Social Media has been around for nearly four decades with the first platform being released in the early 2000s. These Social media apps have been used by many people to post things about their life and even interact with others. Those who view these posts of negative things or of others showing things off can be detrimental to their mental health.
Seeing these posts, people began to compare themselves to others, decreasing their self-image. How you view yourself is a crucial
part of your mental health as it contributes to your self confidence and how you may interact with others. Those with more confidence are outgoing and talkative while those with low confidence are quiet and introverted.
People on their phone a lot will resort to self isolation when faced with problems, causing even more problems. This excessive use of Social Media can cause mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and even some sleep disturbance. Using your phone before bed excerpts blue light to your eyes which prevents you from going to sleep as it wakes you up.
Cyberbullying (harassing, bullying, or threatening someone online) has been occurring a lot recently as people have sadly normalized it. This can cause some of those mental health issues such as anxiety, like being scared of talking or even going to school.
Social media can also cause F.O.M.O (Fear of missing out), you may see all these people hanging out together which makes you feel left out. This could also include seeing people go on extravagant vacations with family, making some feel sorrow that their family doesn’t do that.
Many also think that Social Media has a positive impact on mental health. As there are posts out there that influence people to do positive things and feel better about their body, it’s partially true. As much as these videos can make people feel better about being themselves and help them to feel comfortable, it can also cause others to feel bad about themselves just as much.
People have normalized posting so many negative things online about others or even about themselves that can affect others. The next time you post something, stop and think about how it could affect others’ views on the world. Teens and children are easily influenced by what they see online, watching what you do or say can prevent these problems from occurring.
Do you think Social Media has a Positive or Negative impact on people’s Mental Health?
