS A DRUG!!!

We have a basic biological imperative to attach with people that directly affects the discharge of dopamine within the reward pathway. Social media optimizes connection between people. Human interaction is dropping rapidly.

When we are uncomfortable or lonely or uncertain or afraid we’ve got a digital pacifier for ourselves that is atrophying our own ability to deal with that which is one of the major impact of social media in our daily lives.

Social media amplifies exponential gossip and exponential hearsay to the purpose that we don’t know what’s true, regardless of what issue we care about. Our real human connection is being replaced by virtual relationships.

By being constantly presented by idealized views of our peers, Social media elicts feelings of envy and feelings of inadequacy by instilling us with the often false belief that other people are living more successful or more fulfilling lives. It provides us with a standard that is unrealistic and reality that is unreliable.

The role social media plays on mental health

Human beings are social creatures. We need the companionship of others to thrive in life, and therefore the strength of our connections features a huge impact on our psychological state and happiness. Being well-connected to others can ease stress, anxiety, and depression, boost self-worth, provide comfort and joy, prevent loneliness, and even add years to your life. On the flip side, lacking strong social connections can pose a serious risk to your mental and emotional health.

for a technology that’s designed to bring 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 such as anxiety and depression.

In short, there are major Impact of Social Media in our daily lives but, it all depends on the user at the end . The youth must particularly create a balance between their academic performances, physical activities, and social media. Excess use of anything is harmful and the same thing applies to social media. Therefore, we must strive to live a satisfying life with the right balance.

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