Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health

We all know social media is so useful. Our lives have changed completely, courtesy of social media!

Let us discuss the benefits of social media. We know that you can connect with people across borders in a fraction of a second. Whether it’s a good day or a bad day or your emotional traumas; people are around you. When you have a sleepless night, you can just pick up your phone and connect with a loved one who can be there for you. Education has also become much more fun and accessible. Various free training sessions are available with so much content to learn, e-books and all kinds of wisdom material available for our use.

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However, everything has its pros and cons! And so does social media.

Researchers have very clearly shown that usage of social media increases stress, anxiety, depression and self-harm thoughts. It even can lead to suicidal tendencies in extreme cases! When we go through these studies, you really wonder why is it so?

Let’s try to understand a few things that are very significant and how we can protect our mental health, which is also so crucial. First of all, social media is like a vicious cycle. When you are lonely, when you feel low or you are really sad or depressed, you go onto social media; be it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat, etc. You think you will spend time with your loved ones or with your friends, then things will become better and it will make you happy. But actually what happens is that when you are engaged in social media it brings a component called FOMO – fear of missing out.

Research carried out by the University of Pennsylvania found that when you see others having fun in their life, you begin to feel that you are missing out on all these things in your life. When you are lonely, sad, depressed or missing out, you see a contrast in your friends, loved ones, your distant acquaintances and that they are all having fun. And that makes you fall into a depression. Thus this turns into a vicious cycle of grief and sorrow.

But the fact is what you are watching and following on social media is not the absolute truth. Most of your friends and loved ones only post their best stories or moments up there. They may also be going through difficult times and challenges but when they go for an outing or shopping, they will post these good moments on their social media. And when you happen to see it, you feel as though you are missing out. There are feelings of inadequacy and negativity starts setting in.

The more you cling to social media, the deeper you get into this trap and then you start feeling more low. And when you feel low then what do you look for? You want to connect with your loved ones through social media.

How do we protect ourselves and our children? I think it’s very important that we watch our younger ones at home using social media because it is very necessary to guide them. We need to talk to them about it and we need to explain how to use social media platforms. It’s like a knife; you can use it to cut fruit, but it can also cause harm. I’m sure that cyberbullying is something that we all are aware of – this is one of the major drawbacks of social media.

But today I really want to focus on mental health and it’s important to realize that excessive usage of anything is harmful.

Nowadays, because of Coronavirus, many places are under lockdown. Your smartphone becomes your best partner. I have seen within the four walls of a house; husband, wife and children, all are engaged with the screen and in their own different worlds, connected to other people. You are not connecting to the people who are physically close to you but are well-connected to the world outside. Researchers have proved that a physical connection certainly brings in more joy and the release of dopamine (basically a happiness hormone).

Worse is when you want to dwell in the lives of people who are miles and miles away from you, but you’re not interested in the lives of the people who are just sitting next to you. Parents should look deeply into this aspect and certainly make some rules for the home.

What kind of rules should you make? 

• First and foremost, mute notifications on your phones because the minute a notification is heard, you become curious to know what it is.  Put these notifications off. You control the phones, don’t let the phone control you.
• Secondly, no phones when you are at the dining table.
• No phones while you’re in bed. Research shows that if you keep the screen away from you at least 30 minutes before you sleep, you will be able to sleep peacefully. I come across a lot of clients who tell me that they are not able to sleep at night, but the facts revealed by them is that they are glued to social media until the last moment before sleeping.
• Don’t use mobile phones while driving and no phones at gyms.
• Children should not be allowed to use phones while studying or during class.

As a psychologist, I very strongly put forth that social media has a negative impact. Researchers have proved that social media does not decrease loneliness, rather increases it. Social media increases the fear of missing out and increases stress, anxiety and depression.