Social media is a communication platform that is widely used by people today. Social media use can affect mental health positively or negatively. Spending long periods of time on such media can negatively affect one's mental health. In order to reduce the negative psychological effects, people should limit this use.
Social media applications are widely used especially among young people. However, these applications are not only used by young people, but also by people of all age groups. Social media use has many positive and negative effects on mental health and human psychology.
Positive Effects of Social Media on Mental Health
Many people think that social media has only a negative impact. However, there are some beneficial and positive effects that prove this wrong. Although the virtual interaction provided through social media does not provide the same psychological benefits as face-to-face communication, it also has some positive effects on mental health.
Thepositive effects of social media on mental health can be listed as follows:
Sense of Belonging
These are platforms where people can feel like they belong and find a space to do so. These platforms, where people of different opinions are present and open to all opinions, create environments where people can accept themselves. Especially responses or likes from one's close circle and family create a sense of acceptance.
Finding Role Models
With today's technology, people can discover and follow people they can take as role models on social media. In this case, by following a cook, a person may want to become a chef and gain new experiences by following dozens of people who share on this subject.
Reduces the Feeling of Loneliness
According to research, interactions with other people during social media use reduce feelings of loneliness and depressive feelings. For this reason, it is explained that it has some psychological benefits when used in a healthy way.
Makes you feel happy and good
Some research suggests that these channels make people happy and feel good. It has been observed that people are happy after the high interactions they receive as a result of their posts, while in the opposite cases, happiness decreases.
Enables Communication
With today's technology, accessing information is now very easy and simple. You can communicate with people living in different geographies or cultures through social media and access the information you are curious about that culture.
Negative Effects of Social Media on Mental Health
Almost all of the positive effects of social media on mental health can also apply to negative effects. In particular, prolonged and careless use of social media can negatively affect the person both physically and mentally. For this reason, the person should not immerse himself/herself too much in such platforms and should set a limit to this situation.
Thenegative effects of social media on mental health can be listed as follows:
Sense of Inadequacy
Some people have a desire for acceptance or approval. When these people compare their interactions with different people on platforms such as social media and see that they receive less interaction than these people, they feel inadequate and may be negatively affected psychologically. These people may need to adopt different phobias to improve their psychology or seek support from a psychologist.
Anhedonia
This term, which also means lack of enjoyment, is among the symptoms of depression in psychology. According to research, it has been observed that some people who use social media experience this condition. It is reported to occur especially in people who have few friends and interact little on social media.
Addiction
Long-term use of these platforms can lead to addiction. People can spend almost the entire day on these platforms without realizing it. Such situations can lead to emotional and psychological withdrawal, inability to meet emotional needs, withdrawal symptoms and focusing problems. In such cases, taking a break from social media use and finding different interests can be beneficial.
Anxiety
Social media addiction can lead to psychological problems such as anxiety. The reason for this is the fear of missing posts made by different users and not being able to interact. The person may feel that they are missing something at any moment and this can lead to anxiety.
Sleep Pattern
Some people spend a lot of time on these channels, which can lead to sleep disorders and psychological disorders such as depression. This can occur in some people who want to be constantly interacting day or night.
Inactivity
Health research has shown that social media encourages inactivity. This can lead to many problems such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, blood pressure problems and neck pain.
Information Pollution
Although it is easy to access information today, there are many articles and news that are misrepresented among this information. A situation that can cause information pollution is also valid for social media platforms. As a result of news and shares that can spread very quickly on such channels, it is necessary not to believe every information immediately and to do research on the subject beforehand.
A One-Week Social Media Break Reduces Psychological Problems
Research on social media and mental health explains that long-term use of these media can lead to a number of psychological and mental problems such as depression and anxiety. A study on this topic found that people who took a seven-day break from social media use felt better and had more time to themselves.
Some people feel the need to access social media immediately after waking up and this can continue for hours. Long-term continuation of such situations can cause serious problems in the person's daily life, family, environment, work life and friendships. It can also cause many physical and psychological problems.
It is important to take a break from social media use in order to prevent such situations and to eliminate psychological problems such as anxiety, stress and depression. As a result of a study, it was observed that such mental problems decreased and lost their effect in people who did not use social media for 7 days. People who did not use social media for a week did not have sleep problems and the effect of psychological problems also decreased.