Social Media and Mental Health
The present generation is widely known for its active use of various social media sites. The amount of time spent on these sites can range from a few simple minutes to long hours. Since social media has a strong reinforcing nature, people continue to use it to receive that “feel-good” dopamine reaction (Sperling, 2022). But continuous use means developing a sense of reliability in order to feel happiness. This reliability has shown to develop various levels of anxiety and depression all over social media use (McLean Hospital, 2021). A constant need for validation and obsessively comparing oneself to others can only lead to negative effects mentally on an individual.
Using social media sites like Instagram and Tiktok can create spaces of anxiety where users are facing unpredictable outcomes in the idea of future potential rewards via likes, reposts and comments. Unfortunately, this unknown outcome and the possibility of a positive reaction increases user activity and keeps them engaged. People post content to boost their self esteem or to relate to their social circles while hoping for positive feedback from their peers and strangers. These actions coupled with potential rewards creates a cycle of continuously checking social media platforms which can induce forms of anxiety from not receiving your likes or reposts fast enough.
Viewing what others are doing can also create “FOMO”- the fear of missing out. Not being able to be where your peers are or missing out on inner circle jokes and experiences can create anxiety and depression. Users feel a sense of jealousy or ostracization when they aren’t included or incapable of living the life their peers do.
Social media also happens to be a source of insecurity for many users. The use of photoshop and filters create a disconnect between what is realistically achievable and what is unrealistic perfection. Both male and female users are met with unrealistic expectations on how they should look or what lifestyle they should be living. They begin to think less of themselves and believe they should be living in a certain image that they can never actually achieve. They create content in which they themselves are heavily filtered or altered so that they can meet unrealistic beauty standards. This leads to a distortion in what users believe themselves to look like in reality and creates an online persona that can’t be met in real life.
Social media usage can detrimentally affect the mental health if its users, but many sites are taking steps to minimize the effects they can have. Sites like Instagram are beginning to hide the amount of people liking images to induce less anxiety amongst its users. Tiktok and Twitter allow users to select settings where they can hide certain information as well. Social media allows us to stay connected within our social circles and even beyond them, but its addictive usage can still prove to be harmful to the mental health of its many users.