Social Media negative effects
In this article, we discuss the Social Media negative effects. Social media has become quite popular recently; unfortunately, it’s not all good news. The meteoric rise of social media has come with plenty of negatives that those on the outside may not know about (or don’t want to admit). In this article, we’ll look at social media’s negative effects and what you can do to minimize them from affecting your business and personal life.
How Social Media Is Bad for You?
Social media negatively impacts our social lives, society, and how we view ourselves. As studies show, teens are more likely to be depressed when they live in a home with social media around them. People also often mistake their Facebook friends for real friends, leading to dissatisfaction from not having any physical interaction or getting invited out to fun events as much. Furthermore, it’s easy to compare your life on Instagram or Twitter to someone else’s and start feeling bad about yourself or the things you’re doing. So, here are Seven social media’s negative effects.
1. Reduces Face-to-Face Interaction
On average, people spend 2.6 hours on social media sites daily, or 6+ hours each week! Some people spend 8-10 hours daily on social media sites. That’s the equivalent of an extra full-time job! What’s more disturbing is that this new addiction could be causing long-term psychological issues, such as depression and anxiety, in young adults stuck inside looking at their screens all day instead of interacting with other humans in person.
2. Depression and Anxiety
Despite social media’s role in social movements like #metoo and #neveragain, mental health has serious side effects on these platforms. On the one hand, scrolling through Facebook or Instagram can trigger positive thoughts and make people feel good about themselves. But at the same time, it can also produce feelings of inadequacy and jealousy that lead to depression and anxiety. Furthermore, all the ‘blue checks’ under posts by celebrities or influencers can make us feel like we’re not doing enough with our lives which may lead to heightened stress.
3. Increases Cravings for Attention
The worst part of social media is the never-ending tug-of-war between our innermost desires for attention and gratification and the need to be grounded in our true, authentic selves. Social media makes it easy to reward ourselves with likes and virtual gifts, encouraging us to pursue attention to cope with life’s difficult moments.
On the flip side, we often withdraw from social things that matter to us because there’s not enough time or space to engage in those things. Engaging in face-to-face conversations seems pointless when you know you can post something meaningful and share it on your feed for all your followers and friends to see.
4. Cyberbullying
Social media is an increasingly popular way to communicate, and it’s used by more than two billion people worldwide. But it has its downsides. Social media can significantly impact your mental health, from cyberbullying to making you feel bad about yourself. One of the most notable causes of anxiety on social media is in the form of self-criticism. When looking at other people’s posts, such as glamorous holiday pictures, people who tend to compare themselves and find themselves lacking will often feel down or even depressed due to this comparison.
5. Distracts From Life Goals
It may seem like social media distracts you from your life goals. The truth is that it gets in the way of forming personal goals and prevents you from pursuing them to the best of your ability. You’ll spend hours wondering why you can’t do anything right because all the posts will make you feel bad about yourself. Constantly staying up-to-date on everything in someone else’s life is much more tiring. For example, no one needs to know when you finish reading this blog post.
6. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
Social media is a great way to connect with people worldwide and stay up-to-date on what is happening in their lives. Social media platforms are addictive as you scroll through your feed for hours, feeling like you missed out on something important. Studies have shown that social media can make us feel lonely, overworked, and depressed. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) refers to when you need to check social media constantly and know what everyone else is doing because they may be having a better time than you or seeing things that make you jealous. This constant checking can increase anxiety or mental health problems such as depression or addiction.
7. Relationships Are More Likely to Fail
New research shows that the risk of divorce increases when you have kids. This is troubling, especially because your parental relationship with your child will most likely suffer during this time. It can take over your lives, leaving you without adequate time to maintain any relationships outside of it. Social media makes creating new friendships or maintaining old ones even more difficult. In addition, people are less likely to talk on the phone in recent years as it’s easier and faster to text or send messages on social media, but this means less face-to-face communication, which has been shown to cause more social anxiety for many people.
8. Unrealistic Expectations
Social media is an amazing tool to keep in touch with friends and family, learn about the latest news, and find some awesome recipes to try out. But, with all of its great uses, it can have a major negative effect on one’s well-being. Social Media Negative Effects can be classified as social comparisons or decreased in-person contact. Social comparisons happen when people compare themselves to their peers through social media. This is not only taking away from the positives of social media but can also lead to isolation for those who are not what society deems perfect. Most often, this leads to feelings of depression or inadequacy. Decreased contact in person is another popular consequence of using social media.
9. Stunts Creativity
If you spend all day scrolling through your social media feeds, you will not have much time left for anything else. Before long, it will start affecting your creative process. For example, when I stopped using Facebook, I had more time and creative energy to focus on other projects. The same can happen with the apps on your phone or tablet that make you compulsively scroll for hours, like Reddit or Instagram! Just be mindful of the time you spend looking at pictures, posts, and ads instead of reading books or writing creatively.
10. Negative Body Image
Social media has become a major outlet for communication. However, studies have shown that social media negatively impacts body image. Many people upload images to their profiles on social networks like Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat, where they feel pressured to portray themselves attractively to get approval and acceptance from others. For example, one study found that adolescent girls were likelier to update their profile pictures to portray themselves in a more attractive light than boys of the same age range. In addition, people who use sites like Facebook more often have lower self-esteem levels when compared with those who do not use social networks as often.
Luckily this is a problem with changeable causes and solvable consequences.
