What is social media:
The definition according to the books is ”websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.” These websites and apps are used by almost everyone who has a phone or device used as such. Many of the platforms of apps you go on are also social media sites whether you know it or not. Social media also has a ton of different purposes ranging from education, spreading awareness to marketing and even throwing shade or slander at people, business and more.
The impacts on mental health:
Social media can have a wide variety of impacts left on individuals, being both positive and negative the way your impacted can be caused by many things such as the sites you’re on, the people you allow to see your activity and what your interests are. Some of the resulting impacts due to the use of social media include a positive or negative self image, fear of missing out (FOMO), disrupted or decreased sleep and the list goes on. These factors and effects can lead to anxiety, depression, headaches and other negative conditions.
Effects On Education:
Many times in today’s society kids believe that social media and technology is good for their education and will benefit them by helping to complete assignments, which is false. When students go on social media to help with assignments it takes away from their ability to carry the knowledge on and for it to be useful. Many times students will fail tests and excel on assignments because they used a platform to help them through their tasks. Although sometimes these platforms can be helpful it depends on the way you use it. Suggest you need to get through an assignment, look for a website which gives you the answer and elaborates or ask the teacher for help instead of going on an app made for cheating where you will obtain no knowledge.
What to beware of:
Social media doesn’t come with precautions, and a lot of the time these websites can be dangerous, when going on social media you need to monitor everything you post as there is a digital footprint.(A digital footprint tracks everything you post on social media forever, this can affect your future jobs, relationships and even your lifestyle.) Some other factors to consider dangerous and to look out for are cyberbullies.(People who will attack anything they can about you for fun just to make you hurt.) When on social media look out for strangers, people can coerc6e their way into talking to you which could lead to being catfished, (When a person pretends to be someone they are not.) which could turn to worse as time goes on and you believe the facade they provide for you. These events occur too often in today’s society and victims often gain trauma, depression, bad thoughts, self image issues and more.
Beneficial or Destructive:
Social media reflects many negative effects on mental health and education, two of the most important factors to life, it can cause problems in academic settings and in your home life followed by an unneeded/ unwanted amount of stress. Although there are some that argue it is beneficial because they are able to pick out educational and information knowledge whilst reflecting a positive image. This is concerning due to the fact that many times the information that is retrieved from social media is or can be false and the so called “ positive image” is people glorifying their life by only posting the parts that and not the real deal such as mistakes or flaws which can impact the audiences thought process on how they make mistakes or how they view their imperfections.
Student Perspective:
Daily Screen Time Average: 8-12 hours
Most Used App(s): 1. Snapchat 2.Tiktok
Financial influences: 1.Purchasing Clothes & Items 2. Subscriptions
Negative Effects: 1.Self Image 2.Negative Community 3.Unnecessary purchases 4.Slander and Hate
5.Lack Of Attention To Reality.
Positive Effects: 1.Educates Some Topics 2.Occupies time 3.Creative Outlet 4.Helps With Advertising
Benefits Of Logging Off:
Some of the many benefits of logging off include less anxiety and feelings of stress which social media is usually correlated with. If you don’t surround yourself with the drama and conflict of social media it is easier to stay relaxed and less anxious. Another positive effect of logging off is that it gives you more free time, whether you notice it or not social media takes away from real life. If you log off you will have more time to focus on more important things such as self love, confidence or even school and work. The list of benefits goes on to infinity and there are many different opinions on what could be considered positive. During my research and writing of this blog I’ve noticed that it’s better for your mental health to log off even if it is for only a couple of days. Following my writing of this blog I plan on logging off for at least a week to test its impact on my mental health and I encourage you to as well. Social media can be a problem for many and you might not even realize how much of an interference it makes in your life until you click the logout icon.
-By: Rachelle Butts
