The internet is a crazy place that has brought us several positive things. But, mostly
not-so-positive things.
Social networking sites have been such a prevalent part of our lives
in the last 10-15 years. We don’t even realize how much time we devote to it.
Several reports
suggest that every day, an average person spends approximately 135 minutes on social
media.
Yearly, the trend of spending time on social media continues to increase.
The emergence of social media has ensured that people are more connected than ever. But our dependence on social networks can impact our mental wellbeing to a damaging extent.
Whenever you lay back, stand up, or relax, you’re probably scrolling down your social media feeds instinctively. It’s an innocuous addiction, especially if you use it just for a few minutes. But there may be health consequences involved if you are on the social networks for a large number of times in a day.
Social media sites do have short-term advantages. But you can feel constant depression and alone in the longer term by using them excessively. The endless explosion of wonderfully filtered images on Instagram knocks down the self-esteem. Excitedly updating your Twitter feed before bed can lead to poor sleep quality.
Here are five ways by which social media can damage your psychological state without you even knowing it.
1. It might affect your self-esteem:
Everyone has their fair share of insecurities, some talk freely about it and some tend to keep it to themselves.
One Canadian study was held consisting of 188 female students. This was published on the Body Image in 2019. It was found that after engaging with someone they thought was more desirable, women felt worse about their appearance. The same thing happens to you. And the negative associations do not stop at the picture of the body. When you look everyone is happy in their life, you start feeling bad about your life and unconsciously get depressed. But if you cut the time you spend on social media, they will stop (or at least decrease). Do remember one thing, whatever the hell is happening in anyone’s life, no one will share that. They will only fake their happiness in social media.
Getting more aware of the total time spent scrolling through the online profiles of other people will help you cut out that time. So you can concentrate more on yourself and boost your self-confidence.
2. It might spoil real-life interactions:
It’s so necessary for us human beings to interact and establish personal relations with each other. But, being always stuck to rectangular screens, it can be a difficult job to do. As we are more comfortable with our friends’ digital facades than their real-life personas.
In-person interactions can be messier and less linear. But, they are more engaging for sure.
3. It reduces your attention span:
Thanks to social media, it’s remarkable to see the amount of information readily accessible at our fingertips. It also means that individuals have become even more easily distracted.
Research in the Journal Proceedings of The National of Sciences showed that heavy users of social media performed worse than moderate to light social media users in being able to quickly turn from one role to another.
4. It can prevent you from having a good sleep:
Well, having a good night’s sleep is our uttermost importance. Cannot get proper sleep at night? Maybe, your phone, laptop, and of course, Social Media, all are to blame.
The hormone that controls sleep is melatonin. High melatonin levels can help you sleep, while low levels can make you stay awake. How much melatonin the body produces can be decreased by any kind of light. The blue light emitted from your smartphone’s screen lowers your levels of melatonin even further. Scrolling through social media, especially late at night, can interrupt your sleep cycles.
5. It can harm your mental health:
Social Media has been proved to cause unhappiness. But do you know, when it’s used too often, it may also lead to the creation of mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression?
We are not suggesting you should leave social media as a whole. Yet, you can surely divide some social media-free times during your day, especially when you feel it’s dragging you down. This small change might bring you a great deal of good mental health.
