The dark side of social media

"Love is in the phone" by Go-tea 郭天

ABSTRACT

This post investigates the negative impact of social media. Inspired by my lecture I decided to dig deeper into the implications of social media, researching just how much of an effect social media has on its users' mental health. My work gave me a whole new outlook on social media and made me more aware of the dangers it brings.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years there has been a massive emergence of social medias, and with it a bigger focus from social media companies and its users on exploiting the reliance we have gradually developed in order to gain users and putting the highlights of one's life on show. This leads problems including social media addiction and has a negative effect on users' mental health.

LITERATURE REVIEW

I would suggest the most obvious danger of social media is how addictive it can be. Social medias are so good at keeping your attention, according to, Tristan Harris is because media companies employ teams of people whose job is maintaining the attention of the user (Big Think, 2017). I found this to be an interesting point and one that I don't think is spoken about enough. Think about it, most users go on social medias when they wish to switch off, therefore they are already inclined to stay on a website that is easy to use without needing much focus, as most social medias are designed. Couple this with the fact that there are teams of experts who work 9 to 5 ensuring they keep their users on their website for as long as they possibly can, it's no wonder we spend as much time using social media as we do.

Another issue with social media is the effect it has on people's mental health. Sites such as Instagram are problematic for a couple of reasons. One of these reasons is it creates an unrealistic image of perfection with regard to appearance. Many users will log on and see models, who have been airbrushed and edited in an attempt to make them look as 'perfect' as possible, and wonder why they don't look as good. It sets unrealistic expectations for everyday users who can't possibly achieve such 'perfection'. One study by the University of Pittsburgh proves this statement, finding "a correlation between time spent scrolling through social media apps and negative body image feedback" (Katie Hurley, n.d).

"When we derive a sense of worth based on how we are doing relative to others, we place our happiness in a variable that is completely beyond our control." (Dr. Tim Bono, 2018) This statement is particularly worrying when thinking that people, essentially, post the highlights of life on their social media for all to see. Without showing their everyday life an unrealistic outlook is created and therefore from the outside it's easy to fall into the trap of comparing your 'normal' life to these exaggerations of what life is, thus, potentially harming one's mental health.

CONCLUSION

There are clearly issues with social media that are having obvious effects on its users' mental health. When you combine the fact that the objective of these sites is to hold your attention for as long as possible with the problematic content that dominates users' feed, it's clear to see the dangers social media possess.

REFERENCES

Go-tea 郭天 (2018) "Love is in the phone" image, Flickr, viewed 26 November 2020, https://www.flickr.com/photos/131814204@N04/28359246517

Big Think (2017) Social Media's Dark Side: How Facebook and Snapchat Try to Steal Our Self-Worth | Tristan Harris [Video Online]. Available From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBRLMoL_vTQ [Accessed 16 November 2020]

Katie Hurley/PSYCOM (n.d) Social Media and Teens: How Does Social Media Affect Teenagers’ Mental Health [Online]. Available From: https://www.psycom.net/social-media-teen-mental-health [Accessed 17 November 2020]

Dr. Tim Bono/Healthista (2018) 6 reasons social media is making you unhappy (and what to do instead) [Online]. Available From: https://www.healthista.com/reasons-social-media-making-you-unhappy/ [Accessed 17 November 2020]