Is Social Media Affecting Your Mental Health?

Life is what happens when you are on social media.

“Social media refers to online platforms that enable people to connect with others who share their interests” (Gale, 2021). Social media allows us to share images, videos, music, articles, and more content formats. It can be a networking tool; most sites allow interaction and engagement with followers, peers, family, and friends, and it has become one of the most important channels in the past few years; its popularity has increased, and many issues such as mental health and anxiety have come with it.

The time spent on these platforms can bring bad experiences to users and lead to experiments or develop negative feelings that can significantly impact mental health users. “Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act” (Mental Health, 2020). Mental health is a vital part of life and is as essential as physical health. We must pay attention to it; both help us determine the success and effectiveness of daily activities such as work, school, and personal responsibilities. Many of us enjoy staying connected on social media, “excessive use can fuel feelings of anxiety, depression, isolation, and FOMO” (Duong D, 2016). Excessive use of social media can cause these feelings; no one is exempt from this.

Social media cannot be restricted in daily lives, especially when access to them is easy. None of them have restrictions about the time you can be there, which has negatively affected our moods and stress levels. This easy access can lead us to check our accounts everywhere, probably even during class, in a job meeting, during meals, and during sleep. This has become a bad habit, and no one controls the time we spend or the things we do on social media. Even if we try not to use these platforms, there is no way to avoid them. Some of them are required for use in our jobs or school for academic and professional purposes, but we cannot isolate ourselves from these platforms.

Developing self-control can help to avoid all these issues but takes time and requires personal effort. Each person is different; there is no specific amount of time spent on social media that can determine how damaging being on social media is.

Be sure not to miss the essential things in life because of social media. Ultimately, we can at least agree that if we are careful enough, we can get out of social media without mental health issues.