For many of us, we find ourselves scrolling through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media sites throughout the day. Some of us check out social media as soon as they wake up. Some are on these sites before bed. Either way, we use social media a lot, but could it be detrimental to your health and cause depression?
Well, according to psychologist Stephanie Mihalas, social media can cause depression and anxiety when used in the wrong way. Most people use social media to keep in contact with people or to network for jobs or other reasons. However, some of us use social media for different reasons and can cause us to be depressed. If you use social media when you are in a bad mood, it can lead to depression because you compare yourself and your life to others in a negative way. Also, using social media when you are bored can also cause you to feel depressed after. Social media can also cause people to seclude themselves from others. Social media can lead to a decrease in face to face interaction. Many people hide behind their phones and lose opportunities to have a face to face interaction. This is essential if one is depressed or finds themselves in a depressed mood. Being able to talk to people face to face and express themselves to others is necessary for a healthy lifestyle. Social media has the ability to harm us more than most think.
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/551db60fe4b095e92c16c46b/551dc9d0e4b0516c6bb7e14e/568d7e3805f8e2ada34439e1/1452278106466/?format=1000w
Social media is something that we need to learn to balance. There are many benefits to it, but we need to make sure that we do not become dependent upon it. The key is to find a healthy balance between real world interaction and online interaction. So all of us need to keep a conscious of how we use social media and how it effects our moods and how we interact every day.
http://www.everydayhealth.com/hs/major-depression-resource-center/depression-social-media/
This was very interesting to read. I was aware of some of the problems with social media but I never let it change my social media habits. I read an article over the summer (I was unable to find the link) and it basically said that people only show their best accomplishments on social media because they want to impress others. Because you only see the best parts of everybody else’s life it is easier to get upset with your own downfalls. An example of this would be 3 people tweeting that they got an internship when you recently had a sub-par interview for an internship. Seeing other people only succeed makes it very easy to be hard on yourself and that can lead to depression.
This blog post was very interesting because social media is so prominent in the world today. I constantly find myself on social media–whether it be Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat. I can guarantee I am on it at least ten times a day. Sometimes, I just click into one of the apps when I don’t know what to do with myself. And I can relate to this blog post especially because sometimes if I see my friends out and they post a story on Snapchat, I get upset or angry. And I know sometimes I find myself wrapped up in the number of likes I get–even though I know it is really not that important. After reading your post, i did a bit of research myself and found that “Social Media Depression” is more likely to harm those who are already troubled or are having esteem issues prior to logging onto a social media website/app. I read that it can not technically cause depression for those who are not feeling depressed, but for those who are, it will only affect them negatively. There was a study done on college students who use social media. They were tested for signs of depression while using all social media. If you’d like to take a look, here is the website. http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/exc_080811.shtml
thanks for sharing!