This article will discuss why is it important to know the effects of social media on young people’s mental and physical health.
There are many reasons why it is important to know the effects of social media.
The more knowledge that we have about social media and its effects, the more informed choices we can make about our own social media consumption.
Health issues of social media:
According to the American Psychological Association, “recent research conducted on teenagers’ use of social media has shown an increase in reports of depression, cyberbullying, loneliness, eating disorders, body dissatisfaction, sex and relationship problems, as well as drug use and suicide, among teens”.
Odds of depression:
In a study conducted by researchers at Northwestern University, it was found that teens who felt more popular on social media were more likely to have feelings of depression and loneliness.
The findings were then replicated by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, who also found a link between the use of social media and feelings of depression.
In a follow-up study of 1,007 children aged 12 to 18, those who said they had more than 100 friends were three times more likely to feel lonely than those who had between 10 and 49 friends.
Those who had the most likes on their Instagram posts were also twice as likely to feel lonely than those who had less than 10 likes. This study has also found a link between teens’ use of social media and suicide.
According to the research by A.T. Kearney, “At least 858 million people (14%) worldwide are now online and 72% of this population live in developing countries, where there is a far lower internet penetration and low internet speed.
Internet accessibility is a crucial driver of social development in countries such as India and China where internet penetration is still low, increasing demand for more efficient, safe and inexpensive ways to communicate.
This can stimulate local job creation, increase GDP growth and foster the development of small businesses that increasingly rely on social media to interact and to stay connected with their customers”.
It has also been found that social media posts on Instagram have the ability to influence the opinions people have about a topic, without even knowing the author.
People even tend to judge others by their content, which is something very similar to crowd sourcing.
In Crowd sourcing, the focus is on the opinions of a group of individuals, rather than the opinions of the person in question, which can lead to people holding the opinions of others and accepting them as truth.
Overdoing social media:
Overdoing social media can cause people to become dependent on social media and will contribute to the low self-esteem of people who have a lot of likes on their social media accounts, which can also lead to other mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.
With over 500 million social media accounts in the world, this isn’t something that we can ignore anymore.
Social media is constantly changing the world and it is affecting us more and more. It is now a part of our lives that we can’t escape, so being aware of how it affects our brain and our body can hopefully help us to make the right decisions when it comes to our social media use.
Balance in social media:
I’m sure everyone has had someone in their life who is constantly on their phone and they have the same issue, and it’s no surprise that you may be this person.
Being on social media when you are tired can affect your sleep cycle, meaning you are more likely to wake up in the middle of the night and can easily fall into a negative mindset and spiral downwards with it.
Balance can also be had in social media. It is important to know when to share and when to keep to yourself, but it’s also important to make sure you keep the balance.
If someone is desperate to show people what they are doing, but they aren’t truly doing anything special, then you may not share every single photo.
Try to make sure your posts are relevant to the things that are going on in your life, but if you do put out a post, make sure you know what you are doing before you post it and go ahead.
If you are depressed and don’t want to get out of bed, you can always use social media to ask a friend to give you their blessings, or even to pray for you.
If you are getting in touch with people and doing all the things in your social life that makes you feel good, then you can definitely have a good life.
This is because you will make a good friend, and they will be honest with you.
One of the benefits of having a good friendship is that you can share your personal problems with them, and you will be able to find solutions to them.
