Effects of Social Media on Mental Health
How can social media affect a person’s mental health? This is something that I wanted to do some research on from the perspective of the people that I interact with on social media. When it comes to social media the two things that come to my mind are the feelings that you get when no one reacts or responds to your posts and how you feel when you are scrolling through social media and see people so happy with their life. These are the two questions that I asked people on social media along with the opportunity to put any other feelings that they have when it comes to social media. The responses were very interesting. There are some feelings that people get from social media that I have never thought of or felt personally. It is interesting to be able to see the impact or lack there of when it comes to social media on people’s lives and mental health. Social media is a great way to stay in contact with family that may not live close to you and to reconnect with friends that are no longer in the same state that you are. Social media is a lifesaver for Military families that move a lot. Majority of us use social media for a dopamine fix. When we post to social media and get a notification that someone has commented or reacted to our post dopamine is released in our brain making us feel a type of high.
Depending on what social media platform I am posting to I have different feelings on the responses or lack there of, that I receive from people. When I post to Facebook and get no response to my post, especially if I am trying to do something good for other people then I feel sad. When I post to Instagram and do not get a response I do not have to many feelings about it because that is more as a way for me to remain accountable in my weight loss journey.
Social media can be helpful or harmful depending on your outlook and the influence that you have on social media. Some people have responses and reactions to their post on social media as soon as they hit the post button, others get hardly any interaction or negative interaction. If posting to social media without a response bothers you, taking a break from social media for a while can give you a clear mind. I personally took a break from Facebook for 2 years and felt amazing. When I went back I found myself having some of the same feelings that I was having previously. When I catch myself in that mindset I take some time off social media. The time that I take off could be a day or longer depending on how I feel.
