In this modern era, people are obsessed with social media. Along with the usage of internet, applications such as Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram became an icon to the youth in this generation. Among all the applications, youth are addicted to the heavy usage of Facebook. The problem with these applications is it is stealing your valuable time. It has been observed that mental health disorders are raised in people who are addicted to the usage of these applications. people are using social media instead of spending their time on extracurricular activities, and the studies have also shown that it is reducing their interests in their activities that they have previously before.
The introduction of Facebook in the world has changed the state of mind of young people. As the usage of this application by the teens is growing day by day. It is still unknown to the researchers how the excessive usage of these applications can cause depression. But the people who got humiliated in social media commits suicide and most of the people who are committing suicides are mostly teens. It means they are taking these social applications very seriously and these applications became their personal stuff and they are giving priority to these social applications more than their family relations.
Is social media can cause severe depression, or depressed people use these social applications frequently? As an attempt to find out the solutions for these problems, you need to know how these social media applications influencing your mind.
Social media wants to keep its users online as long as possible by adding more features to their application and in order to gain profits. Social media has put many offers for people who are staying online for a longer period of time. People feel good when they are using social media applications and feel-good chemicals such as dopamine, and endorphins are released during that time. As the period of usage of these applications is increasing in teens and adults in their day to day life, it is slowly becoming an addiction to them and also, they are not aware of what’s happening in and around the world and all they care is what’s happening in the social media applications.
Social media also allows the people to post their most memorable moments and it makes you use that application more often on a daily basis. It has been observed that depression occurs in the people who are stopped using social media applications abruptly.
How social media cause loneliness?
Social media applications make you submissive and you will be no longer attached to the other facets of your life. Excessive usage of these applications will have a lot of negative effects on your life. It has been observed that there is a connection between the adverse effects on your body and the excessive usage of social media. It leads to depression and makes you feel alone and this research is published in the journal of social and clinical psychology.
Researchers found that people will be out of danger from depression if they reduce the time spent on social media and use that time to do extracurricular activities such as playing sports. Before this research, people assume that social media doesn’t have any impact on young people and on their studies. Some researches suggesting that screen time is not the main reason behind the depression and it is one of the factors. Brain structure, Family history, Alcohol misuse, Early childhood trauma, and Medical conditions such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), insomnia or difficulty in sleeping. It means depression occurs at any stage of your life.
University of Pennsylvania students participated in the research, nearly one forty-three students are a part of this research and half of the people are asked to use social media as they use normally and the remaining people are not allowed to use social media.
As the research went on for three weeks, the researchers concluded from this study that the people who are using social media continuously are showing less interest in participating in outdoor activities and they also seem dull and showing low levels of energy. On the other hand, the people who stopped using social media applications are showing high levels of energy and grasping the subjects very quickly.
As the above reasons are taken into consideration, we would advise the teens not to spend more time on social media applications such as Facebook, WhatsApp, snap chat, and Instagram.
People who have reduced the usage of social media applications are improving their mental abilities and this study gave the answers to what researchers are seeking. Participants in the study used to feel depressed and lonely but at the end of the research, people didn’t show any signs that they feel depressed or lonely as they reduced their time spent on social media applications.
Even the people who are at the greater levels of depression show progress in their condition after the abrupt stoppage of using social media. Adding to these points, researchers have also observed that the participants who are suffering from anxiety symptoms became normal after stop using social media applications.
Your choice of living does Make a difference:
The way you choose your life decides what you will become in the future. People are attracted to the comments that they get on Facebook and also it keeps them online for a long time. The positive responses you are getting from the social media applications are releasing your feel-good chemicals such as dopamine, endorphins, oxytocin’s, and serotonin. All together makes you addictive to those applications. You will get relief from those only if you choose not to use them again.
Researchers are also trying to find that how technology is influencing the people and they also concluded that people are not using their potentials completely due to the use of technology or people depending on technology too much. In the same way, People who are addicted to the use of social media applications are unable to maintain their personal relationships as they like to use their time on social media rather than spending their time on their relationships. That is why we would advise the people to give more importance or choose relationships over social media.
People are addicted to social media for one main reason as it is providing a platform for their users to share their most memorable moments, happiest moments, and sad moments. Users also taking the comments that they get in social media applications very seriously. It is advisable for the people not to take those comments seriously that they got on Facebook, Instagram, and snap chat.
Deviating from Social Media:
The best way to ease the symptoms of depression caused by social media is to avoid using the applications. If you are in a stage of unable to control your addiction to social media, we would advise you to consult a psychologist. As you all know, it’s not that easy to get away from social media. People find it difficult to leave that platform as they are attracted to it completely. The following are the steps to deviate from social media so that you will be out of the danger from depression.
- Spending more time with your parents or your loved ones instead of spending time on social media
- Rediscover your favorite hobbies, and do it daily
- Never ever feel that you are alone and you are only suffering from this problem.
- Plan a short trip or go to the places that you love the most
- Play your favorite sport daily and join any sports club
- Go to the gym and doing exercises will make you feel good if you follow your instructor guidelines correctly
- Reward yourself every day for not using social media
Simply sitting in the home and not taking action on your problem will increase the severeness of your depression problem. Reducing the screen time and the proper intake of your medications will keep you far away from getting diagnosed by depression.
Conclusion
Depression is considered as the mental health condition and the excessive usage of social media may affect your mental health. If you are often using these social media applications, it can damage your mental health and you will be in a lot of trouble. Reduce your screen time with your mobile phones. Don’t respond to the matters in the social media that will hurt you the most. As you can see there are many suicides happening in and around the world due to social media and the reason behind these suicidal thoughts and attempts is depression. In the state of depression, people imagine themselves as worthless, helpless, and these thoughts lead to suicidal attempts.
Don’t be on social media all the time try to spend some time with your friends and in order to ease the symptoms of your depression, explore nature. Setting guidelines and following them will improve your mood and reduce the chances of getting diagnosed with depression.
References
- https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/png/ajhb/2018/00000042/00000002/art00011;jsessionid=3ehrisqjb6lu4.x-ic-live-02
- https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/cyber.2014.0070
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/da.22466
Sirisha B