One can hear many opinions about the impact of frequent usage of social media on mental health. But is it the truth? Maybe these are just unsubstantiated rumors spread by frustrated people having no friends? It today’s article I will try to answer this question.
Have you ever experienced, so-called, phantom vibration syndrome? It happens when you think you received a notification but in reality, nothing happened. Nevertheless, you are incessantly checking your phone waiting for dopamine to be released. Numerous studies from the US, Canada and the UK have linked high social media use with anxiety, stress, and depression. The sad thing is that almost everyone I know uses social media extensively. According to Bailey Parnell, the social media expert, four of the most common stressors on social media are:
- Highlight reel
- Social currency (e.g. likes, comments, and shares)
- F.O.M.O. (Fear Of Missing Out)
- Online harassment
If they get out of control they can become serious mental health issues.
The highlight reel is a collection of the brightest moments of our lives. Steven Furtick, the New York Times best-selling author, once said "we struggle with insecurity because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel".
Social currency means that we associate our self-worth with what others think about us. Have you ever deleted a photo or post just because it didn’t take as many likes as you supposed? Or maybe you took a hundred photos to be sure that you will choose this one, the best shot. If so, don’t worry. It’s natural for humans to seek approval. The worst thing is that by using social media we become a product because we let others attribute value to us in the form of social currency.
F.O.M.O. is the fear that you can lose something, for instance, an event, opportunity or any other piece of information. A study at a university in Canada showed that seven out of ten students would delete their social media accounts if it were not for fear of being left out of the loop.
Online harassment is the worst stressor in social media. It doesn’t have to be a huge issue like the one we can see on the front pages of every paper. It can be as trivial as compromising photo sent on Snapchat to a friend that then sent it to someone else.
After reading this article, you may think that I recommend deleting accounts on all social media platforms, but that’s not the point. In today’s world abstinence is not an option, but you can use it in the ‘safe’ way. For instance, if celebrities make you feel worse because you don’t have all these things they do, you can unfollow them. Or maybe you feel you just spend too much time scrolling the Facebook wall. There are loads of apps that can help you break the social media addiction. These platforms are very powerful and can bring a lot of value to our lives, but it is important to be aware of all of their threats and not to lose control.
- How much time do you spend every day using social media?
- Have you ever experienced phantom vibration syndrome?
- Are you planning to take a break from social media?
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This topic is very difficult and I think that symptoms of using social media are in their early stage but things will get worst. I think that generally, social media won't have such an impact on you if you feel loved by your family, you have good self-esteem and you are happy with your life in general. To be honest, not everyone can be described with words from my previous sentence and there is a problem. People are trying to get attention on social media to fulfill their needs of appreciation for example, but if they don't get it - it's really bad. I try to use social media only when I need and I think that I'm 'safe' because I'm happy with my life and family. If you are looking for happiness in social media, then stop it. Go outside, try to meet with friends or family, appreciate what you have because for other people things you have may only be dreams.
ReplyDeleteHow much time do you spend every day using social media?
ReplyDeleteIt's embarrassing because if I combined both yt and instagram statistics it would be at least 2 hours a day. At the other hand I don't know if yt should be counted so the instagram is opened at least an hour for a day. I'm using it more passively so in that case I think it's less harmful for me but still it's a dangerous tool to compare your life with insta-ideal life of others. I know by myself few friends who are "popular" in social media and they're suffering for real from mental-health issues.
Have you ever experienced phantom vibration syndrome?
Few times for sure but fortunately it don't happen on a daily basis. Also I'm quite comfortable with staying without the phone, especially on vacation so I hope I've got it under control.
Are you planning to take a break from social media?
If I would ever consider myself as an addict - for sure, but right know I don't think that I need it. Beside that SM are great marketplace so I think that's worth being up to date because you never know when the idea to make a business will show up! :)
1. I am currently trying to use Facebook for a maximum of 30 minutes a day. I mainly review the quick overview of "what's new in the world," and because I'm a geek, I like to be up to date, especially in the world of technology or programming.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any other social networking sites like Twitter or Instagram. I do not need it.
2. Due to the fact that I am not an active Facebook user (I do not publish, I only browse), I do not have something like this now when I browse Facebook.
It was different 10 years ago, when Facebook survived the expansion in our country, then all the time he wanted to check who published what, who added whom to friends. Unfortunately, Facebok did the same as it once did with Grono.net, with time too much garbage appears and nothing happens.
3. I do not plan until I graduate, we have groups in which it is worth knowing what is going on :)
I do acknowledge that social media are an increasingly important extension of our own lives. We can have easy insight into other people’s life which would not be possible just in real life. We can share information regarding our presence and activities. We think it somewhat enriches our lifes, but at the same it has an addictive effect. In many cases people get addicted to attention. We base our online actions on desire to be observed and accepted by others, for example by being given Facebook “likes” or more “followers”. Too much information is flowing through our minds and too much distraction is effecting us.
ReplyDeleteBut of course there are many positive aspects to it. Social media can be applied for education or different valuable fields, for sure it does not all have to be negative.
I do check Facebook every day, as there are many areas of my life, where I need to stay updated and have the danger of missing out, but I do not think, that I am at the point of being addicted.
As average user of social media I spend 2 hours a day. Visiting social media sites is a part of my daily routine. For me, it's a way to keep in contact with my friends, messaging with them on Facebook or watch how they spent a day on Instagram stories, also I like to read articles or watch videos.
ReplyDeleteI heard about phantom vibration syndrome, but I have never experienced one.
I also think that social media is not a bad thing for adult people who know how to manage their time. I don't need a break from sm, because I think that it's okay for our time to live with social media, but we shouldn't forget that we have a real life to live.
Every day I spend about 1 hour browsing social media. In the past, I was spending more time on that, but now I can't find anything interesting on Facebook or Instagram. To be honest, I use these apps only to communicate with my friends. It is sad, but I must say that i suffer phantom vibration syndrome. I rarely have my phone not muted so vibrations are main source of notifications. It is very easy to mistake vibrations with other sounds so I often hear phantom vibrations without any reason. I'm not planning taking a break from social media, because as I said before I use them to communicate with my friends, but if one day all my friends start using a special app only to communicate, I will delete my Facebook account.
ReplyDeleteI can say only one thing. For sure too much time. I got really used to it and sometimes I see that I'm starting to use them without noticing (what scares me a lot)
ReplyDeleteI think that's also experiencing phantom vibration syndrome is happening too often and it's not a good sign for me.
I was thinking about not having a break but limiting it. There are a lot of apps which helps to limit your daily time spent on social media, also built in software and I think that's the best time to use it, when it's not too late.
I believe I am pretty much aware of such online hazards and try to limit my daily usage of social media, but I guess that the resistance against such mechanisms based on our instincts may seem to be futile. For me, social media platforms serve as a news aggregator; a place that gathers all important information on followed pages and topics, so the fear of missing out is my online obstacle to confront. I don't express myself online that much, don't generate much content, but I do consume a lot and I am aware of spending couple of hours a day on such websites. Thankfully, mobile phone manufacturers have recognised the problem and offer tools that help monitor the usage such as Screen Time on iOS; the app serves a weekly, thought-provoking statistic.
ReplyDeleteThe phantom vibration syndrome is not strictly related to social media platforms, but to all communicators; unfortunately, I do often experience such sensation, especially at work, when I don't receive any notifications on my mailbox or communicator for some time; I guess I am subconsciously assuming that I am missing important work-related issues, but try to (unsuccessfully) rationalise it.
I have had numerous moments in my life when I was considering quitting social media, but every time, after some consideration, I have always ended with a reason to stay, maybe next time I'll find that determination to finally cut ties with at least some of such platforms...
It depends. If I travel or commute a lot, I usually browse social media quite often but when I'm at home or at work I don't use them that often. I have a lot of things I have to or I want to do and I don't really have time for brainless scrolling. I can't do much when using public transport, though, so I use that time to browse the internet and see what's going on in the world.
ReplyDeleteI can remember few situations when I though I had a message or call but it actually never happened. Most of the time I was waiting for something important for me so I'd say it was due to stress. I don't believe it's anything I should be concerned about but it's good to know it has it's own name.
I don't think so, at least not anytime soon. I don't think it lowers my productivity so I don't find this problematic. Actually I was thinking about using it a little bit more, since few of my friends told me I should pay more attention to messenger and facebook groups when planning the holiday together.
Too much. I’m sure. This is very serious problem nowadays, not only social media, also using mobile phone. I have special app in my phone called “ZEN mode”., sometimes when I feel that I lost too much time I open it and click “ZEN for 20 minutes”, after that my phone is in Zen mode. In this mode I can only call for help, answer call and make photo. This is naïve app in One Plus, but you can find it in Google Play for sure. I experienced those syndrome not once. I’m not planning to make any break, I have everything under control so far :)
ReplyDelete