By Simran Dhaliwal
The little gadgets that we carry with us every day have now become an essential part of our lifestyle, like brushing our teeth. As social media has its perks, such as keeping up with the latest trends in the fashion industry to helping us connect with others, it also has its various disadvantages.
Social media fuels aggressive feelings such as anxiety, depression, isolation, and FOMO. As humans, we need face-to-face communication in order to feel contentment. Simple eye contact with a person you care about has an effect on our emotions as it boosts your mood and even reduces stress levels. The longer you put social media first and limit face-to-face interactions with others, the higher the risk you may have for developing mental health illnesses.
Did you know that Snapchat and Instagram are one of the leading causes for people to feel lonely? Studies show that the addiction to social media increases the feeling of loneliness instead of decreasing it.
When you reduce the amount of time you spend on social media, it improves your overall wellbeing as you feel less lonely. FOMO, also known as the fear of missing out, can impel you to take out your phone every couple of minutes to see if you received any notifications. Prioritizing your phone has extreme consequences, such as losing sleep and getting distracted by doing tasks such as driving.
Along with anxiety, depression, isolation, and FOMO, social media can also cause insecurities within ourselves. Excessive hours of scrolling through your feed and observing the images that lay in front of you may make you feel insecure about the way you look and perceive yourself/your lifestyle. The primary goal of social media is to manipulate you.
You may face some symptoms if you are addicted to social media and are not aware of it yet. You spend more time on your phone talking to people rather than talking to them in person. You find yourself in constant comparison to people you see on your feed. You may also find yourself being constantly distracted by your phone and have an irregular sleep schedule, however, do not fret. You have the ability to break away from the unhealthy bond you have with social media. Modifying the time you spend on the social media platform can significantly help improve your mental health. A good idea is to turn off your phone before you go to bed and at various times throughout the day when completing specific tasks that require your full attention, such as school or your job. Try to disable your notifications or take a break from social media and ask yourself, do you really need it? Go spend more time with your friends and family offline after the pandemic is over. Do not let social media get in the way of experiencing new things!
Works Cited
Barr, S. (2020, October 7). Six ways social media negatively affects your mental health. Independent. Retrieved February 3, 2021, from https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/social-media-mental-health-negative-effects-depression-anxiety-addiction-memory-a8307196.html
Комментарии