Social Media and Our Mental Health
Social media has undoubtedly changed our lives. But are we truly aware of the influence it has on us and by extension the younger generations?
Most of us have an account on at least one social media platform. Research shows that more than half the global population make use of social media and spends approximately 2 and a half hours a day on it. Social media gives us a platform to connect with friends and family, gain knowledge, keep track of the news, raise awareness and make a change.
And like any other technological advance, social media platforms keep evolving. What once used to be a platform for us to remain in touch with others, is also now becoming one of the top choices for digital advertising. With the presence of social media all around us, it is bound to have an effect on our mental health as well as our well-being.
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Can Social Media Affect Our Mental Health?
Research is concerned about our constant use of social media and its influence on our mental health. In this section, we will look at the influence social media has on our mental health.
a. Social Media and Anxiety
Literature has shown that individuals who have a social media account, constantly check their devices for notifications. They also found that when individuals are not able to gain access to their social media accounts they feel agitated. Moreover, the younger generation has shown that not only do they become restless, but also show symptoms of phantom vibration syndrome. This phenomenon refers to the illusion that our phone is ringing or vibrating leading us to constantly check our phones.
b. Social Media and Depression
Research suggests that excessive use of social media not only increases anxiety but also depressive symptoms in individuals. Caroline Miller, editorial director of the Child Mind Institute, states that although social media increases connectivity with friends and family, it reduces the time teenagers and young adults spend in face-to-face interactions which increases the feeling of isolation. How often do go out to have breakfast with the family or go out to meet friends without constantly checking our phones?
c. Social Media and Self-Esteem
Social media platforms make it easy to access information about other individuals be it our close friends or celebrities we admire. In his 1954 research paper Leon Festinger, a prominent social psychologist, stated that we have an inbuilt response to compare ourselves with others as a method of self-evaluation. This is known as the Social Comparison Theory. Festinger suggested that the comparisons serve as a tool that allows us to develop skills such as self-improvement and self-motivation. However, this process becomes problematic when we begin to consider others to be much more successful or better than us.
Research has found that the intent of our social media use plays a role in how it can impact our self-esteem. Individuals who focus on passive use (i.e., viewing and responding to other users on social media) tend to have lower self-esteem than those who are active users (i.e., being active on our own accounts).
Despite its negative effects, social media creates a platform to stay connected and share knowledge. So what do we do to ensure that our use of social media does not have a negative impact on our mental health?
How to Reduce the Negative Effects of Social Media?
Being mindful of our social media consumption is one method we can use to reduce the adverse effects it has on our mental health. Research defines mindfulness as the process of self-regulating our attention and focusing on the present. They suggest that we have to consider our attention, intent and attitude in order for us to be mindful of our social media consumption. We have to ensure that we are paying attention and stay focused on our present experiences.
We can tune our attention to the present by incorporating techniques such as deep breathing. This practice allows us to focus our attention on our present emotions and ground ourselves before we go on to access social media. However, if we are not clear on our intent or have no intent we cannot regulate our use which leads us to use social media passively. Therefore, before we open one of our social media applications we need to identify our intent to access it. All the while we need to be aware of our attitude when rooting ourselves in the present. Having a mindful attitude will allow us to access content on social media with a mindset that is curious, accepting and non-judgmental.
Ultimately social media is a predominant part of the 21st-century lifestyle. We constantly find ourselves scrolling the content of social media quite mindlessly. This often leads to our mental health being compromised. However, we can take conscious steps to ensure that our mental health and well-being do not take the brunt of over-exposure to social media by being more mindful. Establishing a clear intent with regard to your social media use while staying focused on the present can help reduce the negative effects of social media.
References Bashir, H., & Bhat, S. A. (2017). Effects of Social Media on Mental Health: A Review. International Journal of Indian Psychology, 4(3), 125–131. https://doi.org/10.25215/0403.134 Festinger, L. (1954). A Theory of Social Comparison Processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872675400700202 Malinowski, P. (2008). Mindfulness as psychological dimension: Concepts and applications. The Irish Journal of Psychology, 29(1-2), 155–166. https://doi.org/10.1080/03033910.2008.10446281 Rosen, L. D., Whaling, K., Rab, S., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N. A. (2013). Is Facebook creating “idisorders”? the link between clinical symptoms of psychiatric disorders and technology use, attitudes and anxiety. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 1243–1254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.11.012 Rothberg, M. B., Arora, A., Hermann, J., Kleppel, R., Marie, P. S., & Visintainer, P. (2010). Phantom vibration syndrome among medical staff: A cross sectional survey. The BMJ, 341(Dec15 ). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c6914 Steinsbekk, S., Wichstrøm, L., Stenseng, F., Nesi, J., Hygen, B. W., & Skalická, V. (2021). The impact of social media use on appearance self-esteem from childhood to adolescence – a 3-wave community study. Computers in Human Behavior, 114, 106528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106528 |
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