5 Side effects of social media that can ruin your life

Nowadays it is nearly impossible to find someone who doesn’t use a social media platform. Whether it is Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, Snapchat, Tiktok or even Twitter, continues to evolve and take up a growing portion of our daily lives. If you can’t imagine your day without social media, you’ve probably fallen victim to the strong power that social networking sites have over the public.

What was thought to be a fleeting trend has become one of our primary forms of entertainment, option to study or work from home, source of information, reliable means of communication, strong networking etc. But unfortunately, the bad effects of social media are all too real for a lot of us. Let’s look at the side effects of social media, which happen every day.

1.    Cyber Bullying:

Cyber-bullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phone, laptops and computers. It can occur through Text, SMS, Social media etc. It can include sharing private information about someone else causing embarrassment. Some teenagers also get exposed to other cybercriminals who can steal and exploit them. For instance, they might create a fake profile and act friendly to a classmate, then later betray and embarrass them online. It also enables cruel people to tear into others with little efforts. These online attacks often leave deep mental scars, poor academic performance, and even suicidal cases. It can also result in long lasting emotional effects, even if the bullying has stopped.

2.    Depression and Anxiety:

Spending too long on social networking sites could adversely affect your mood. In fact, chronic social users are more likely to report poor mental health, including symptoms of depression and anxiety. Comparing yourself to other people is a sure path to anxiety and unhappiness, and social media has made this much easier to do. Social comparison also reduces self-esteem hence it increased the rate of suicide due to social media every year. Using social media activates the brain’s reward center by releasing dopamine hormone, linked to pleasurable activities like social interaction. The platforms are designed to be addictive and are associated with anxiety and depression.

3.    Negative body image:

Some of the social media leads constant comparison, Photoshop and filters, copying style and later it decrease your self-esteem. If you look at popular Instagram accounts, you will find unbelievably people wearing expensive clothes on their perfectly shaped bodies. And of course, seeing so many people who are dressed up perfectly on a daily basis makes you feel low when you compare yourself with those pictures. Body image and self-esteem directly influence each other and a person’s thoughts, feelings and actions. Negative body image can begin at a surprisingly early age. When bodies begin changing during puberty, that dissatisfaction can deepen. If a youth doesn’t like their body or parts of their body then it is hard for them to feel good about their whole self. A negative body image increases the risk of engaging in unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, such as dieting, weight control behavior and over-exercising.

4.    Unrealistic expectations:

As most people are probably aware, social media forms unrealistic expectations of life and friendships in our minds. Most social media sites have a severe lack of online authenticity. People use Snapchat to share their exciting posts with fashionable outfits and expensive place but in reality, you have no way of knowing whether this is all a farce. While it looks great on the surface, that person could be in massive debt, on bad term with their significant other. Social media has the power to break the right relationship because of increasing false expectations and jealousy. It can also create a negative impact on the sense of self-worth, confidence, and wellbeing. Unrealistic expectations are rigid. They don’t allow us to be flexible and we remains on our comfort zone only within our life.

5.    Disrupting sleep:

The light emitted from your various screens tricks your mind into thinking it’s not time for you to sleep, which can cause one of the most common negative effects of social media that is sleep deprivation. Social media usage around bedtime can negatively affect how long and how well you sleep. Getting enough sleep each night is already difficult enough without extra complications. Looking at social media in bed can make it harder for you to fall asleep and leave you feeling unrefreshed the next day. Lack of sleep reduces your energy inside body and those late night social media content also kills your creativity. It will introduces different health related problems also it divert you from your life goal. Social media content triggers a wide range of emotions that may stimulate your brain, making it difficult to fall asleep.

Bonus points: The harmful effects of social media are not limited on those points because the most apparent disadvantage that social media has is its ability to distract students from learning and life goals. Instead of aiming for the dream job by obtaining useful skills, people tends to strive for internet stardom. It also lack your privacy because it is very clear that privacy and the internet don’t mix well. Also, social media can kills your creativity and your relationships. I can speak from my personal experience that social media is the easiest way to stunt and kill your creativity.

To conclude, Social media doesn’t provide your sharp focus, creative solution to a problem and skills needs to your life therefore limit the time to use social media. According to the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, it is recommended to use social media for 30 minutes per day for better physical and mental health. If you can’t stay without checking the Instagram notifications then you can make a routine to use social media at the end of hour or after finishing your task. You can also keep App time so that you can only use them on limited time only. Hide your phone inside your blanket or inside next room to focus on your study or task. Harvard Health explained that parents should limit their teenager’s time to use Social media.