Social Media and Mental Health: 8 Signs that Social Media is Disturbing Your Mental Health

We cannot think of our life without the social media, is not it? As soon as we get up in the morning, we take our phone and go to Facebook or Instagram to check the latest status- to see how many likes we get our post or what are trending today in twitter or what is the latest chat in snapchat. Is not it? Now, in this modern age of digitalization, we cannot avoid the social media platforms in order to be connected to the whole world, to explore the world and also ourselves.

But we need to use the social media wisely so that we can always stay away from its negative effects. The Social Media and Mental Health is the most sensitive issues of modern times that requires our immediate concern.

Negative Effects of Social Media

The negative effects of social media are the most sensitive topics that we need to know and also aware the people to stop any kind of cyber bullying, abuse or also to prevent the damage of our mental health.” Social Media and Mental Health” is the most urgent issue because the number of people suffering from anxiety, stress, tension are increasing day by day, depression is the common mental disorder among people and unwise use of social media has great negative effect on it. The major negative effects of social media are-

.Feelings of Inadequacy, Inferiority Complex.

. Body Dysmorphic Disorder, negative body image

. Low self- esteem, low self-confidence

. Anxiety Disorder, Depression

. Living in the Virtual World, Away from the Reality of Life

. Victims of Cyber Bullying, Abuse

. Relationship Issues, Family problems due to taking the social media fact as the real one.

. Addiction to Social Media.

Read More-9 Major Signs of a Failing Relationship that you should know (wingsofwishes.in)

7 Signs of Disturbing Mental Health

If we notice some specific signs and symptoms in us due to using too much social media platforms, we should care about the issue Social Media and Mental Health . If we see the following signs and symptoms in us or others , we may say that our mental health is disturbed by the use of social media.

Inferiority Complex

If the use of social media platforms give us the feeling of inadequacy, grow inferiority complex in us, we should understand that our mental health is disturbed here by the influence of social media. We are using the social media to connect with people, to enrich our knowledge and skills and also to share our joy and happiness. Instead of those, if someone develop the Inferiority complex, here the influence of the issue Social Media and Mental Health is seen.

Always Compare Yourself with Others

If you are always comparing yourself with others in social media, you will certainly feel low and inadequate in your life. The situation and circumstances of everyone’s life is different, we cannot live others life or others cannot live mine. By looking the post, status in social media should never compel us to compare our life with others because this comparison is unhealthy for our mental health.

Social media and mental health- how social media affects us simply is that- for example, some families used to go for vacation thrice a year and always they upload the beautiful pictures of their journey. But your life is such that you cannot go out only for a week for once a year and this issue may compel you to compare your lifestyle with them and you will feel sad, irritated towards your life and thus your mental health is affected here.

Read More-What is self-care? 5 Important Pillars to Care for Myself (wingsofwishes.in)

FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

FOMO in current years has been attributed to various negative behavioral symptoms and psychological issues. FOMO in social media means that the social anxiety, loneliness and inadequacy we feel with the life events shared in social media especially if we missed that event. For example, if we could not attend a party for some reasons, we will continuously check the updates of this party in social media and we feel very sad. FOMO in social media force us to come again and again in social media and check the status of current events and be engaged in online interactions.

To comprehend the severity of the issue social media and mental health, we should know about FOMO as it leads to anxiety, tension, disturbed sleep, lack of appetite and dependence on social media for gratification.

Addicted to Social Media

The social media and mental health is the most warning issue for us if we are addicted to social media. Not only the teenagers but also the adults are also getting addicted to social media. If you like to spend more and more time in social media platforms, if you are always in fear of missing out from social media, if you don’t like to spend time with family and friends, then you may be addicted to social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or others.

And this addiction to social media slowly slowly lead you away from the reality of life, you are getting isolated from family, friends and society. This social isolation create depression, anxiety or other mental disorders in you and you may have the suicidal tendency also.

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem due to the phenomenon Social Media and Mental health, excessive use of social media platforms make us irritable, moody and disturb the daily activities of our life. The performance in our work field is degraded and also we are getting socially isolated due to our continuous virtual presence only. All these things together make us anxious, lower our capability to deal with the stressful situations and make us the victims of anxiety disorders. In extreme cases, we may develop Anxiety Attacks or Panic attacks to stressful events as our addiction to social media.

Read More-Know the10 common Physical Signs of Mental Health Issues (wingsofwishes.in)

Depression and Social Isolation

Depression and Social isolation are the mental issues may be caused due to the excessive and unwise use of social media platforms, Social Media and Mental Health is now drawing everyone’s attention as the biggest contributor of depression in people and the acute depression leads to social isolation and social withdrawal. If you have FOMO regarding the social media, you are always feeling inadequate in life by comparing yourself to others status in social media, you have grown Inferiority Complex due to social media, then you will always feel sad and lose interest in activities of daily life and thus you will develop depression in yourself. Acute depression always leads to social Isolation and social withdrawal.

Phobia or Fear due to Cyberbullying

Often, we, especially the teenagers are getting trapped in to cyberbullying and cyber-crimes without knowing the risk factors of social media and those online abuse not only create tension, anxiety in victims but also create fear and phobia. That’s why, the issue Social Media and Mental Health should be taken seriously. For example, a young lady was the victim of sexual abuse through social media and she grew phobia in her with Panic Attack and make herself socially isolated and attempted suicide many times.

Read More-Know the 10 common signs of Emotional Abuse to Identify it. (wingsofwishes.in)

Self-Obsession

Sometimes we are obsessed with our ‘ self’ due to too much engagement in social media and lose our interest in work or other activities. Uploading the status frequently, counting the likes in photo, counting the views are getting more importance than other activities. If any post is getting less likes or comments, then he\she is anxious about this and feel sad. Here also the relationship of social media and mental health is proved because self-obsession takes us away from real world and we feel inadequacy, inferiority in us.

Words from Wingsofwishes.in

Actually, in this modern world we cannot imagine our life without social media, it is the way of connecting with people and also to know about our world. But we should use the social media platforms in a wise way so that we can protect us from any kind of online bullying and harassment and also can protect our mental health. Social Media and Mental Health- let us use social media to give us joy and enrichment but not the stress, anxiety, tension and other mental issues.

References

1.Social Media and Mental Health – HelpGuide.org

2.Social Media and Mental Health: What’s the Connection? (healthline.com)

3.Social Media Use and Its Connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review – PMC (nih.gov)

4.Social Media and Mental Health: Benefits, Risks, and Opportunities for Research and Practice – PMC (nih.gov)

5.Social media – Wikipedia