Mackenzie Thomas
Staff Writer
Social media is extremely harmful to our mental health.
From blows to self esteem to a source of anxiety for many, apps like Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat cause more harm than good. As someone who has an account on nearly every social media platform in existence, I have seen both the harm and good that can come from social media. That being said, the bad seems to outweigh the good.
The comparison game is unhealthy. Seeing influencers stage photoshoots or have an aesthetic feed is known to ruin the self esteem of many teenagers and adults alike on social media platforms.
Rather than being a form of stress relief, social media causes stress. When we consider the comparison factor attached to social media influencers, looking at their lives and wishing it was our life can lead to unhealthy thinking. This can stress users out as they believe their life “is not good enough” just because someone used a better fitler on their life.
Comparisons like this can cause social media users to enter into an endless cycle of jealousy. Once users feel like they need to up their social media game to compete with influencers, they too can make jealousy-inducing posts, and the cycle continues.
Part of this jealousy and comparison comes the idea that social media can help us. In some ways, it can be seen as stress relief, when it is really causing more harm.
Alongside causing harm by lowering users’ self esteems, social media commonly worsens people’s overall mental health. Conversing with people in person is shown to improve mental health, according to a 2017 article in the American Journal of Epidemiology, whereas interactions via social media can worsen mental health. Along with this detriment, social media is also harmful to our mental health because it has been known to heighten anxiety within younger users.
Another study done in 2017 from the Journal of Affective Disorders showed the longer younger people spent on social media, the more severe their anxiety was. The study was conducted to examine the link between social media and anxiety, but it ended up resulting in showing how social media elevated the stress levels of the study’s subjects therefore increasing their anxiety rates.
In a society where social media is a central focus of everyday life, it can be difficult to find ways around the detriments of social media. While we cannot fully reverse the negative side effects that social media has on users of all ages, there are steps we can take to reduce the stress that social media causes as well as increase our overall mental health regarding pressures from social media.
Going outside for just a few minutes can increase the mood and overall well being of people. The exposure to natural light and fresh air has been proved to boost the happiness of people as well as reduce their stress, according to the Student Conservation Association.
Limiting one’s use of social media can also be beneficial for their mental health as well because it gives them more time to participate in the real world. Often times social media can prevent people from focusing on the present, real world situation in front of them. Limiting this use can allow for a feeling of freedom, and allow the user to destress and focus on their lives instead of the lives of others.
Social media, though it has benefits, is overall harmful to the general population. Because it causes such a detriment to the mental health of its users as well as stealing their focus and attention, social media causes more harm than good.
