Social Media and Mental Illness 

 

 

Let’s agree that in our today’s world, Social media has invaded our lives. Unconsciously we give social media so much priority that now it started to control us. We all have become addicted to social media that when we don’t use it, we feel like we can’t live without them. The past ten years, social media has become so powerful that it controls everything we do and  everywhere we go. It has manipulated us to view the world differently. Especially the younger generations, they are more exposed to the technology such as smartphones and computer not knowing or realizing the effect social media has brought into their lives. Young teenagers tend to feed their brain with unnecessary information from the media and that information forces to reduce their cognitive ability. This is why today’s social media is harmful to mental health. This map from the app called “snapchat” shows that individual can track where there friends are.  

 

Although social media is a platform where individuals get to share their talents and express their feelings by connecting to the world, social media has also brought hate, jealousy and loneliness in young teenagers’ lives. This has led teens to suffer from higher rates of depression and anxiety, and has increased the suicidle rate. Therefore, this issue indicates that we must find a way to reduce the usage of social media in order to have a positive mental health and positive lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong! Social media has shaped our lives in so many ways. First of all it has given us an opportunity to connect to the world by allowing us to share our thoughts, ideas and to tell our story. Secondly, social media has made it easier for everyone to interact and build networks.  For instance; online businesses such as makeup lines, clothing lines, makeup artists and instagram models who are the ambassador of each company were able to get that platform today because of social media. None of these jobs will be available if there was no social media. Moreover, with the help of social media, a lot of  people were able to find what they are really passionate about and what type of career they want to choose in the future. https://www.instagram.com/thebeautykorner/?hl=en.

 

Above image is one of the examples of online beauty line from instagram. This online business is runs by a young 23 year old Binu Lama. While she majoring in nursing, she found her true passion through instagram. She says “Instagram have introduced me to what I am passionate about.” (Lama) She is implying that she were able to figures what she enjoy doing and what makes her happy. We can see that with the support of social media we can find our passion and purposes like she did. . Social media has opened a huge door to many young artists. Some have become dancers while some are great rappers. Some enjoy sharing their poems while others enjoy reading. If you use social media in a positive way, It brings more happiness then sadness.  

 

However, in contrast to how Social media is beneficial, it has negative effects one young teens. So many teens lives are destroyed due to over use of media. Despite this, social media has a positive side where it gives us a huge platform to connect to the world but it made teenage feel hatred, jealousy and low self esteem of oneself. According to the article “When social media is really problematic for adolescents” by Perri Klass mentions that “The technology isn’t the problem, we are the problem.” (Klass) This tells us that Perri is suggesting that perhaps technology doesn’t have anything to do with how we feel but how we choose to feel is the problem. This means using too much of social media doesn’t have an affect on individual but how and what information we choose to take from social media affects our thinking. Therefore, it is important to know how to differentiate what kind of information we should perceive and feed to our brain because those information controls our thoughts and our thoughts causes action. Eventually, the false ideas and information from the media are the reason why today so many young teens and young adults feel depressed and took an action of suicide. The graph shows the an increase in the number of counselors and social workers in the high school of New York in coming years due to the insufficient  supporters towards mental health issues.

Over usage of social media causes teens to suffer from depression and that lead to an increase in the sucidle rate.  The article “Does social media cause depression” by Caroline Miller believes that depression comes from consuming too much time on social media. Caroline says… “One of the biggest differences in the lives of today’s teenagers and young adults, compared to earlier generations, is that they spend much less time connecting with their peers in person and more time connecting electronically, principally through social media.” (Miller) She is implying that comparing young to the old generation teenage, young teens spent more time using their social media such as facebook, instagram and twitter etc. rather than having social interact with others. This is the reason why we feel depressed because we are left alone to interact with artificial intelligence when we should be having one on one communication.  Therefore, too much use of social media is causing these teens not to be socially active and feel depressed. This will bring down to the low self esteem. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXdVPLj_pIk&t=330s

It is important that we find a way to reduce the usage of social media, especially the western part of the world because the teens are easily influenced by the media. One way to solve the depression is by using less of electronic devices and bringing more rules to the media usage. Also more of interacting socially with one another will help teenage develop their confidence and communication skills. This way one’s self esteem won’t easily distracted by what they see in the media. Social media  issue indicates that in order to have a positive mental health and positive lifestyle we need to have a very strong mind power as well as knowing how to use social media.  

 

Miller, Caroline, and Child Mind Institute. “Does Social Media Cause Depression?” Child Mind Institute, https://childmind.org/article/is-social-media-use-causing-depression/.

Klass, Perri. “When Social Media Is Really Problematic for Adolescents.” The New York Times, 3 June 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/well/family/teenagers-social-media.html.

Lama, Been. “The Beauty Korner (@Thebeautykorner) • See Instagram Photos and Videos.” Instagram, Been , https://www.instagram.com/thebeautykorner/?hl=en.

Dignity in Schools Campaign. “40 New York City Social Justice Organizations Oppose over $100 Million City Budget Increase to the NYPD School Safety Division and School Construction Authority.” Dignity in Schools, https://dignityinschools.org/nyc-budget-statement.

“A Social Life | Award Winning Short Film | Social Media …” A Social Life, Kerith Lemon, 12 Apr. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXdVPLj_pIk.