How Social Media can negatively affect your mental health.

The advent of social media has taken the world by storm with almost half of the worlds population using some form of it but it may have a more detrimental effect on your mental health than you know. Experts are beginning to think that we may need to rethink our new way of interacting with each other.

Studies are beginning to show that social media may be causing more stress than it’s worth for some users. A 2015 study by the Pew Research Center showed that social media itself may not be the key stressor but being exposed to stressful life events through social media was increasing stress to users, specifically users of twitter. The study concluded that this overstimulation of major life events may be more stress than we are used to handling and causing anxiety.

Another facet of social media that often goes overlooked is how it’s used as a highlight reel for someone’s life. Users are more likely to post their triumphs, latest wins and coolest outfits but often forget this when comparing themselves to the posts they see. Cybersafeireland.org warns that you should always keep in mind that someone probably took a dozen selfies before getting that perfect picture and we often lose track of that when looking at our own online presence.

Depression may also be a risk in the use of social media. Sage Journals published a 2017 study that showed a correlation in children and teens using smartphones and social media and a rise in depressive symptoms. Alexandra Hamlet, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind institute said
“The less you are connected with human beings in a deep, empathetic way, the less you’re really getting the benefits of a social interaction.

While social media is a wonderful tool in todays world that connects us to anyone all around the globe in seconds, It might be time to take a step back and reevaluate our use of it and work on our own mental health.

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