Does Social Media Impact your Mental Health?

Hiya social media user! My name is Orlaith, an ex social media addict. Let's find out if you are one! Do you ever find yourself retaking the same selfie fifty times over to achieve the 'perfect' photo? Feeling you don’t look as good on camera as in your bedroom mirror? Do you ever spend hours scrolling through Instagram, checking up on the latest influencer holiday posts and wishing it was you? Do you get drawn into Facebook user's weird family drama, scrolling through multiple comments of aunt's arguing? Yes I know, many questions though continue reading to find out what influences you to live in this fake reality.

Question time soooo let’s be serious. Have you ever found that your mental health has been impacted by social media platforms? As it is estimated that over 3.6 billion people use social media worldwide, with this set to increase to 4.41 billion in the next five years (Statista, 2020), I do believe a good percentage of these users would say YES unfortunately. Personally, I have not had an Instagram and Facebook profile for over 2 years now as it severely impacted my self-happiness and confidence. I feel it was the best decision for my mental health, however, I feel that a lot of modern society cannot function without social media in their everyday life. Have you ever looked at the dreaded screen time on your phone? I avoid this service like the plague, or in more recent times Coronavirus! This service allows you to see the exact time you have spent on each app, which for some of you reading this blog should be an eyeopener... no judgment, though social media anonymous is calling and you know who you are! If you think you are bad, there is always someone worse.... In terms of the UK, it is estimated that the average person checks their phone 28 times a day which has been connected to unhappiness and severe isolation (Independent, 2020). 

Although I do have criticism of social media, there certainly are pro's that I can not even deny. Sooo some personal information for anyone interested! I am currently in a long distance relationship and due to the many, many, many, many Coronavirus restrictions, we were unable to see each other for 5 months which definitely impacted my mental health negatively. However, social media definitely helped us to continue to communicate through this hard time. I don't know what we would have done without this as I could not imagine us transforming into Romeo & Juliet and having to recruit a lot of pigeon's to deliver letters back and forth. 

I would imagine each person reading this, all five of you, lives have been impacted by Coronavirus in various ways. With the stay at home order, Social media has allowed us to stay connected to family members, friends and work colleagues. With many of having our first year of university online and working from home, it was so easy to stay in your own little cocoon online and have little to no human interaction. The lack of face to face connections developing has a huge impact on mental health as people tend to forget how to communicate and not solely rely on messenger apps...hands up with me introverts! If you're a person living with anxiety disorder, using these apps could perhaps worsen this for you as social media could increase your fears of judgement from others (Hope Gillet, 2021). At the end of the day, if someone is forming an opinion on you as a person based upon your social media, that says more about them than it does you... unless you are Donald Trump, then I suppose it doesn't. 

Do you ever find yourself scrolling through Facebook posts and endless Instagram photos and only happen to realise it is 3am and you have work/Uni in a few hours? Whether this be due to cyberstalking someone or general nosiness into co-workers lives, it could be that you have a fear of missing out (FO-MO). FO-MO on social media relates to an individual feeling their life is not as interesting and rewarding as their 'friends' on Facebook (Nottingham Trent University, 2018) . This is one of the many reasons I deactivated Facebook and I could not be happier. I am not that happy that I include six different coloured heart emojis at the end of every text message but I am feeling a lot more secure in myself than before. So, If you relate to any of this, just know the people you are wishing you were like, feel the same about you . If you do not relate to this, we all can't be as perfect as you! 

Thank you for reading my very interesting blog, stay tuned as there is more to come fortunately for you!