Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

Glendina Woodside

Sophia Online Learning

Nov 8th 2021

Argumentative Essay – Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

Have you ever wondered how much social media might affect your mental health? Today’s society is plagued with the negative effects of social media on mental health. Most young adults are suffering from mental illness, self-image disorders, and addiction as a result of their use of social networking platforms.

Social media use and addiction can cause multiple mental diseases. Even though social media stress isn’t a mental disorder, it can lead to conditions like depression and anxiety, which can be exacerbated by social media use. Instead of alleviating bad feelings and improving your mood, social media use makes you more worried, depressed, or lonely, according to the article, Social Media and Psychological Well-Being among Youth: The Multidimensional Model of Social Media Use. As a result, although many individuals believe social media can alleviate symptoms of stress, despair, and loneliness, research shows that it does not. Instead, human beings must turn to each other for assistance. Face-to-face contact is essential for the mental well-being of humans. Eye-to-eye contact with someone who cares about you is the best way to relieve tension and increase your mood (Yang, 2021). Interacting with other people is fundamental to our survival as a species. We are more in danger of developing anxiety, despair, and self-image difficulties if we do not communicate with others more than we do on social media.

Social media has exacerbated the problem of self-esteem concerns. Manipulative imagery and vacation photos might lower a person’s self-esteem. When it comes to self-esteem, women are more concerned than males. Their admiration for a woman with a perfectly toned figure is fueled by their desire to emulate her. All of these photos shopped photos and filtered selfies make everyone else feel self-conscious. Social media use and self-esteem in childhood and adolescence: A three-wave community study says: What is dangerous about this compulsive use is the possibility that users may internalize beliefs about being “unpopular,” “unfunny,” etc. when they do not receive the satisfaction they seek from the behavior (Steinsbekk, 2021). Negative self-reflection can be caused by a lack of “likes” on a status update, which can lead to an endless “refreshing” of the page in the hopes of seeing that someone else “enjoyed” the post, helping to obtain personal validation. Rather than obsessing over being famous and liked, these people simply need to let go of it all and stop worrying about it.

Addiction to social media is a topic that one would never expect to be a real-world problem, but it is. Many young individuals are suffering from social media addiction and burnout, according to a paper titled, “Social media addiction and burnout: a comprehensive review.” Envy and social media use anxiety have important mediation roles. When it comes to social media addiction, young adults spend more time on the site than their older counterparts (Liu, 2020). Because of their addiction to social media, young adults spend so much time on it that they do not even know it. We all worry about not being able to get to a message quickly enough because everyone is frightened of missing out on anything significant. 34% of young adults said they are frightened to miss out on things if they do not use social media, according to new research. More than a quarter of people using social media feel nervous when they cannot check their email immediately (Liu, 2020). Even when driving, people will stop what they are doing to check a message that is not necessary. This addiction to social media is unhealthy.

There are numerous ways that social media affects mental health. Symptoms of sadness and anxiety can be linked to the amount of time spent on social media, as well as the number of social media sites that people use (Bashir, 2017). When it comes to sadness and anxiety symptoms, the more time spent on social media corresponds. While it is not always a direct reason, it does give people something to investigate. I have found that taking breaks from social media has a positive effect on my mental health. Social media and its impact on sleep habits may be a contributing factor in this link. Using social media can interrupt sleep, which in turn can contribute to worry and sadness, according to researchers (Bashir, 2017). How technology interferes with sleep is by people staying up late on smartphones, the light from the phone can disrupt natural sleep, and some people wake up in the night and check their phones for alerts and notifications. Another reason why social media might lead to anxiety and melancholy is the dread of losing out on communications and keeping up with friends. For example, a person may be saddened to watch their friends having fun and posting about it and wonder why they were not there. You might also talk to someone you are interested in and will meet in person. To avoid losing out on this individual, the teen may not want to quit talking to them even though it interferes with their sleep. There are numerous ways that social media has an impact on one’s mental health.

Modern social media platforms make it seem as though those who do not stay on top of the latest happenings are missing out. People are brought together by social media, but at what cost? The ability to converse with another human being is now more accessible than ever before, yet the spark of face-to-face interaction may be snuffed out by the constant pull of the internet. Having access to social media allows us to be sociable wherever we are at any given time, as we are social creatures. When people cannot access the internet, they experience “disconnect anxiety,” which is defined as “bad emotional reactions when they are unable to get online.” This is a drawback. As a result of our dependence on social media, we can experience negative emotional reactions when we disconnect from it. People who are addicted to something can experience withdrawals and negative emotions when the thing they are addicted to is taken away or they try to stop using it.

Over a third of all people use social media at least 15 hours a week. Because of this, a person’s ability to function in the real world is reduced (Watcher, 2020). They lose attention and the ability to perform in their career or personal life if they spend many hours a day on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. When we spend too much time on social media, we miss out on learning and spending time with the people we care about. This can cause a person to retreat from their family and friends, altering their social interactions; this can also lead to a person losing their career, education, and relationships. 63% of American users check Facebook at least once a day, a new study has found, according to the New York Times. According to the survey, social media sites had an impact on 53 percent of participants’ conduct, and 51 percent of respondents claimed their behavior had deteriorated or was negatively impacted by social media use. When asked how they feel about their accomplishments in comparison to those of their peers who post about them on social media, respondents said they felt less confident (Watcher, 2020). People who spend a lot of time on social media are more likely to suffer from mental health issues such as social media anxiety disorder. As a result of using social media, people are more likely to suffer from conditions like depression and ADHD as well as mental health issues like anxiety, paranoia, and loneliness. The impulse to regularly check social media accounts is an early indicator of the development of mental health difficulties due to social media use. You should be on the lookout for worry when you cannot check your alerts, as this could be an indication of social media addiction or other mental health issues.

Internet and social media use can lead to sadness or anxiety, which can lead to increased suicidal thoughts in some circumstances. While cyberbullying is ubiquitous on the internet and social media, particularly among youngsters. There was a sharp increase in the number of youths who took their own lives in Canada in 2014 as a result of social media addiction (Pantic, 2014). A person’s personal life can be severely impacted by cyberbullying. Cyberbullying can harm a person’s self-esteem and cause mental health issues such as anxiety, despair, and trauma. Cyberbullying is a form of harassment in which one person seeks to upset another via online communication. In many circumstances, cyberbullying can lead to depression and even suicide. As a result of the fact that you don’t know who is saying something nasty or prejudiced, it hurts considerably more. People in this area believe that death is the only way out of their misery. People who engage in cyberbullying should be examined for mental health issues, according to the study authors. This is because cyberbullying victims are less inclined to seek assistance. After the death of the victim, the victim’s parents will have to deal with interpersonal troubles, the loss of a loved one, a new perspective on society, and more. It is common for the victim’s loved ones to blame themselves for the death of their loved one, which can lead to a downward spiral of pain and melancholy.

There are a plethora of bad effects of social media on our culture. It’s hurting those who use it. Mental illness, self-image disorders, and addiction have all been exacerbated by the rise of social media. As a result of social media, people are less likely to open out to one other about their feelings, which just creates additional issues. Because they believe that approbation is the only thing that matters in life, everyone is living a fabricated existence. Using social media as a form of self-comfort can develop addiction in young adults. We need to change social media positively so that this negativity can be eliminated from our lives.

References

Bashir, H. &. (2017). Effects of social media on mental health: A review. International Journal of Indian Psychology, 4(3), 125-131.

Liu, C. &. (2020). Social media addiction and burnout: The mediating roles of envy and social media use anxiety. Current Psychology, 39(6), 1883-1891.

Pantic, I. (2014). Online social networking and mental health. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17(10), 652-657.

Steinsbekk, S. W. (2021). The impact of social media uses on appearance self-esteem from childhood to adolescence–A 3-wave community study. Computers in Human Behavior, 114, 106528.

Watcher, F. (2020, November 16). How Social Media Impacts Our Mental Health. Retrieved from https://sassmagazine.com/how-social-media-impacts-our-mental-healt h/

Yang, C. C. (2021). Social Media and Psychological Well-Being Among Youth: The Multidimensional Model of Social Media Use. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 24(3), 631-650.

Reflection Questions

1. Provide one example of a place where you have used rhetorical appeals or source material to support your argument. How does this enhance your essay?
2.
I used rhetorical appeals in the first paragraph to help draw attention to mental impacts of social media. Furthermore, one of the source materials by Bashir states that using social media can interrupt sleep, which in turn can contribute to worry and sadness. These two enhances the essay’s agenda of demonstrating the mental impacts of social media.

2. Touchstone 4 is a revision of this draft. What kind of feedback would be helpful for you as you revise? Are there parts of your draft that you’re uncertain of?

The kind of picture that would be helpful as I revise would be any additional information that the draft would need. Concerning uncertainties in the draft, I believe all areas have been fully covered. I am certain of all the parts presented.

Touchstone 3.2 Rubric and Feedback
Rubric Category	Feedback	Score (acceptable, needs improvement etc.)
Argument Development and Support	The argument is not fully developed; while it is supported by some relevant details, including rhetorical appeals and source material, some aspects of the argument are neglected. Try to develop a thesis statement that takes a specific position on one side of a debatable issue.	28/40
Research	Cites outside sources, but most are cited improperly; incorporates sources through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary, but the integration is not smooth and/or the credibility of the sources is unclear. Any reference that appears in the text of your essay must be cited on the reference page, and any item appearing on your reference page must be also included somewhere in the body of your essay.	15/30
Organization	Includes nearly all the required components of an argumentative research paper; however, one component is missing: counterargument	10/15
Style	Demonstrates generally effective style choices, but may include occasional redundancies, imprecise language, poor word choice, and/or repetitive sentence structures.	3/5
Conventions	There are occasional minor errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, and usage.	4/5
Reflection	Demonstrates thoughtful reflection; includes multiple insights, observations, and/or examples, following response length guideline.	4/5
Overall Score and Feedback:64 /100  Glendina,

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