Social Media And Mental Health

Nowadays, social media and teen life goes hand in hand. It has been a daily part of their life. Around 90% of teenagers use social media apps such as Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat daily. No doubt, these are important and help to connect to family and friends who live far away but it has been one of the major reason for rise in number of mental health problems among teenagers and young adult such as depression, anxiety, sleeping disorder etc.
Teenagers like to upload photos on Instagram. They follow their friends, acquaintances and so-called social media influencers and fashion bloggers, who they try to imitate, i.e. perfect picture, attractive caption and best location. But they forget that social media platform only shows the bright side of someone’s life. Such social sites lowers the self esteem and increases self doubt among teenagers. Comparing other’s life not only lowers the confidence but also makes the person unhappy, jealous and anxious. Apart from this, the connection with internet friends has been on rise but on the other hand, personal connection with family and close friends is declining whether it is physical or emotional.

“Lack of sleep” is another factor of mental health which is again caused by social media sites. Young ones are so obsessed with social media posts, stories and updates that they are being sleep deprived. There is nothing wrong about keeping up-to-date information about things but not having enough sleep is not correct.

More time given to social media results in more risk of mental health problems such as low self esteem and increase depression. Such sites have given a fake image of a “Perfect” person. It is sad that teenagers are trying to be something which they are not. They are forgetting the real them and are creating a fake image of themselves.

It is not that social media platforms results in only negative effects but it have positive effects too. It is an online platform for teenagers and young adults to showcase their talent, spreading awareness about some issue or such and also it builds community and emotional support for people fighting any mental problem or disease.

Social media websites can be both boon or bane for people as it depends on them how they are using it.