08 Reasons Why Social Media Harms Your Mental Health

Spread the love

08 Reasons Why Social Media Harms Your Mental Health

Since we have consolidated our daily lives with social media life, it negatively affects us. At the point when humankind was first met with social media, it was thought of as a blessing from heaven. The more we use it, the more detached we become from the real world. We have become dependent on social media a lot in much lesser time and will soon fall into the pit of risks. Much to our dismay that social media truly hurts our psychological well-being and mental health

“Social media is our daily engine fuel” that is a statement I made a few weeks before finding out how negatively social media affects my mental health. Mental health is as important as physical health. While social media is thought of as an escape from boredom, a lot of people ignore the fact that it can also cause a ton of negative feelings and thoughts. Although mental is not a lot forced upon, ignoring it can cause various harm.

This article shows a clear image of what mental health is, why is it important, and how it is affected by social media. 

Mental Health: Why Is It Important

Now before we move forward on discussing how social media seriously harms our mental health, first let’s have a look at what mental health is.

Mental health, also known as psychological wellbeing is a condition where a person can specify, evaluate, and understand their capacities, adapt to and cope up with the challenges and burdens life offers, work profitably, and most importantly, feels happy while doing something as a commitment to themselves. 

Psychological well-being is significant at each phase of life, from youth and adolescence through adulthood. It is important because it not only affects an individual psychologically but also how he feels and acts. It is also a huge contributor to how a person moves around, makes choices, and reacts to certain situations.

According to a survey:

The Role Of Social Media In Our Daily Lives

The world has now become a global village and its residents, us, are social animals. We have made dependency and we crave for the companionship of others to make our life going to strengthen our emotional wellness, happiness, and satisfaction through these connections. But this is all in the mind. It does not exist in reality. 

Although Being socially associated with others is said to ease the pressure, tension, and sorrow, support self-esteem, give solace and happiness and even add a long time to your life. But today’s world race of social media and being “better than the other” has caused a whole lot of trouble for the youth. Every person looks at the other as a competitor with a thought in their mind that “how are they so perfect”.

Let’s have a look at how social media seriously harms your mental health.

How Does Social Media Harm One’s Health?

Here’s a list of 08 reasons how social media harms your mental health.

“1. Fear Of Missing Out

FOMO is the fear that surrounds a person when they think that their life is worse than someone else’s or others are having a better, sophisticated, and more fun life than theirs. Fear of missing out (FOMO) can contribute towards low self-esteem, increase your social media usage, and even trigger anxiety. One of the worst outcomes is a person checking their phone every other second to keep themselves updated with the social media world. This can be during driving, or office hours, or even study hours. FOMO can also sometimes make a person miss out on their sleep because they do not want to miss a single second’s information.

social media harms your mental health

2. Addicted To Satisfaction

A lot of people now use social media as a means of seeking and fulfillment of satisfaction rather than the better uses. They are concerned about what others think, how they look on social media, what image a person has of them, and most importantly, they seek appreciation. But in case they do not receive any of the mentioned, they are disappointed to an extent that they can go into depression. This is when the “I don’t belong in the society, or I am better off alone”. 

3. Feeling Of Inadequacy

The feeling when you are munching on a big chocolate bar and see a skinny model in front of you while scrolling is truly hurtful. Even if a person has a well-maintained Instagram account, they can be easily insecure by how well others look. Not a lot of people show their real selves on social media, and this causes others to be insecure and conscious about themselves. The hot beach pictures of your friends or the skinny-cut saree blouse of a relative or an actor can easily trigger your mental health.

4. Comparison

A friend just posted about their healthy lifestyle and the first thing you did was take a glimpse over your life and think “why can’t I have this life”. Social media causes competitive comparison that sure affects one’s mental wellbeing. Especially amongst the youngsters and teen-aged people, this comparison can be extremely dangerous because they tend to do weirdly awkward things to win the comparison race.

5. Procrastination

A lot of us can relate to this part of the harmful effects. Have you ever been on your phone for so long that your eyes actually start to hurt? That too without even noticing the time flow? The use of social media has made us deprioritize things that we should prioritize in our lives. This affects our mental health because we neglect ourselves and have no time for our personal care.

6. Self Obsession

This is the worst of all. Have you ever been in a situation where you took a hundred photos of yourself just to pick one because “well, I need to look good on social media”? That is an extremely unhealthy habit. The thought of being the best can severely harm your mental health because you will always be hungry for likes, comments, and of course being the best.

7. Cyberbullying

Bullying exists in all forms. Physical and online. Social media allows people to connect with each other but sometimes can be dangerous as people forget their boundaries and where to stop. They send out personal intimate pictures or have personal conversations that are just a click away from getting leaked. This is where one can easily get cyberbullied, and this can affect one’s mental health in the worst manner possible.

8. Anxiety And Depression

Social media is a demonstrated trigger of sorrow. As the sensations of being alone become an integral factor, the downturn kicks in and it can take genuine structure if not treated. Children are more inclined to it since they don’t see how social media functions. They get disturbed when they don’t get enough likes, remarks, or appreciation. They look for joy there and when they don’t get it, they feel miserable, anxious, and discouraged.

Conclusion

A little piece of advice to make social media less harmful is to:

  1. Reduce your online time.
  2. Know your priorities.
  3. Set your focus
  4. Step out, meet new people.
  5. Keep yourself occupied with other work and chores.

If none of this helps, we recommend you to see a therapist. Because mental health is equally important. Physical health goes to waste if a person is not healthy mentally.