Social Media’s Impact on Your Mental Health

A large issue that has arisen from social media usage is the issue of mental health. Lawrence Robinson in 2020 writes that multiple studies have found a strong link between increasing social media usage and risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts. 

Essentially, social media has been shown to have a net negative impact on your state of mind. Lawrence cites that as direct causation of digital media, we see an increased emphasis on judging yourself compared to others you see on your feed. McLean (an affiliate of Harvard med) notes, “When reviewing others’ social activity, people tend to make comparisons such as, “Did I get as many likes as someone else?,” or “Why didn’t this person like my post, but this other person did?” They’re searching for validation on the internet that serves as a replacement for meaningful connections they might otherwise make in real life.” From here, we see an increase in FOMO (fear of missing out, an anxiety-based stimulus based on the idea that others live life better than you). 

In response to the high standards created on social media, users continue to perpetuate a severely distorted and unrealistic cycle through apps that optimize their photos with filters. Brian Primack finds a threefold risk of depression and anxiety among people who used the most social media platforms. As a primary reason, he cites the aspect of comparison. Jacqueline Nesi of NCMJ provides a robust analysis of this topic, writing, “Individuals frequently engage in selective self-presentation on social media, resulting in a stream of posts and images that are often carefully crafted to portray users in a positive light. This may lead some youth to engage in unfavorable social comparisons regarding their accomplishments, abilities, or appearance. 

Studies have shown that higher levels of online social comparison are associated with depressive symptoms in youth and that appearance-specific comparisons on social media may heighten the  risk for disordered eating and body image concerns.” McLean notes the following:

“When there’s a filter applied to the digital world, it can be hard for teens to tell what’s real and what isn’t.” 

Next, social media is likely to work as a tool of procrastination. More often than not, this holds negative weight. Platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok are typically used as timewasters to distract us from our daily tasks. Hence, I took a 15 minute Instagram break between writing those last two sentences.

Sjoerd Huitema writes, “A scholarly article published by Chuang Wang, a Ph.D. of China-City University on Social Media dependence states the enticing desire to be on social media over school or homework is a part of the mind, as it has almost become habitual and takes precedence over anything else.”  In times of procrastination, we often gravitate towards doing anything that doesn’t require brainpower. For that reason, social media plays a large role in how we procrastinate. 

As we keep our phones too close to us at all times, we’re always tempted by an extremely accessible source of entertainment that doesn’t require any effort on our end. A piece released by Bournemouth university notes that social networking sites use “influence and persuasion techniques to attract users,” writing that this “can make them a medium for procrastination where some users fail to maintain a desirable level of self-control over their usage.” 

Procrastination is one of the many impacts that a social media addiction can warrant. Netflix’s recent documentary “The Social Dilemma” finds that these applications are specifically engineered to create a dependency between the human brain and the platform of choice. This causes addiction. 

Addiction is defined as “compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences.” Unfortunately, social media frequently acts as a drug type, with these impacts being noticed as effects. As someone who spends a lot (some may say the majority) of my day online, I’ll be giving a personalized response to this (aside from a typical objective one), as this issue has been too prominent in my life. 

Timothy Legg of Healthline furthers, writing, “When you experience more dopamine after using social media, your brain identifies this activity as a rewarding one that you ought to repeat. Such a reaction may be more felt whenever you make a post of your own and gain positive feedback. The positive feelings experienced by social media users are only temporary. The way your brain engages in this positive reinforcement is also seen in other addictions. Thus, as the feel-good dopamine wears off, you’ll go back to the source (in this case, social media) for more.”

We’ve felt this addiction firsthand. We find ourselves continually reaching for the phone, especially during times of work, boredom, or restlessness. In a sense, our phones act as a drug, which is required throughout our daily lives. Partnered with the COVID-19 pandemic, our phones have been a lifeline for short bursts of entertainment throughout the day. Thus, we’ll see adverse effects of social media stress, including (but not limited to):

• Nausea
• Weight loss
• Insomnia
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Dependency

Overall, we see that social media can have extremely adverse effects on multiple facets of our lives, namely our mental health, mainly induced by how we interpret information online.