Social Media and Mental Health

Introduction:

All human beings are social and emotional creatures and need the companionship of others to be prosperous in their life. The relation which we share with others has a great influence on our health and happiness. If we are connected socially to others in a healthy manner it helps us to overcome depression, anxiety, loneliness, and stress and it helps us to add more ears to our life and it gives us a feeling of being in heaven. But if a social connection is not very healthy then it becomes a very serious problem and we are at the risk of mental health and emotional health.

Role of Social Media on Mental Health

In today scenario most of us are connected in the world by the only platform, social media like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. though we get a lot of information from social media but still unless and until we are personally in contact with others we don’t get the feeling of positivity and happiness. Online social networking has brought many changes in the manner by which people communicate and interact. No doubt the latest technologies have brought people together yet it cannot replace the face to face personal and emotional connections. The feeling of loneliness, sadness, frustration, dissatisfaction arises even after one is on social media as there is no personal touch of the feelings among the people and it is purely a virtual interaction. Though the virtual interaction is having a lot of impact on an individual but the psychological effect is not the same as it would be in case of eye to eye contact. Studies have proven that the use of social networking sites if used for a long period may cause psychiatric disorders.

A number of studies have shown that the mental health of an individual is strongly linked with heavy social media. By mental health we mean that the person can have anxiety, loneliness, may self harm himself, increased risk of depression and sometimes it also leads to suicidal thoughts. Most of us enjoy very much being connected to social media but excessive use of anything is harmful. Though social media helps to pass your time very well but one has to be very careful.

Positive Aspects of Social Media

At this pandemic time when all are observing social distance and isolation, the most invaluable tool for keeping us in touch with our loved ones, friends, and also the outside world is social media. At this hour, social media helps us to relieve us from anxiety, stress, and uncertainty. From social media, we are able to get information regarding what is happening around us but at the same time, it is causing panic among the people when rumors are spread about COVID-19.

The benefits of social media help us to:

• Seek or offer emotional support at rough and tough times.
• Stay updated with what is going on around us and the world.
• Communicate with friends and family.
• To share our interest with people of the same thoughts.
• Raise awareness on important issues.
• Find an outlet for creativity and self-expression.
• To ease stress and anxiety by discussing the matter with others who are close to us.
• An individual tends to respond in social media with the fear that they may miss the conversation at school or work or they may miss the latest gossip or news. To relieve oneself from loneliness we switch over to social media as a security blanket and interact with people virtually to ease our anxiety.
• Get information and learn more about any source.

Negative Aspects of Social Media

Mostly all the latest technologies of social media has a lot of benefits but at the same time it has the negative effects also like:

• Most people tend to upload photos showing the highlights of the brighter side of life and no one shows or mentions the low points which they experience in life. So what we are observing on social media is manipulated and we feel insecure. We feel that others are having a very smooth and luxurious life and we become envious of the person. This leads to insecurity and mental dissatisfaction in our life.
• Always there is a fear of the feeling of being missed out. Even when we have Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. we are getting more and more depressed when we see other people living a better life and uploading more photographs by them. By this, we get the feeling of being missed out from this part of life, and automatically it enters into a corner of our mind which reduces our self-esteem and causes anxiety. To keep an update with what are others are doing and we are missing it we tend to talk to them over phone calls or have sleepless nights leading us to dissatisfaction and anxiety.
• To be mentally healthy one should have a person to person contact as the psychological impact will reduce loneliness, stress, anxiety, etc. It boosts up the mood of the person and brings us a feeling that someone cares for us. The interaction in social media may lead to the risk of mood disorder.
• The platform of social media can spread, abuse, rumors, lies and it can live mental and emotional scar on an individuals and sometimes it can result in the individual to commit suicide like it was seen in Bois Locker Room case of Instagram in which the Gurugram boy had committed suicide, this is the case in which cyberbullying is shown in a teenager. Cybercrimes do not have any boundaries of crime so the Information Technology Act and Indian Penal Code are applicable to Cyber Crimes. Cyberbullying is seen in teenagers and to some extend on adults. When a person cannot cope up with allegation they have mental and emotional imbalance which cause them to lead a road of suicide to avoid social stigma and they find it an easy escape of their problems in life.
• Some people have the tendency of sharing their selfies and also their thoughts on social media, this at times creates an unhealthy environment as it can lead at times other people to misuse the pictures.

Now-a- days there is a lot of use of technologies like the internet, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, iPods, etc. as it is easily accessible. This is making life hyperactive and fast but it is causing a lot of medical problems on kids as well as others as the blue rays are very harmful for eyes and them weakness the nerve which sends a message to the brain. Repeated notifications and phone calls are very disturbing and it also affects the routine of an individual. This makes an individual a slave to social media. Some people get addicted to social media to such an extent that they keep checking their screens for updates and they focus more on social life than focusing on real-life as it causes a very bad impression on the other person about you.

The social media use becomes a big problem if it is distracting you from work, living you feel angry, jealous, or depressed and also making you neglect face to face relationships which is mismanagement of personal and social life as we are so much into social life. That we are ignoring the positive and good things going on in real life. If a person uses social media to relieve them from loneliness and boredom and they are posting photos just to make others jealous is only a misuse of time. Whereas this time can be used for many other constructive works.

Psychological Effect of Social Media on Mental Health

A person’s mental health gets adversely affected by social media when:

• Most of the social interactions which a person is opting for are being online in social media. They prefer to spend more time on social media than being physically with their friends.
• When we are with friends still we have the tendency to check on our social media with a feeling that the others are enjoying more than us.
• By seeing others enjoying social media and comparing yourself with them will make you have low self-esteem and causing one to have a mental disorder.
• Sometimes a person feels cyberbullying as there is no control over what people post about you. This makes you mentally upset.
• Some people have a tendency to post things about themselves regularly. They like to see what people comment on them or how many likes they have got and have the tendency to respond quickly. Then they post it to their friends to make them feel jealous. This is observed in teenagers as a result of this they get distracted from school work.
• By continuously viewing social media, one does not get time to think and act as they wish but they have the tendency to imitate what others are doing in the social media on the situation they are at present. They have very little or no time for self-reflection.
• Periodical checking on social media at odd hours like at midnight, first thing in the morning, etc. is harmful to the light from phones or other devices that can disturb your sleep as well as the person sleeping next to you. The disturbed night sleep will affect the health of the person mentally.

Methods to Improve

One can improve mental health by changing their life pattern. They should devote less time on social media and more for the peace of mind, this can be done by making the following observations:

• For how long you are spending time on social media every day and then make a goal to reduce the time.
• Don’t take your phone when you are taking rest. Switch it off and keep it in another room.
• When you are spending time with friends and family, having dinner, while driving, being in a meeting, etc. switch off your phone. While taking shower don’t use the phone.
• Limit the number of social media app from your phone. Keep only those apps that you think are useful for you and the ones which you can delete do that.
• Turn off the notifications so that you can save time and focus on other constructive works.
• Restrain yourself from checking your phone periodically that is increases the time of checking from 15 minutes to 30 minutes and then to an hour.

One should not focus only on social media and become its slave. One should focus on social media when one wants any specific information, to enquire about the health of friends and relatives, etc. Before accessing social media one should know why they are doing it.

• Whether social media is being used as a substitute for real life. If it is so then it is better to opt for a walk or go to the gym or go with a friend out for dinner or lunch etc.
• Whether on social media one is active or passive. If you are an active participant then you are getting involved with others but being passive is only meaningless.
• Whether social media gives you the feeling of inadequacy or disappointment. If you have a feeling that you are being missed out then think about very good and positive things that have taken place in your life so that it will help to come out of the feeling of being missed out.

To be happy in life one should interact with relatives, friends, and also with colleagues of one’s workplace offline once in a month at least by having get together. During this jolly time, the phones should be switched off so that there is proper healthy interaction. Join fitness clubs, hobbies centers, etc. one should interact with people of the same mental abilities.

When one is free then they can express their feeling of gratitude which will bring a great relief to them:

• Think about all the positivity in your life and note down the people whom you miss a lot in life. You can express your gratitude on social media.
• In our free time we can help old people by spending some time with them at home as well as occasionally visiting old age homes. The interaction with them will give you positive vibes which will make you happy as well as grateful.

The development age of a person is childhood and teenage. Nowadays children right from birth are using the latest technologies of social media. If you feel that the child or the teenager is getting distracted from studies the problem cannot be solved by snatching away the devices on which they are working on as it will lead to a negative impact on the child. The problem can be solved very amicably by the following methods:

• Monitor the time period the child is taking for the interaction on social media and track the various activities he is doing on it as it is for the safety of the child.
• Talk to the child and limit the time for using the phone in a day and indulge him in various activities to channel his time and efforts. Parental control apps approved by the government can help to limit the child’s usage of devices.
• Regular interaction with the child will not only make a healthy relation with them but also know what they are up to as they are not into some cyberbullying or being a victim of cyberbullying.
• Enforce ban on social media when the child is having dinner, doing his homework, studying, etc. Insist on the phone to be switched off when they are sleeping.
• Interact with the child to make him aware of the reality of social media and its disadvantages. As they should be aware of the fact that what is shown in the social media is not the actual reflection of the life of the people. People have the tendency to post only what they want others to see and not the adverse aspect. So the children should not compare themselves based on what they see on the media.
• The parent should develop offline interest in their children for that purpose they should involve them in reading, hobbies, physical activities like exercise. Which involves their nitration with the actual world. Some NGOs keep children volunteer to encourage them for betterment and children learn a lot from them and get confidence and a positive attitude from them as children are the future. For very small children exercise and yoga is the best as it not only keeps them physically, mentally and emotionally healthy but also it relieves mental issues like anxiety stress and loneliness and give them the positive energy to think and mental peace. It boosts their self-esteem and they get the feeling of self-worthiness. The child becomes very happy mentally, emotionally, physically.

Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

The rapid development of social networking sites is having a great impact on the life of the individual. The biggest social networking site today is Facebook which has more than 1billion active users and then the number is going to increase mainly in developing countries. Facebook provides a platform for business as well as personal communications. The application of Facebook is very advantageous as it helps in sharing ideas, online teaching and it also helps us to locate our childhood friends. Though the use of social media is increasing tremendously but at the same time it is posing a lot of mental disorder among the people and this is a very big public health concern. The research has shown that people are spending more time online due to which communication among the family members has decreased. Due to which the relations have become very strained causing feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and depression. The frequency of interpersonal communication of both family and social environment has reduced. Social media does help an individual to interact with a large number of people but still, it cannot replace face to face communication.

Social media and mental health are directly related to each other. Social media shows a connection with mental health. This can be explained with the help of the theory called  “THE DISPLACED BEHAVIOUR THEORY”, this theory tells that if people spend more time on social media then they have less time for face to face social interaction, both of them has proven to be protective towards mental disorders. Social media creates a lot of pressure on individuals creating a stereotype of activities in people.

The most important factor in maintaining and developing mental health is self-esteem which is the degree to which one person values, prices, approves, or likes oneself. If a person’s self-esteem is very low then the person will have a mental illness like depression, addiction and at times may get suicidal thoughts. The impact of social media is directly related to self-esteem. Facebook helps to boost the self-esteem of a person when they see people appreciating their post by commenting on it and likes.

Conclusion

Social media is more addictive than alcohol and cigarettes, it is available without any restriction. It is accessible and socially acceptable. Usage of social media at low levels are associated with better mental health. The real-world socializing is better for mental health than online social media socialization, as real-world socializing is face to face socialization while social media socialization is a virtual interaction. The psychological impact of face to face socialization is more healthier than virtual socialization.

When we compare earlier generations with today’s teenagers we observe that today’s teenagers spend less time interacting with their peer groups and they spend more time on social media. This causes depression in teenagers and also leaves them feeling of social isolation. The children post matter which they think is the perfect life. They want to show others that they are happy and have a perfect life. They feel happy about seeing the response of the post. The teenager’s screen consumption time is a matter of psychological life and psychological death. They should be brought up in such a manner that they don’t lose their sense of community by virtual interaction and getting a lot in emojis and hashtags. One should not be lost in the race of the virtual crowd of social media. One should go in for a good hobby if one realizes that he has become a slave of social media who has robbed him of his freedom and good emotional emojis.