In the modern world of technological advancements, social media is an ever-present phenomenon around us. Individuals are ever-present on their gadgets posting pictures, updating statuses, messaging, and liking things. Despite social media being beneficial in many ways such as emotional support, self-expression, long-distance communication and so on, it also hurts its users and the society at large. For an average social media user, two of 24 hours are spent on social media platforms. Pediatrics have warned against the use of social media in children one of these effects arising from cyber-bullying. However, these risks may also expand to adults. Whilst social media plays an essential role in our lives, it’s also associated with some negative impacts on the lives of its users in terms of their social, mental, and physical well-being.

One of the reasons behind social media’s negative impact lies in its addictive nature. Although researchers have not come to a conclusive agreement on whether social media and internet addiction is a real thing, there exists substantial evidence that both may be in existence. As quoted by the Forbes magazine (2017), a Nottingham Trent University review study concluded that “it is reasonable to talk of ‘Facebook Addiction Disorder’ since the criteria for addiction such as preoccupation mentally, personal life neglect, escapism, may be experienced by some people who heavily use social media.”The study observed that the reason why individuals chose to excessively engage in the use of social network varies grounded onvarious traits- extroverts and introverts reasons vary.

The excessive use of social media platforms triggers a more degree of sadness and a diminished sense of well-being. People who excessively use social media seem to be less happy.According to research, the use of Facebook is linked to both less satisfaction of life and less moment happiness- the two variables dropped with the increasing use of Facebook in a day. Theresearchers assert that this may be because Facebook causes a social isolation perception in an approach that other similar activities do not. Additionally, the use of social media is associated with more social isolation feelings. For our physical and mental health, social isolation is the worst feeling for us.

Social media provides us with a platform for self-comparisons, a mentally unhealthy practice. Even when not isolated, people tend to feel isolated. More often than not, people are entrapped into comparing themselves to others and tend to make judgments on how they measure up. According to research, people compare themselves in “downward” or “upward” directions – feeling that they are either worse off or better than their counterparts. As it turns out, both types of comparisons make people feel worse. As a result, it would be right to assert that in the world of social media, any kind of comparison is conjoined to symptoms of depression. Despite social media coming along with many advantages, its users end up feeling unhappy or isolated in the long run. The obsession with perfectly filtered and taken photos on Instagram or Facebook may lead to the decrease of a person’s self-esteem and more often than not, it may even to higher depression and levels of anxiety.

Social media may cause jealousy which may become a ferocious cycle. Social media’s factor of comparison more often than not leads to jealousy with most users admitting to being envy-induced by seeing other individuals perfectly taken photos, vacations, and ‘perfect’ lives. According to research, the use of social media not only triggers but also triggers jealousy feelings. This may at times become a ferocious cycle were feeling jealous makes one desire to make their life seem better hence an individual is prompted to postenvy-inducing photos and posts in a cycle of endless feelings jealousy and one-upping. Further research demonstrates that in the connection between the use of Facebook and envy, the Facebook-depression relationship is mediated by envy.  This means Facebook is not so depressing if controlled. For this reason, in the Facebook-depression link, envy largely to blame.

We are often delusional and think that the use of social media may help us. Despite social media making us feel bad about ourselves, we keep coming back. This is due to a forecasting error, compared to a drug we think will fix us but in the real sense, it makes us feel worse. A study was conducted on how individuals feel after using the Facebook social media platform and their perception of how they will feel going in. As suggested by other studies, after using it, the participants even felt worse in comparison to individuals who engaged in different activities. However, a complementary experiment demonstrated that individuals were under the impression or expected to feel better in the conclusion of the use of social media platforms, not worse.

Despite social media providing us with the opportunity to have many “friends”, having more social media friends does not necessarily mean that one is more social. According to past research, having more social media friends does not translate to an enhanced social life. There exists a cap on the maximum friends an individual’s brain can manage, and rather than virtual interaction, real-life social interaction is needed to keep up with the friendship relations. For this reason, the feelings of being social on social media don’t work. Acquiring actual social support is essential since loneliness is associated with a myriad of mental health problems. Compared to time spent with real friends, time spent with virtual friends lacks the essential therapeutic effect.

Another social effect of social media is that it leads to stereotyping. Social media has the potential to enhance stereotyping in individuals of all ages including children (Cristina & Fernandez 82). Further research asserts that website interactions encourage the representations in the traditional gender hence aids in the maintenance of gender stereotypes. Generally, girls’ posts portray more emotion and they change their display pictures often a factor that may result in self-objectification (Ursala&Renau 85). Boys on the other hand, like to appear powerful, strong, and independent. According to Manago et al., (2014), femininity is associated with lesser psychological well-being compared to masculinity. For Facebook users, their profile is used to show or prove their normality. The use of social media upholds both masculine and feminine gender stereotypes. However, research demonstrates that boys uphold more traditional stereotypes than girls despite neither stereotype being entirely positive.

The excessive use of social media negatively affects our memory and cognition. Many social media platforms endorse the pursuit of status-seeking. According to Rosen, a writer on virtual friendship, the definition of “friendship” is different in virtuality. The writer asserts that friendship in virtual spaces varies from real-life friendship. Real-life friendship involves reciprocity, intimate details revelation, trust, and mutual interest sharing. According to research, people who excessively use social media report feelings of being less involved socially in the community.

Several issues such as social media privacy issues, internet fraud, and information overload raise concern. More often than not, social media has a pessimistic effect on its users. Emotional conversations may result in real-life interactions which make users get into dangerous situations. Some users may experience online threats and often live with the fear that these threats may manifest themselves in real life. Consequently, there are major concerns about the possibility of the connections between depression and excessive use of social media.Other issues such as trolling, online harassment, and cyberbullying remain a major concern. Research suggests that close to half of teenagers have been victims of cyberbullying with an approximate same number engaging in cyberbullying. The victim and bully are all affected and the negative aspect is increased by the bullying frequency, duration, and intensity. Additionally, social media use negatively affects people’s self-worth and self-esteem. Research suggests that individuals with higher orientation for social comparison seem to heavily use social media than individuals with a low orientation of social comparison.

When individuals compare their lives with that of their peers, they are compelled to portray themselves in an appropriate way to the situation that best serves their interests. Online posted things are often only the positive aspect of one’s lives which makes others have doubts about their lives and the reasons why they are not as exciting as that of others. This may lead to issues of self-esteem and depression in addition to decreasing one’s life satisfaction since one feels as if his or her life is not as exciting to post online. Studies suggest that the self-comparison aspect may have negative effects on our mental and physical health since they enhance the chance for comparison and the pursuit to get approval (Rosen &Stefanone). Studies assert that since a crucial element of social media involves spending much time in the customization of a personal profile, encouraging a certain type of social currency based on comments, followers, and likes, an appearance conversations persistent forum is provided. In the event when not enough likes or comments is achieved, this may cause feelings of disappointment in personality or looks.

Additionally, social media tends to cause detrimental effects on physical health. Disordered eating and body image are associated with social media. A significant amount of literature asserts that social media may at times cause pessimistic loop feedback of self-comparison and negative body perception in the event when the targeted social success fails to be achieved (Holland &Tiggerman 102).For instance, people who associate directly with dieting and exercise “pin” in the Pinterest platform are likely to engage themselves in extreme weight loss measures and exercises to lose weight or achieve their desired or ideal perception of a “perfect” body image.

The heavy use of social media and digital technology by adolescents and young adults may lead to disruptions in their mental and physical health, academic performance, exercise levels, weight, and sleeping patterns. Research asserts that much time spent on digital devices portrays a positive correlation with an adolescent’s lack of exercise and an increase in BMI. More hours spent online are likely to negatively affect a student’s grades and overall performance. According to Junco (2011), time spent on social media has a significantly negative connection with the overall GPA. When teenagers use multiple platforms, they are likely to experience higher levels of anxiety and depression than those who use few (0 to 2) (Zargoski 1). There exist a positive correlation between the sub-dimensions of social media and its addiction. The higher or greater the addiction, the less satisfied with life.

Despite the positive impacts of social media in our lives, it is evident that much has to be done in the mitigation of its negative effects. As a result, extensive research has to be conducted in the pursuit of knowledge and to make strong conclusions on the overall effects of social media. As of now, research evidence illustrates that social media has varying effects on different people depending on a person’s antecedent conditions. Just like excessive food and gambling, the excessive and strong use of social media is not advisable. Despite all these negative impacts, it would be incorrect to conclude that the use of social is ill-advised since it also has various benefits such as easier and faster communication. Social media enhances issues visibility affecting the balance of the society.

Works Cited

Basow, Susan A.Gender: stereotypes and roles(3rd ed.). Belmont CA. U.S: Thomson Brooks/ Cole Publishing Co. 1992, p. 447.

Díaz-Fernández, Antonio M.; del-Real-Castrillo, Cristina. “Spies and security: Assessing the impact of animated videos on intelligence services in school children”. Comunicar (in Spanish). Vol. no. 26(56). 2018, pp. 81–89.

Holland, G.; Tiggerman, M. “A systematic review of the impact of the use of social networking sites on body image and disordered eating outcomes”. Body Image. Vol no. 17, 2016, pp. 101–109.

Junco, Reynol. “Too Much Face and Not Enough Books”. Computers in Human Behavior. 28. 2011.

Manago, Adriana M.; Ward, L. Monique; Lemm, Kristi M.; Reed, Lauren; Seabrook, Rita (2014). “Facebook Involvement, Objectified Body Consciousness, Body Shame, and Sexual Assertiveness in College Women and Men”. Sex Roles. Vol. 72 (1–2), 2014, pp 1–14.

Oberst, Ursala; Chamarro, Andres; Renau, Vanessa. “Gender Stereotypes 2.0: Self-Representations of Adolescents on Facebook”. Media Education Research Journal. Vol no, 24 (48), 2016, pp. 81–89.

Stefanone, M.A.; Lackaff, D.; Rosen, D.”Contingencies of Self-Worth and Social-Networking-Site Behavior”(PDF). Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 2011.

Zagorski, Nick. “Using Many Social Media Platforms Linked With Depression, Anxiety Risk”. Psychiatric News, 2017.