Social Media & Us

How Social Media Affects Mental Health

Have you ever felt uncomfortable, anxious, or addicted when using social media? Social media has become a big part of our lives, making it easier and faster to interact with people and seemingly bringing fulfillment and convenience to our lives.  However, while there are positive benefits, social media can have various negative impacts on our mental health including addiction, anxiety, inferiority, and bullying.

The use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram likely has a higher addiction rate than cigarettes or alcohol.[i] For instance, the symptoms of a mild addiction to social media are include using it frequently even though you don’t need to use it and using it more than you intended. Feeling restless, irritated, or depressed when you don’t use social media and worsening relationships with family or friends because of the use of social media[ii] are some other symptoms of social media addiction. The more these characteristics apply to you, the more likely you are to be reliant on social media. The more you depend on it, the more it interferes with your daily life, such as lack of sleep due to staying up late and neglecting what you need to do in the real world.

One study showed that a third of social media users feel distinctly worse and anxious after visiting their social networks.[iii] In other words, feeling guilty after using social media for a long time and feeling discomfort about unnecessary information people get from social media produce negative effects on our mental health. Also, some studies showed that excessive cell phone use often results in high levels of anxiety and tension.[iv] It means that people who interact with their mobile phones are more likely to be anxious and affected by the activities and words of others on social media. If you continue feeling anxiety using social media, it may likely develop Social Anxiety Disorder or Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

Researchers also found that a third of social media users become more envious and dissatisfied after using their social networks.[v] Especially when they look at the vacation photos of others, birthday greeting for others, and how many “likes” or comments others receive for their postings, they feel more likely envious and dissatisfied.[vi] In short, some social media users tend to feel inferior by seeing pictures or videos of happy events of others. Another research also shows that social media which focuses on pictures likely increases inferiority and has a negative effect on mental health.[vii] Social media causes people to compare themselves to others’ fulfilling state or appearance, which leads some to feel inferiority and dissatisfaction.

7 in 10 young people have experienced cyberbullying, and victims of bullying are more likely to experience a low academic performance, depression, anxiety, self-harm, feelings of loneliness, and changes in sleeping and eating patterns.[viii] These facts show that it’s not uncommon to experience, suffer from, or have your life be interfered with by cyberbullying. Another research says that young people who experience cyberbullying are at a greater risk than those who don’t for both self-harm and suicidal behaviors.[ix] What this means is that young victims are more likely to hurt themselves such as attempting suicide or harming others through physical violence. The growth of social media has created new kinds of bullying that can cause young people to suffer psychologically and physically.

The characteristics mentioned above are the typical negative effects of social media on our mental health. Addiction, anxiety, inferiority, and bullying are big issues that affect our way of thinking and behaviors which interfere with our daily lives. Some features might have applied to you or you may know someone around you who has those factors. Either way, it is important to know how to prevent or improve those negative effects on our mental health. We will look at the prevention and solution in the next blog.

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[i] Instagram is the worst social media for youth’s mental health (2017). BBC NEWS JAPAN. Retrieved from  https://www.bbc.com/japanese/39972594

[ii] Kawai, D., Amano, M., Ogasahara, M., Hashimoto, Y., Komuro, H., OONO, S., & Hirokawa, Y.(2010). Actual use of Social Networking Service and its Effects with Social Networking Service Addiction. Retrieved from

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jasi/26/0/26_0_265/_pdf

[iii] Comer, R., & Comer, J., (2019). Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology. Worth Publishers. 122 (Krasnova. Et.al)

[iv] Comer, R., & Comer, J., (2019). Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology. Worth Publishers. 122 (Richardson et.al)

[v] Comer, R., & Comer, J., (2019). Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology. Worth Publishers. 122  (Krasnova.et.al)

[vi] Comer, R., & Comer, J., (2019). Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology. Worth Publishers. 122

[vii]Instagram is the worst social media for youth’s mental health. (2017). BBC NEWS JAPAN. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/japanese/39972594

[viii] StatusOfMind: Social media and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. (2017) Royal Society for Public Health. 11. Retrieved from

https://www.rsph.org.uk/uploads/assets/uploaded/d125b27c-0b62-41c5-a2c0155a8887cd01.pdf

[ix]  11 facts about cyberbullying. (2018). DoSomething.org. Retrieved from https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-cyber-bullying