Social Media and Mental Health

Social Media and Mental Health
Name
Institution
Social Media and Mental Health
Over the past years, there has been a growing debate on the issue of social media and its impact on mental health. Many types of research have argued for the idea that the connectivity provided by social media makes it more of a source of self-medication than a source of self-loathing amongst individuals. However, nothing could be further from the truth, especially since social media sites are the reason why many people all over the world hate themselves. Social media promotes self-loathing through causing low self-esteem, breaking and interfering with human connection, and encouraging additional competition that eventually leads to depression and anxiety. It is because of its impacts on people’s mental health that individuals have to be careful with how they use social media. Even though this is the case, social media also impacts positively on mental health by enabling connectivity and decreasing negative emotions thereby leading to increased emotional well-being. While it is true that social media use has some benefits, the frequent use of the same can lead to people being increasingly unhappy and hating themselves with time. The present paper investigates the different ways in which social-media promotes self-hating behaviors and how this affects mental health.
Background Information
Social media encompasses all online platforms and publications that allow for conversations and interaction between and among the different users of these platforms. On social media people’s thoughts, interests, personal information and photos can be shared. Some of the social media platforms include Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat with the first two being the most commonly used ones. All over the world, around 40% of the total population is said to use the different online social media. In America alone, about 68% of the adult population is noted to use Facebook with more than half the number accessing the online site at least once in a day. All over the world, the youths or young adults are the frequent users of the five social media platforms. Due to the entertainment offered on these sites in terms of access to live videos, people’s personal information, and photos, a majority of its users have a hard time controlling the urge to be on at least one platform. This lack of control has led to general dependability and addiction to social media in such a way that most of the information that is shared freely on the platforms affect the users easily. In the long run, it is the mental health that is affected largely in several ways.
1. Effect on Self-esteem
Social media use has been linked to low self-esteem amongst its users. Notably, online social sites enable people to share feelings and other personal information with family, friends and strangers. In sharing this information, everyone has their own share of insecurities that determine the way they react to the shared information. For instance, one may choose to share details about their relationship status, a holiday in some exotic place or simply “perfect” photos of themselves. Due to this, it may instill toxic envy and jealousy within other users th...