Distorted Thinking, Cyber-bullying, and Depression

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Depression
Introduction
The rise in major depression in the US in the 21st century is due to the widespread pernicious influence of smart-phones and social media on Americans’ lives. Due to electronic device addiction, the majority of Americans sleep for few hours and struggle to communicate with the external environment. Distortions of the thinking process coupled with cyber-bullying experiences, are also connected with smart-phones and social media platforms. The depression is prevalent in young adults and teens because smart-phones become dominant in their lives when they are undergoing adolescence. Therefore, this paper aims at describing how smart-phones and social media are a major cause of depression in America.
Distorted thinking and cyber-bullying
Strong connections with family members and friends are important for mental and physical health and protect people against depression. In contrast, smart-phones and social media forces upon people feelings of closeness and intimacy that do not actually exist. People scramble to follow as many people as possible and strive to please their followers by posting attractive materials. The worry of pleasing online followers leads to depression because people tend to focus more on documenting the perfect moment of an event, rather than just enjoying the particular moment (Howard, 2018). As a result, even though people have many problems in their real lives, it is only the good moments that matter on social media. In cases where people cannot capture their good moments, they feel left out when they scroll through their feeds and see the perfect lives of other people. In many cases, such conditions lead to depression as people try to figure out how they will fit into social media’s perfect world.
Additionally, the pleasure an individual experiences when other people like his/her online posts triggers the brain to release dopamine. This is a chemical substance associated with the desire to repeat the behavior, which makes people stay glued to their phones (Sherman, 2016). Therefore, the more posts a person puts on social media, the more dopamine is released by the brain increasing the desire to use social media. However, when the “likes” are few with unfavorable “comments,” great depression is experienced and people may alter their appearances just to please others. In extreme cases, the depression is huge and people may commit suicide.
The effects of cyber-bullying can be devastating, leaving the victim helpless, angry, humiliated, and depressed. Cyber-bullying occurs through texts, social media, email, or even hacking into private information. The wide range of cyber-bullying tactics implies that they are imaginative and varied as the smart-phones themselves. When fighting depression, homes pro...