How Social Media Affects your Mental Health

The rapid growth of social media over the last decade has developed it into an entirely new medium for human interaction. Online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have allowed people in every corner of the world to be connected 24/7. Numbers explain that social media has become an integral (and to a large extent, unavoidable) part of our lives. Too much time spent scrolling through social media can result in symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. 

Here’s how social media can affect your mental health:

• Cyber bullying: female teenagers are at risk of cyber bullying through use of social media, but teen boys are not immune. Cyber bullying is associated with depression, anxiety, and an elevated risk of suicidal thoughts.
• Focusing on likes: The need to gain “likes” on social media can cause teens to make choices they would otherwise not make, including altering their appearance, engaging in negative behaviors, and accepting risky social media challenges.
• Having a sense of comparison: Though many teens know that their peers share only their highlight reels on social media, it’s very difficult to avoid making comparisons. Everything from physical appearance to life circumstances to perceived successes and failures are under a microscope on social media.
• Having too many virtual friends/followers: Even with privacy settings in place, teens can collect thousands of friends through mutual friends on social media. The more people on the friend list, the more people have access to screenshot photos, which can be used them for other purposes. There is no such privacy on social media.
• Less face to face interaction: Social interaction skills require daily practice. It’s difficult to develop feelings of empathy and compassion when teens spend more time “engaging” online than they do in person. It can make them introverts and human connection is a powerful tool and builds skills that last a lifetime.

What Should You Do?

If you think you or your child might be using social media a little too much or that social media may be affecting your mental health or the health of someone you know, consider these tips:

• Make a habit of turning off notifications for at least a few hours each day (which you can gradually increase); put your phone in “Airplane” mode or “Do Not Disturb”.
• Remove apps that you feel contribute to unhealthy body image or other feelings of inadequacy. Install apps that help you feel better about yourself or inspire you to engage in healthy habits. Meditation apps can be a better use of your time, for example: Calm, Insight Timer, and Headspace. Use apps/features that block or monitor certain other apps and tell you about your usage. This increases your awareness of how much time you are spending on social media and help you focus on other activities.
• Opt for an alarm clock instead of relying on your phone as an alarm to prevent you from using your phone the minute you wake up.
• Take a day off from social media apps to focus on better things. Sunday could be a good option since it is a day when you probably aren’t in school or at work.

Over to you 

Mindlessly scrolling through our social media feeds doesn’t mean there’s no benefit to social media—obviously helps us stay connected across great distances, and helps us find people we’d lost touch with years ago. But getting on social could be a bad idea if it affects your mental health. Try taking a break from Facebook as it helps boost psychological well-being or try “using” it in moderation.