When people look online and see they’re excluded from an activity, it can affect thoughts and feelings, and can affect them physically. A 2018 British study tied social media use to decreased, disrupted, and delayed sleep, which is associated with depression, memory loss, and poor academic performance.
- Inadequacy about your life or appearance.
- Fear of missing out (FOMO).
- Isolation.
- Depression and anxiety.
- Cyberbullying.
- Self-absorption.
- A fear of missing out (FOMO) can keep you returning to social media over and over again.
What are the negative effects of media?
- Not enough sleep. Media use can interfere with sleep.
- Obesity.
- Delays in learning & social skills.
- Negative effect on school performance.
- Behavior problems.
- Problematic internet use.
- Risky behaviors.
- Sexting, loss of privacy & predators.
Social Media Causes and Calms Mental Health Conditions Social media worsens feelings of low self-esteem, loneliness, and stress, while increasing rates of depression, anxiety, substance misuse, and suicidality, according to the research published in Current Psychiatry Reports.
- Depression and Anxiety. Do you spend several hours per day browsing through social media?
- Cyberbullying. Image Credit: HighwayStarz/Depositphotos.
- FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
- Unrealistic Expectations.
- Negative Body Image.
- Unhealthy Sleep Patterns.
- General Addiction.
Many people enjoy staying connected on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Yet a growing body of research is finding that excessive use—more than three hours a day—can exacerbate mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, in teens and young adults.
Social media is made to be addictive. Each like or positive comment presents a little hit of dopamine to our brain, thus creating reward pathways in the brain causing you to desire likes, retweets, etc.
We’ve known for years that social media platforms—especially image-based platforms like Instagram—have very harmful effects on teen mental health, especially for teens struggling with body image, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.
A 2018 study suggests that social media use could result in a fear of missing out (FOMO). FOMO could in turn lead you to compare your experiences with others, sometimes creating a sense of inadequacy. This inadequacy may turn into social anxiety symptoms if you feel like you don’t “fit in” in certain social situations.
How does the media affect people’s behavior?
In the individual effect, media information about new norms may persuade individuals to accept them. In the social effect, the information creates common knowledge of a norm and enhances social coordination as individuals more readily accept the information if they believe others have also accepted it.
Research suggests social media is increasing student anxiety and depression, eclipsing any positive role it could potentially play. According to a recent report from the Pew Research Center, 95% of teens use a smartphone, and 45% say they are online almost constantly.
And this social media use is also linked to an increase in mental health problems, including anxiety, depression and suicidality. Social media’s popularity among adolescents isn’t surprising, since it has been shown to affect the reward centers that are so active in teen brains.
Studies have shown that increased use of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok is leading to depression, anxiety, and loneliness. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only pushed more people to the platforms but has also caused people to spend unusual amounts of time cruising their feeds.
“Quitting social media can also help you read emotions better,” Morin explains. “Many studies have found that social media interferes with our ability to pick up on social cues and subtle emotional expressions. Taking a break from social media allows those skills to return.” It can also aid with emotional regulation.
It can give you low self-esteem. Constantly seeing photos of people supposedly happier and ‘better’ than you can make you feel envious and even worthless. It can affect your memory and attention span. Social media can distort the way we remember things and make us easily distracted.
Numerous studies continue to indicate that social media use correlates to increased risks of depression, low self-esteem, loneliness, and anxiety. According to some studies, social media use does appear to cause a decrease in self-esteem, with the age group most affected being girls between the ages of 10 and 14.
It is harmful because it invades your privacy like never before. The oversharing happening on social media makes children a target for predators and hackers. It also leads to cyberbullying which affects any person significantly. Thus, the sharing on social media especially by children must be monitored at all times.
The ‘dopamine loop’ Using social media can lead to physical and psychological addiction because it triggers the brain’s reward system to release dopamine, the “feel-good” chemical. Dopamine is actually a neurotransmitter (a chemical messenger between neurons) involved in neurological and physiological functioning.
While social media is sometimes touted to combat loneliness, a significant body of research suggests it may have the opposite effect. By triggering comparison with others, it can raise doubts about self-worth, potentially leading to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.
FACTOR2: INCREASING DEPRESSING AND ANXIETY:- It has been found that increasing use of social media also leads to depression, anxiety, and stress in adolescents . A number of studies have found a correlation between heavy use of FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and emotional distress.
The bad impact of social media: People become unhappy with their current circumstances, leading to problems with self-esteem and depression. Social media use has also been associated with cyber bullying and cyber abuse by anonymous users online, which leads to problems of self-esteem, privacy ,etc.
Among different age groups, 65% of Americans ages 25-44 say using social media has harmed their mental health. Fifty-one percent of 45-54 year-olds, 49% of 18-24 year-olds, and 35% of people 55 and older report mental health challenges as a result of social media use.
How does technology affect teenage mental health?
Social comparison, feelings of missing out, and cyberbullying all stem from the content we see online. These negative impacts lead to more depression and anxiety. Our bodies experience the negative effects of technology, too. More screen time can disrupt sleep, especially if this screen time is before bed.
Social media has given teens the ability to instantly connect with others and share their lives through photos, videos and status updates. Teens themselves describe these platforms as a key tool for connecting and maintaining relationships, being creative, and learning more about the world.
A study conducted at the University of Kentucky revealed that there was no significant change in a person’s mood even after they quit social media for seven, 14, 21 or 28 days; or if they continued using social media as before.