SOCIAL MEDIA’S IMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH

Social media are a kind of virtual hanging out. You can keep connected with people you know, chat, play games, and many other things. With this myriad of options, it is no wonder that social media can keep you occupied for hours on end. They seem like a happy place where you can interact with people you know in different ways.

But are social media really that great from a mental health perspective?

I personally am not a fan of social media. I have a Facebook account, but it is only used to wish people with whom I am friends a happy birthday and to scroll through people’s posts with the occasional “Like” or comment. I don’t make my own posts because I prefer to keep use to a minimum. One reason for this is because I feel that social media do more harm than good for mental health. While not a big user of social media, I have observed, through my Facebook account and articles I have read or seen, how they can be harmful to your mental health.

Here is a sampling of some of those topics. 

To start off, let’s talk about politics. Politics are a very complex thing and are quite the heated topic when it comes to news or debates between people from different parties. If someone sits in front of their device looking at political posts that go against their beliefs, they may become angry. Besides being in a foul mood, they could offend or anger other people if they start writing replies rife with vitriol. Thus they may have put a damper on other people’s days, as well. 

The next factor to consider is seeing the success of others. In general, success is good, depending on how it’s attained. Regardless, bad emotions can result from the viewing of posts about friends getting married or promoted at work. If the person viewing these posts recently lost a significant other, can’t seem to find a significant other, or just got fired, for example, they may become depressed when they see others’ posts, which is a bad state of mental health to be in.

Finally, while social media can be a good way to get information out about an event and communicate with others, it can also go horribly wrong. People can become afraid if people start sending them weird messages or interact with them in odd ways. In the long term, this could also result in paranoia, which can be difficult to cope with. 

The big picture here is that, as with most things, there are both positive and negative aspects. However, social media will likely be around for years to come. Because of this, I simply wish to leave you with a message of caution. Use social media, if you will; just be mindful of how different content affects you. 

Advocate Staff