Social Media: Harmful or Hurtful?
Almost everybody, especially the younger generation, is involved in social media. Social media even plays an important role in some of our daily activities and lives. Some people think it’s great because it helps us stay connected and share ideas, others think it has a completely different effect like being detached from reality.
At the end of the day, there is good and bad for almost everything, but social media might have more bad that overcomes the benefits. Some researchers, specifically for the effects of social media on teenagers, claim that social media allows kids to be more connected with their friends and family and that most teenagers who are family-engaged have a healthy relationship with technology.
The connections with people might help them feel more supported and less lonely. However, multiple studies show that social media can negatively affect and harm mental health. According to Yale Medicine, too much social media use can lead to anxiety, depression, and other health problems.  This is because people often compare themselves to others online, which can make them feel bad about themselves. It could also be because of a continuous cycle of endless scrolling looking for something to please the brain. It even can make people develop some characteristics they wouldn’t want just because they were unconsciously affected.
We are what we consume and that applies to multiple things like music, videos, news, food, etc. Ideas and negative thoughts can dramatically change our perspective of many things without us even realizing them. It’s very important to spend a minimal amount of time on social media and try our best to have a healthy feed on these social media apps.
Social media can offer a lot of friendships and connections but it also has been the reason for many people to end their lives. Every connection gets stronger when it is in real life. People might even pretend to be someone there not on social media, as a way of entertainment or to feel better about themselves.
Social media can still have its benefits and that’s why we should be careful of what we consume and how we let it affect us or get to us. Taking breaks every couple of weeks, doing more outside and physical activities as a distraction from the world of social media. Some people detach from help from their spiritual beliefs as well. It is important to see the world for it’s reality to determine who we want to be in it.
