Social Media’s effect on our Mental Health
This is an article about social media and how it affects our mental health. I will be exploring the idea of how social media takes a toll on us in our day to day life along with the benefits it brings both emotionally and socially. Social media is widely used by students but has both positive and negative effects on our mental health. Some pros of social media are that you can connect with family and friends, a big part of social media is to be able to connect with friends and family through sharing pictures and videos and also being able to contact them via message and live chats through apps. This also has the ability to raise awareness on im - portant issues, and posts can be seen by millions of people. Social media can also be an outlet for creativity and self-expression. People use them to show the world their art, pictures, videos, fashion and makeup. This can help you to get rid of negative thoughts or just simply connect and make new friends. On the other hand, social media can lead to anti-social behaviour. Because it is so popular it can become addictive and result in people becoming isolated and only having digital relationships. This in turn makes it harder to socialise face to face. Over use of social media can also lead to developing depression and anxiety. If social media is used in the wrong way it results in isolation and loneliness. It can also disrupt your daily tasks like sleeping, focusing on studies or work and eating habits. All together this can take a massive toll on both your mental and physical health. Because social media is such a big part of young people’s lives it has a greater impact on students, so I conducted a survey of HSDC students in order to see how they have personally been affected. I started by asking “how has social media affected you?” I received responses including “it made me question how people see me and how I should live” to “sometimes it becomes invasive.” The next question I asked was, “is social media a good thing or bad
thing and why?” and had a mix of respons - es. One student said, “both because it's a great way to talk and meet new people but can set unrealistic standards” anoth - er said “it can be either because you can connect with people but it can also bring you down.” Indeed another respondent said, “it can be good, but we need more research into the potential harm it does to help parents learn how to manage and support their kids with social media.”
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