
young desperate and depressed freelance worker or student woman working with computer laptop alone late at night in stress suffering internet bullying victim of social network
Mental health does not discriminate. It can affect anyone, rich, poor, famous or not. Mental health is a global public concern, effecting over 450 million people. The reasons can be many, from poor eating habits, drugs, alcohol, unhealthy relationships. It could be a combination or a direct result of not getting enough rest, consuming too much tech or social media usage. Whatever the reasons, in many instances (not all), it comes from our lifestyle, the choices we makeā¦therefore people can empower themselves to either ovoid or rebound from mental illness, by changing their lifestyle habits and or seeking professional help. This article sheds light on the social media usage that has taken the world by storm, with unfortunate consequences. Social media, like anything else should be used in moderation so that you donāt succumb to desperation.
More friends on social media doesnāt mean youāre more social
A a few years ago aĀ studyĀ found that more friends on social media doesnāt necessarily mean you have a better social lifeāthere seems to be a cap on the number of friends a personās brain can handle, and it takes actual social interaction (not virtual) to keep up these friendships. So feeling like youāre being social by being on Facebook doesnāt work. Since loneliness is linked to myriad health and mental health problems (including early death), getting real social support is important. Virtual friend time doesnāt have the therapeutic effect as time with real friends.
All of this is not to say that thereāsĀ noĀ benefit to social mediaāobviously it keeps us connected across great distances, and helps usĀ find people weād lost touch with years ago. But getting on social when you have some time to kill, or, worse, need an emotional lift, is very likelyĀ a bad idea. AndĀ studiesĀ have found that taking a break from Facebook helps boost psychological well-being. Try taking a little break, and see how it goes. And if you’re going to keep “using,” then at least try to use in moderation.
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It can lead to a vicious cycle of jealousy
Itās no secret that the comparison factor in social media leads to jealousy. Most people will admit that seeing other peopleās tropical vacations and perfectly behaved kids is envy-inducing. Studies have certainly shown that social media useĀ triggers feelings of jealousy. The authors of one study, looking at jealousy and other negative feelings while using Facebook, wrote that āThis magnitude of envy incidents taking place on FB alone is astounding, providing evidence that FB offers a breeding ground for invidious feelings.” They add that it can become a vicious cycle: feeling jealous can make a person want to make his or her own life look better, and post jealousy-inducing posts of their own, in an endless circleĀ of one-uppingĀ and feeling jealous.
It triggers increasedĀ sadness
The more we use social media, the less happy we seem to be. OneĀ studyĀ a few years ago found that Facebook use was linked to both less moment-to-moment happiness and less life satisfactionāthe more people used Facebook in a day, the worst it became. The authors suggest this may have to do with the fact that Facebook conjures up a perception of social isolation, in a way that other solitary activities donāt. āOn the surface,ā the authors write, āFacebook provides an invaluable resource for fulfilling such needs by allowing people to instantly connect. Rather than enhancing well-being, as frequent interactions with supportive ‘offline’ social networks powerfully do, the current findings demonstrate that interacting with Facebook may predict the opposite result for young adultsāit may undermine it.ā
In fact, anotherĀ studyĀ found that social media use is linked to greater feelings of social isolation. The team looked at how much people used 11 social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Vine, Snapchat and Reddit, and correlated this with their āperceived social isolation.ā Not surprisingly, it turned out that the more time people spent on these sites, the more socially isolated theyĀ perceived themselves to be.
Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates,Ā wrote an editorial in the Washington PostĀ last summer lamenting the Pandora’s box she and her husband helped open. “I spent my career in technology. I wasn’t prepared for its effect on my kids,” she wrote. “Phones and apps aren’t good or bad by themselves, but for adolescents who don’t yet have the emotional tools to navigate life’s complications and confusions, they can exacerbate the difficulties of growing up.”
Early this year, big players formerly of tech companies such as Google and Facebook created the Center for Humane Technology and, in partnership with the nonprofit organization Common Sense Media, launched a full media and advertising assault on the very industry they had a hand in building. Their initiative, the Truth about Tech, is pouring millions of dollars into an effort to warn parents, teachers and students that theĀ technology they use is in fact engineered to addict them.
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