Protecting Mental Health From Social Media Dangers

As humans, we all have the profound need to connect with our social networks i.e., family, friends, colleagues. To thrive in life, we require the company of others which not only strengthens our connections but also has a positive impact on our happiness, boosts self-worth and mental well-being and even adds years to one’s life.

With the technological advancement over the years, our connections with others have expanded via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and much more. The satisfaction one gets by putting one foot up after a tiring long day and catching up with the social virtual world content cannot be paired with any other activity.

Social media: Positive aspects

Even when the psychological benefits of real-world human connection cannot be achieved and replaced by social media virtual interactions, using social media have definite benefits that are positively associated with one’s mental health and social well-being:

Helps overcome barriers of time and distance by allowing individuals to connect and communicate with friends and family
Offer or seek emotional support during hard times
Find the platform for self-expression and creativity
Discover sources of motivation, inspiration and valuable learning
Tool for individuals to escape boredom, loneliness and social isolation in the short run by sharing comments and messages with close ones

Social Media: Negative aspects

In the same breath, there can be content or the people you connect with that distress you even to the extent of having your anxiety skyrocket or self-worth undermined.

Feelings of loneliness, depression, stress or anxiety, leads one to use social media either to connect with others or escape boredom and negative feelings.

Sometimes one also experiences increased Fear of missing out on various things or even get cyberbullied by offensive posts or comments impacts one’s self-esteem, triggers isolation, inadequacy, create unhealthy self-centeredness and can leave long-lasting emotional scars and

In turn, these emotions and feelings affect one’s mood negatively and worsen symptoms of stress, depression, anxiety etc., urging one to further rely more on social media for more time and the downward spiral continues.

Ironically for a technology that is designed to help people connect closer and quickly, excessive reliance on social media can have a detrimental effect on one’s mental health.

Signs that social media adversely affects your mental health

Frequently using social media as a substitute for offline social interactions and socially isolate oneself
Experience worsening negative mood symptoms such as loneliness, anxiety, worthlessness, lowered self-esteem etc.
Frequently suffering from disturbed sleep patterns and decreased attention or concentration span
Losing on time to self-reflect i.e., who you are, your thoughts and actions etc.
Comparing oneself with others in terms of appearances, success etc.
Be a victim of cyberbullying and one feels no control over their worry
Engage in risky behaviours to gain fame such as play dangerous pranks, use a phone when driving, cyberbully others.

How to protect your mental health?

Often without notice, struggle with social media slowly becomes a problem. Thus, the first and foremost step to protect mental health is by being aware of the time one spends on social media and the mental effects experienced.

The following are few steps that will help one keep the required distance from social media:

Narrow your time on online devices by downloading applications that will monitor or alarm you of the time spent, consider disabling social media notifications, keep your phone away or switched off for some time of the day
Be focused and clear of why you use social media, is there any other alternative solution that can be done offline etc.
Set aside time for offline social interactions as the value derived from here and the wonders it can do for your mental health is not replaceable
Introduce the routine of a well-defined break from social media which gives the mental perks of practising mindfulness, self-reflection, analyze one’s worth or uniqueness etc. This has further proved to lower stress and gain higher life satisfaction
When using social media during the allotted time, consider adding some inspirations or motivational sources to your feed that helps one to be relaxed, goal-oriented, invest time for useful activities and so on
If in case one feels they have gone too far to gain steady control over their excessive use of social media, they should visit a psychologist or counsellor before anything else can be worse