Social Media and Risks To Mental Health
By Nicholas Payne
Love it or hate it, social media shapes our lives in many ways. It has changed the world of communication and has opened many doors for community building and social interaction. However, many would argue that it has closed many doors too. According to the science daily article Social media use by teens linked to internalizing behaviors, “The use of social media for any amount of time was associated with both a greater risk of reporting internalizing problems alone and concurrent symptoms of both internalizing and externalizing problems.” (John Hopkins University). The article further discusses how internalized problems show themselves through the teen’s behavior. Teenagers who are avid social media users tend to behave more reserved, don’t discuss any conflicts or problems with others, and have a hard time socializing and interacting with their immediate, physical environment. This can lead to serious problems like depression and anxiety worsening in the individual’s life.
So why does social media cause us to become more isolated? A good place to look is in its algorithm. Many social media apps are designed to appeal to your personal desires and leave you wanting more. This allows them to get more users and more attention. Also, social media amplifies the actions of people going viral and celebrities. This makes it easier for people to follow new trends and for those trends to have more attention surrounding them. Creating an “if you don’t follow these things or be like these people, you’re missing out” narrative. It is also important to mention that social media involves a lot of marketing. They try to sell products and hop on the general public’s interests so they can, overall, receive a lot of revenue. In that case, a successful social media platform is one that attracts its user and keeps them there to consume more products. These, and a combination of other aspects of social media, can greatly impact the mental health of those who use it.
Another important aspect of social media is social interaction. Social media connects many groups of people to communities they otherwise never would’ve been able to meet. This can be great for integration, involvement, and giving a voice to those who otherwise wouldn’t have had one. However, this can also cause individuals to become sheltered and less motivated to look for community in their physical environment. While they are still involving themselves in social interaction, they aren’t building the social skills to talk to others in their daily lives. This can make things like intimate relationships, work relationships, school, and many other aspects of one’s life that don’t involve a screen very difficult to remain comfortable and successful in.
So, what can be done about social media? Some suggest outright ban it altogether. However, that isn’t very reasonable in that it is such a big part of our society. However, managing social media use may be an option. Spend a few hours a day rather than the whole day engaging with the online world. If social media is an important factor for your career or daily life, then maybe try to enforce parts of your life that otherwise would be online in the physical world instead. Structure a balance between a social community in the physical world and maintaining work/passion-related material in the digital world. Another thing that could be done regarding social media is to change how the algorithms are designed. Give social media less addictive qualities and enforce more positive, uplifting messages through the tool rather than degrading messages. This could lead to a more positive engagement with the apps which may lead to less addiction and better mental health. Social media is the tool of today whether we like it or not. As such it is important to work with what we have so we can build a better and brighter future.
References
Hospital, C. (2022). Social Media Addiction. Addiction Center. Retrieved 10 April 2022, from https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/social-media-addiction/.
Social media use by teens linked to internalizing behaviors. (2019). ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190911142733.htm