I wholeheartedly believe that social media currently holds a greater
negative position with mental health than it does a positive one. My
biggest support of my decision is remembering how hooked I was
myself not too long ago and noticing how negatively it was affecting
me. To be fair, as I have said before, I have had a lifelong struggle with
depression, BUT nothing could've prepared me for what was waiting
when I finally took a more active role on Facebook. It seemed like
anything I said, SOMEONE had an argument for, or a nasty comment
to oppose my position, usually it got VERY personal and hurtful
almost magically swift. For example, I say I disliked a political
candidate or opposed the behavior of a certain criminal, and
automatically I was "An ugly mannish crack addicted loser" or "a
racist", well alright then if you say so... Unfortunately, instead of
letting these hateful comments roll off my shoulders I spent a lot of
hours angry, attacking back, and causing a much bigger problem
online and for my stress than if I had ignored the jerk in the first place.
It got to the point where I was just seeking to start an argument just
to fuel fire, I knew I would ignite, because I let others ignorance make
me bitter and ignorant. When it got so bad that my panic attacks
started happening on the regular and my boyfriend was at his wits
end with my face in my phone and my almost constant frustration, I
knew I needed a change.
This scholarly article
The Emotional Impact of Social Media in Higher
Education
, written by Iwamoto, D. and Chun, H. in 2020 provides a
detailed 27-point study on different aspects of social media and their
statistical correlations with students experiencing increased stress,
depression, and anxiety. It would take me all day to explain the entire
statistical results of this study so I will simplify it and you can read the
article yourself if desired for more information. The data showed a
very strong positive correlation between hours of social media usage
and reports of stress, anxiety, or depression. Some aspects of social
media, such as Pinterest and Snapchat had little correlation with
these negative effects, but for aspects like Facebook, Instagram, and
YouTube the positive correlations could not be ignored. The results
of this study led them two conclude two ideas that I found very
interesting. The first idea was that participants appeared to put a lot
of concern into how others perceived them, and shockingly, the
feedback they wished to receive more often than not was desired
from strangers, rather than friends and loved ones! A second idea that
was taken away from this analysis that I found to be amazing and also
brought an all-new perspective to light was that social media
succeeds in keeping us superficially connected, BUT those
connections we hold on social media have very little to no
personability or emotional capacity. These two discoveries leave me
with little doubt of the negative impact that social media has on the
typical individual, let alone what devastation it can bring for larger
groups, cultures, and even entire countries.
I feel that the idea of social media's effect on psyche holds very
strong connections in emotional intelligence and ethics. Anyone who
spends even a moment on social media can admit that we have seen
some inappropriate behavior expressed online. It takes an individual
strongly versed in self-control, morality, and lack of bias to control
themselves on social media. Although I believe a lot of people are
honest about the basics of themselves online, social media is yet an
easy place to pretend and to be someone you are not, thus social
media can not only become an easy place to speak the rudest of
thoughts aloud without repercussion, but it also becomes a place
filled with danger for those who are young, emotionally unstable,
fragile minded, or desperate. We have a long way to go before most
social media outlets become the ethical environments they should
strive to be. Until then I will keep my distance and control my own
usage, and I would suggest that others take the time to evaluate their
own social media habits. I am positive that all of you could find at
least one area in which to improve online, whether it's the way you
talk to others; what you choose to read about; how much time you
feel you need to dedicate to scrolling; or how many of those high
"like" numbers you need to see to feel elevated satisfaction or self-
esteem.
References:
Iwamoto, D., & Chun, H. (2020). The Emotional Impact of Social
Media in Higher Education.
International Journal of Higher Education
,
9
(2), 239–247.
