Our mental health is at risk due to social media

Raven Quander

There are so many social media platforms that can be used in multiple ways, including marketing tactics, entertainment, and staying connected to a mass amount of people. However, the new digital age has rendered the younger generations in society helpless against the harmful influences of social media trends for the sake of popularity. 

While most of the social media platforms of today were created by Millennials (Generation Y), they were popularized by the Zoomers (Generation Z) who popularized the sites. 

Social media can be used as an entertaining and fun activity to use during one’s down time. However, it is also promoting a lack of productivity, as 20 minutes on a social media site quickly becomes two hours of the day being lost. 

There are at least 3.96 billion people that use social media today, which makes up about 51% of the global population. Individually, these people spend an average of 144 minutes a day on at least one social site. People in the United States alone spend about two hours and three minutes daily using social media. Without considering children under the age of 13, 65% of the world’s population maintains a social media presence. 

While social media is very affective when trying to stay connected with people we do not see every day, it destroys the concept of creating real stable bonds in real life. Because some people are only comfortable enough talking through their social media profiles with delayed response, it is more difficult for them to hold live conversation face-to-face with another person. 

Avid users of social media will argue that these platforms make it a lot easier to market certain people or products. This fact is true, as social media is one of the most widely spread platforms reaching across the world. 

However, when using social media, it can be hard to decipher what is real and what is fake due to the highly edited content shown. This in return sets an impossible standard for media users to live up to. 

According to HelpGuide.org, the false reality created by social media results in “increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts.”

Using social media in excess is a dangerous mentality that is not only harmful to a person’s mental health, but to their self-esteem, and to societal growth.