Addiction customarily refers to the compulsive behaviour that makes its way to negativity. In most cases, people feel compelled to do certain activities so habitually that they result in a harmful pattern, which then disturbs the sequence of other essential activities such as work or school. Sometimes it’s hard to tell when fondness for an activity results in dependency and crosses the line into a destructive habit or addiction. According to that context, social media addiction can be related to that compulsion which encourages the excess use of social media that includes constant urge to keep updates of every socialising app like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter and much more.
Social media addiction is referred to a kind of addiction through the internet, where individuals with this addiction are in general, overly concerned about social media and are pulled by an obstreperous urge to use social media. This includes frequently checking Facebook status updates or “stalking” people’s profiles on Facebook. The rise in social media engaging has meant that we as a global population are more into connections with each other more than we were ever before. However, constant dependency on social media can leave deleterious impact on our mental health and this is something not easy to cope with.
SOCIAL MEDIA AFFECTS MENTAL HEALTH?
Keeping benefits of social media aside, it’s frequent usage can trap any individual in the feelings of no happiness and isolation in the long term. Not only has social media been contributing to the cause of unhappiness, but when used excessively without any caution it can also lead to the development of mental health issues in people like stress, anxiety or depression. We have an example of a famous DJ called Ben Jacobs who has more than 5,000 followers on Twitter, who decided to go on a hiatus from the platform in January 2016 and has found the break really beneficial.
Following are a few ways of how social media is negatively effecting our mental health without us even realising:
1) Destroying Human Interaction
Human connections are beautiful. As human desire attention, connectivity and interaction from another human for which they find different means to stay connected. In human relationship, communicating with each other is extremely important. We humans have stuck ourselves into rectangular flat screens in order to receive stronger and faster connectivity with our friends under digital frontage than in our real-life facades. One former model Stina Sanders has 107,000 Instagram followers and she reviewed that social media often made her feel like she’s missing out. She said,
“I know from my experience I can get FOMO when I see my friend’s photos of a party I didn’t go to, and this, in turn, can make me feel quite lonely and anxious”.
Sleep is the most important part of nature, it is the time when one’s body relaxes and keeps all its worries aside to function better ahead. Sleeping appropriately is of paramount importance. However, over usage of cell phones causes difficulty for the person to doze off, worrying about the comment he/she left on a controversial post, waiting for a reply from a friend and how many shares a status posted got? We let social media capture our minds and this hinders our relaxing hours too. Many of us find difficulty in dozing off because we choose to be on our phones before we sleep. “Getting worked up with anxiety or envy from what we see on social media keeps the brain on high alert, preventing us from falling asleep,” explained Doctor Bono, author of When Likes Aren’t Enough.
One of the best features of social media is that it lets us look back enthusiastically on past memories. “If we direct all of our attention toward capturing the best shots for our social media followers to admire, less will be available to enjoy other aspects of the experience in real time,” said Doctor Bono.
4) Self-esteem and confidence
Social media has platforms where people share what they believe, also at times people get in conflict with others over different opinions. We all have insecurities caught within us, some that we speak about openly and others that we preferably want to keep to ourselves. However, it can be seen that people compare themselves with others on the basis of what they share on social media. This promotes the problems of self-esteem and confidence in every individual. Becoming more conscious of the amount of time you spend scrolling will help in boosting your self-confidence.
Nelumbo consultancy specialises in providing psychological counselling sessions in order to treat mental illnesses found now a days like stress, depression, anxiety and much more. It is greatly advised by those working in the psychology field to seek counselling regarding mental issues and add a motivating factor in your life.