Social media has since inception, grown to be a necessity in our lives today. This is where news breaks first before spreading on to other channels. It is where we share our happy moments and milestones as well as important news that we want to reach the most number of people as fast as possible.
The most common social media sites include Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, and Snapchat; all platforms with millions if not billions of users worldwide. That said, we can conclude that we really cannot do away with social media. However, caution must be practised when dealing with this tool and controlled usage effected.
If not used properly, the negative effects of Social media always outweigh the positive effects. Frequent usage can lead to increased feelings of unhappiness and isolation in the long run.
This is how social media can be affecting you unknowingly.
Relationships
Human beings are social beings. We are not created to keep to ourselves. We are meant to interact with one anther. However, this becomes difficult when we are constantly glued to our devices. Moreover, we often come across as rude or disinterested when focusing on our phones in a social gathering or when in the company of others. The result: we fail to create and maintain meaningful relationships.
Self-esteem
Social media is set in such a way that people never post sad things or ‘imperfections’. Most posts are filled with stories of people having a good time, beautifully edited pictures, that event that just could not be missed etc.
When constantly viewing these posts daily and for some people for over six hours a day, comparison kicks in. We start comparing our lives and ourselves to these people and start getting feelings of inadequacy.
We fail to realise that we only see the good side of these people’s lives. We never have a clue of what they struggle with daily or their insecurities. Maybe if we knew, we would appreciate our lives much better. Moreover we fail to appreciate that we all have different paths in life and different timelines to achieve our goals but in the end we will all get to the finish line if we do not give up.
“When we derive a sense of worth based on how we are doing relative to others, we place our happiness in a variable that is completely beyond our control,” Dr Tim Bono, author of When Likes Aren’t Enough.
Becoming more conscious of the amount of time we spend scrolling through other people’s online profiles could help us focus more on ourselves and boost our self-confidence.
Memory
Social media, like photo albums in the past is a great way of recounting good memories and how past events occurred. However, it can also alter the way in which we remember the small details from our experiences.
Most of us spend a lot of time trying to take the perfect photo or video for our next post, all the while not actually taking in the firsthand experience of witnessing it with our own two eyes. In the end, we rely on the post to remind us of how amazing the experience was since we did not allow enough time for our minds to effectively experience and process the moment.
Mental health
Not only has social media been proven to cause unhappiness, but it can also lead to the development of mental health issues such as anxiety or depression when used too much or without caution.
Social media tends to have us unknowingly concerning ourselves to the feelings of all those people we follow. It exposes us to the daily feelings of all these people at once with each post. The human being is not wired to deal with such pressure and eventually the pressure takes a toll on us.
Sleep
The importance of sleep cannot be emphasised enough. However, most of us are guilty of using our phones too soon before going to bed. This makes it harder to doze off and affects the quality of our sleep. The anxiety or envy that emanates from what we see on social media keeps the brain on high alert, preventing us from falling asleep. Not to mention the light from our mobile device just inches from our face that tends to suppress the release of melatonin, a hormone that helps us feel tired.
Staying away from computer and phone screens 40 minutes to 1 hour before bed can really improve the quality of sleep.
Attention span
Social media has allowed us to have a wealth of easily accessible entertainment. The brain naturally lures one to wards the less tedious tasks that are relaxing. It is why being lazy is far much easier to working hard.
Now social media provides the entertainment that one can walk with. This has resulted to people constantly checking on their phones when having free time and sometimes even when busy. People have become far more easily distracted which has negative effects on productivity.
If you are unable to stay away from your phone for a few hours, then you would do well to practise exercising your willpower on occasion.
Do you feel like you relate to any or all of the above? You do not necessarily have to quit social media. You only need to limit your time and experience life in its fullness. You could consider allocating social media-free time slots during your daily routine. The slight change could go a long way.
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