Is your addiction to social media getting out of hand? Do you think you are spending more time on social media than in reality? If that is true, you need to take steps to ensure social media does not impact you negatively.
Humans need connections to thrive, as they are social animals. However, due to many reasons, real-time connection and meeting people physically are becoming a thing of the past. The consequences? People are becoming more and more dependent on social media.
They connect with people from around the globe using social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and more. While social media can have positive consequences, it does pose some negative mental health issues, too. Let’s understand how social media can impact users and what you can do about it.
The Influence of Social Media on Mental Health
Positive Impacts
Here are the positive impacts of social media on the mental health of people.
It Lets You Connect Socially
Platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook allow people to stay connected with family and friends. You can even connect with strangers on these platforms, which will allow you to reduce your feelings of loneliness and get emotional support.
It is best for anyone who stays away from their friends and family. With social media, they can stay connected with their people.
Mental Health Awareness
Social media also raises awareness about mental health issues. This is quite positive as people need awareness about how mental health is a real concern.
Professionals, influencers, survivors, and organizations use this platform to share educational content and personal stories while reducing stigma around social media and encouraging people to take help when necessary.
It Helps Build a Community
With social media, you build a community that is necessary for you. You can create a community online through various platforms, which helps you mitigate the feeling of loneliness, amongst other things.
Negative Impacts
Here are the negative impacts of social media.
Comparison and Self-Esteem
The most common negative impact of social media is comparison. People often post only the good part of their life. So, anyone else seeing it only sees the version that is happy, and thus, people often feel dissatisfied and inadequate. It can impact the self-esteem of people and contribute to anxiety and depression.
It Can Lead to Cyberbullying
Social media is faceless, so people can bully you without the fear of consequences. However, the person who gets bullied or harassed online faces significant emotional turmoil, which includes depression, anxiety, and more.
Sleep Disruption and Addiction
How many times have you slept late because you were busy scrolling on social media? A lot of time! Right! This can lead to sleep disruption and even addiction. This messes up your sleep cycle, which also affects your mental health badly.
What Are the Strategies to Combat the Negative Impact of Social Media?
The following are some tactics you should use to combat social media’s detrimental effects on people:
Be Mindful and Self-regulate
The first and most important strategy is mindfulness and self-regulation. If you can restrict yourself, you will only get positive results and not the negative consequences of social media. For instance, it is healthy to set boundaries.
You should monitor your use and set a limit during the day to ensure it does not interfere with your sleep or responsibilities. You can use tools like a screen timer to set boundaries. Ensure your feed shows you only positive things and is not full of negativity.
Curate it as such for a better result. Lastly, be mindful of how much and for how long you are using it.
Be Digitally Literate
Social media users are mostly students. Therefore, it is necessary that schools and corporations come up with a program for educating individuals, like young users, about how social media can affect them. If they are aware of this, they can get better.
Seek Real-life Interactions.
It is so necessary that you seek real-life interactions by meeting people in real life. You cannot simply connect with people online and think that things will be good. Make friends, meet them in person, go to events to make friends, and more.
You can also join some charities, which can help you connect with people on a deeper level. This also gives you a sense of accomplishment, as you are doing something for the community.
Seeking Professional Assistance
It is necessary that you seek professional help if you are struggling because of social media. From bullying to overuse of social media to anxiety and depression, therapists can help with it all.
Find a good therapist in your region who you can go and meet physically to get better. For instance, people in Malibu can check out the best rehab in Malibu and work on their mental health issues. You can also join some support groups, which can help you get a sense of belonging.
Social Media Platforms Should Have Strict Policies
Social media platforms need to hold people accountable for any and all the content shared on their platforms. Having strict regulations against cyberbullying, hate speech, or other harmful content is super necessary.
Parents Should Be Aware of Their Kids’s Social Media
Even 8–9-year-olds are on social media. That is why it is necessary that parents monitor their use of social media while setting age-appropriate limits on the things they can see or not see on social media. Monitor who they are talking to, among other things, to ensure their physical and emotional safety.
The cases of people catfishing kids online for kidnapping or physical abuse are ever-increasing. Parents can also help their kids by making them a part of a community that engages in social interactions that do not require screen time.
Conclusion
Social media is omnipresent, and its influence on people is multifaceted. It has both a negative and positive impact on people. On the positive side, it fosters awareness and connection. It helps you connect with people globally.
However, it can also pose significant risks, like getting addicted, cyberbullying, and comparison. Cyberbullying is an extremely risky negative side of social media. Bullying under a mask can be detrimental to the physical and mental health of a person.
This includes children, too, as many teenagers are unattended to social media. So, it is necessary that all social media users alike use strategies like going for real-life interactions, digital education, and seeking help from a professional if necessary.
There are more such strategies that you should include to ensure social media does not impact your well-being negatively.
