If you are on social media, whether professionally or just to entertain yourself, chances are that you have experienced the consequences of how it can negatively affect your mental health.
Perhaps you have seen a friend post a picture of themselves with a fun-looking drink that they think looks good and then end up binge drinking in an effort to try and relieve the emptiness they feel because they cannot seem to find something that makes them happy.
How social media has evolved?
- In the past, it has been difficult for people to meet people who are in the same position and find social support.
- In the modern world it is now much easier to communicate with people in a globally interconnected society, this means that more people can all live their lives at the same time and find similar experiences to share.
- Social media brings us up close and personal with our friends, which is great.. but makes us also very nervous as we are being held responsible for how they are feeling.
- Social media has made it easier for us to view our friends and family being happy, leading us to believe that happiness is something we should all try to experience. However, it is a dangerous assumption
- Social media can also make people more reliant on others as they are forced to constantly interact with them in a social setting. This leads to people feeling isolated from their peers and friends. They feel like they have no one sharing similar experiences with them and are inevitably left feeling very lonely.
- Social media can also lead to people complaining about their own problems and using it as an excuse to not be happy. It is easy to feel like someone else’s problems are worse than your own and share them with others. In reality, this actually makes your situation worse as you have gone out of your way to believing that their problems are the only ones in the entire world.
- Social media is also a great source of entertainment, which can definitely help people escape their tensions and create memories. However, one must remember to take social media with a pinch of salt.
- Social media allows us to be connected to people all around the world, which is great in many ways (and also bad). We are able to communicate with people who are in different places and different situations all over the globe allowing them to share their experiences with us and we share our experiences with them. This is great, however, it makes it impossible to know if the experience you are looking at is actually real or not.
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How does social media impact our day-to-day life?
- Social media has an impact on everyone as it can give you the false impression that you have a lot of friends and family in your life when in reality, this is not true.
- Social media often leads people to believe they are happier than they actually are. This is because they are constantly surrounded by pictures of others who they think are happier than they are. One must remember that people usually post pictures of themselves when they feel happy and this is not always the case.
- Social media can also give people a false sense of popularity. This happens when people perceive their social connections to be closer than what they actually are. This can lead to people feeling like they have many friends and family who love them but in reality, this is not true.
- Social media gives the opportunity for self-promotion by default. This means people often use it to brag about themselves or post a selfie or a photo that makes them look nice hoping it will get them more attention from others on social media. A lot of young people, especially women, seek attention by posting pictures of themselves in bikinis, lingerie, or even naked. We can find a lot of those pictures on a website called myygirl.
- Social media restricts people’s attention on their phones and laptops rather than spending time with others in person.
- Social media makes the sharing of one’s life experiences very easy and convenient, this is true for both positive and negative life experiences. This can lead people to over-share things about their lives with others, leading them to feel like they are being too personal with someone they hardly know.
- Some people feel like they are being cheated out of genuine real-life experiences due to the fact that they are spending so much time on social media. They might spend too much time on it that it leaves them feeling like they do not know enough about their friends or family.
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Conclusion
Social Media has been a great platform for individuals in this 21st century where people are connected to each other directly.
It enables people to express their thoughts and feelings on issues that they care about and want to be concerned about. However, it also opens the doors for criticism and judgment of one another causing damage to the individual who is being judged.