Social Media Harmful Effects on Mental Health Essay Example

Social media is a crucial part of our society but is it crucial enough to hurt our mental well-being. Social media is an outlet for all our favorite influencers, artists, dancers, and anyone with interesting content. Nonetheless, social media is also an outlet for hate, body image issues, and mental health problems. With that said, the main issue for many people in society is whether social media is good for our mental health. I, like many others, believe social media is hazardous to one's mental health, especially if one finds themselves in a space filled mostly with hate. 

Now, more than ever, it is quite easy to find oneself in a hateful space unknowingly. Social media is designed for excessive use and abuse almost like an addiction or drug, as said by authors, Lawrence Robinson and Melinda Smith, “Social media platforms are designed to snare your attention, keep you online, and have you repeatedly checking your screen for updates. It’s how the companies make money. But, much like a gambling compulsion or an addiction to nicotine, alcohol, or drugs, social media use can create psychological cravings.” They then go on to elaborate on their point saying, “ When you receive a like, a share, or a favorable reaction to a post, it can trigger the release of dopamine in the brain, the same “reward” chemical that follows winning on a slot machine, taking a bite of chocolate, or lighting up a cigarette.” With these valuable points, we can now look within ourselves and think, “Is this true?”  “I don’t feel this way on social media.” “I am different, I know when to stop and put a limit to it.” Yes, this is true for some but not all. Let us go back to the point of social media being closely related to the feeling of smoking. Although, you may put a limit to how many times you smoke for a day or week as time passes by the intake will become deadly and detrimental to your survival. In conclusion, even if you think that social media is not doing you any harm now, it is only because just like smoking or addiction it takes time to manifest and fully do damage. You may not feel it, but it is slowly taking a toll on your life; little by little as the minutes pass by.

Social media helps us escape the feeling of loneliness, especially during the pandemic and quarantine. A UNICEF article titled ‘Is social media bad for teens’ mental health?’ cites, “The feelings triggered by a ‘like’ can temporarily relieve feelings of loneliness, but they cannot replace socializing altogether. When adolescents who feel lonely offline use social media to compensate for less developed social skills, they may end up feeling even more lonely in the long run.” Undoubtedly, you may wonder “how does this relate to mental health?” And that is a good question. How does the feeling of lonleiness affect us mentally? Other than the fact that we will feel like we can’t share our life experiences or trauma to no one in a face-to-face setting; because they won’t sympathize nor understand us and will secretly be judging us. Thus, we will turn to social media as a comforter and our ‘friends’ online to be our therapists. Another point is that many develop social anxiety from social media because it is just easier to connect online than in real life. For example, the text says, “The meaningful relationships we build face to face, through both verbal and non-verbal cues, are a deep and lasting source of personal satisfaction and happiness. An emoji or a ‘LOL’ can elicit superficial feelings of connection, but face-to-face communication builds more meaningful bonds through body language, touch, and facial expressions, along with the interpretation of feelings through tone and nuance – all things that are often lost in the digital world.

Adolescents often speak online to people they have existing relationships with offline. In moderation, using social media in this way allows teens to keep in touch with friends, colleagues, and relatives and can potentially improve their offline relationships. But it can become problematic if talking online comes to dominate all social interaction, or in the case of excessive passive browsing, when they are consuming more information than they are engaging with.” If we as a society, especially our teens and children who are going to be the future, get too comfortable with the idea of online talking and online talking only; we can see a problem sooner than later.

Without a doubt, many people in society still think social media is not as bad for our mental health as we think it is. Some may say social media can’t be bad when it promotes involvement in civic engagement (fundraising and providing a voice to minorities), meeting and speaking to friends or people online, and quick access to information and research. Although, these are very good statements they also leave a path for elaboration on how they can pose to be cons. Firstly, an article written by Frances Dalomba, states, “Social media itself is not the problem. It is the way people use it in place of actual communication and in-person socializing. “Friends” on social media may not be friends, and may even be strangers.” These strangers or “ Friends” can cause more harm than good especially since they may leave the door open to cyberbullying. As stated again in the article, “Sadly, there is an ugly side to all that technology offers. While bullying is not a new concept, social media and technology have brought bullying to a new level. It becomes a more constant, ever-present threat of cyberbullying.” Quick access to information and resources can also help the ever-lasting problem of spreading false information to fully manifest and bloom. It is always said that information is but only a phone click away and this is so true. As a matter of fact, many websites have made it their sole purpose to spread false information and give fake sources. Many people don’t take much time to check and confirm all the information they are told and this strikes a problem in our society right now. Lastly, civic engagement is always good but there are people on the internet and social media that just spew hate and have malicious intentions. Fundraisers are great but some evil people put out ‘go fund me’s and other fundraisers as ways to profit off generous people and the elderly. The provision of voices to minorities is great but malicious people like to spread propaganda and tear down the voices of those minorities making that space become one of hate and detriment. Nonetheless, these cons are not the social media application itself but the sadistic people who use it for their terrible self-gain. 

Undoubtedly, many of us see the toxicity of social media but we are so addicted to it that we can’t leave it alone. Sadly, these factors help the worldwide crisis of terrible mental health issues and even worse, suicide as said in the article ‘Pros and Cons of Social Media’ it sites, “Sadly, the cons of social media can take a toll on young minds. Suicide remains among the leading causes of death of children under age 14.  In most cases, young people die from hanging. Suicide rates among 10- to 14-year-olds have grown more than 50 percent over the last three decades, according to the American Association of Suicidology. Suicide rates among children between the ages of 10 and 14 are very low but are creeping up, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.” In essence, we should look at how we abuse our use of social media, and use it as an escape from loneliness increasing social anxiety in adults, teens, and our kids. There are evil people out there looking for someone to hurt and fool most knowing they can help tear down a person’s mental health.