According to the Oxford dictionary, Mental Health is a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being.

On the other hand, Social Media definition according to Oxford dictionary is websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. Examples of Social Media include, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest among other platforms.

Social Media has been known to have some effects on mental health. The information on Social Media platforms can affect one’s psychological and emotional well-being.

Effects of Social Media on Mental Health

Increased Risk of Depression

Feelings of severe despondency and dejection can creep into a person because of Social Media. Social Media provides a space to disclose a minority experiences and share ways to cope and get support, constant surveillance of one’s Social Media profile can become a stressor potentially leading to depression.

In detail, depression is limited not only to Facebook or Instagram,  but also to other social networking sites which can cause psychological problems. Studies have shown that individuals who spend a lot of time on Social Media, gaming, texting or mobile phones are more likely to experience depression.

You could be going through issues and then look at a person who has ‘made it in life’ or in a way there is progress, then start to feel like a failure and that is when dejection and feeling of unworthiness creeps in.

Anxiety

Social Media often makes one worry about issues of life because of looking at Social Media platforms of different people and seeing their ‘progress’ and when there is no progress in their own lives, they begin to worry.

Ohamessians research, published in January 2017 in The Journal of Affective Disorders, has found that the more time young people spend using Social Media, the more anxiety symptoms they report experiencing; and the more likely they are to experience anxiety disorder.

It is always said that too much of something is poisonous and excessive use of Social Media is not good at all as it is known to bring anxiety. Therefore, anxiety can be brought by Social Media.

Informative

Social Media platforms are known to carry all types of information and people can utilise Social Media and the internet to seek information on Mental Health.

Since information is available on Social Media platforms such as YouTube, one can easily learn if they carry symptoms of any mental illness and information on how to deal with it. There are numerous campaigns online which create awareness about mental health and thus Social Media platforms act as an avenue to give information to people concerning Mental Health.

Suicidal Thoughts

When one gets stressed, they can get to a level where they start to think about or even plan to commit suicide. Their thoughts can range from creating a detailed plan to having fleeting consideration. It does not include the final act of suicide. Many people experience suicidal thoughts especially during times of stress or when they are facing mental or physical health challenges.

Social Media can bring about suicidal thoughts to one when they keep getting pressure because of what goes on in the Social Media platforms which they cannot cope with. It is important for one to be self-controlled to avoid getting to levels of having suicidal thoughts.

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Inadequacy about One’s Life and Appearance

Social Media has been a platform where people showcase their looks or appearance and their successes. Hardly, do you find people showcasing their weaknesses and failures, so one can get intimidated and self-doubt creeps in and they begin to see themselves as less than others. It is normally said that what you feed on is what you produce: people can begin to speak negative things about their lives for instance, they are not worthy, they are failures and they do not look good. The feeling of inadequacy about their life and appearance creeps in.

Loneliness

Isn’t it ironical that one can have access to Social Media but still be lonely? Evidence from the past literature has associated high Social Media consumption with increased loneliness. This may be because online spaces are often oriented to performance, status, exaggerating favorable qualities for instance posting only ‘happy’ times and frowning on expressions of loneliness.

The mental state of loneliness is not good because it invites stress, depression and even suicidal thoughts.

Self-harm

One could easily harm themselves because of Social Media. For instance nowadays in some applications, there are people trying out the challenges that are trending and in the process they can easily destroy themselves. For instance, by inflicting objects on themselves and other trending things on Social Media which could destroy their thoughts because the memories left by some videos are so harmful. One could also harm themselves by overdosing on medicines simply because they have observed similar online.

Suppressing of Emotions

One could fail to express their exact feelings and end up suppressing them. People on Social Media are known to suppress emotions because at the end of the day, no one wants to see themselves as failures. For example, one could be so emotionally drained and instead of letting it out, they keep it to themselves and it develops to stress. Stress is not good for anyone’s health and can cause withdrawal and hence feelings of unworthiness and hopelessness creep in, thus one ends up depressed.

Conclusion

Social Media has grown and gained popularity among people thus there are many unexpected and unexplored answers associated with it. As earlier mentioned, Social Media platforms have been found to have detrimental effects on the psychological health of its users.

It has also been known that Social Media envy can affect the level of anxiety and depression in individuals. It is important for one to ensure psychological and emotional well-being of their minds.

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