The Effects of Social Media On Our Mental Health... Chapter #1
Hi Steemians!
Technology is a useful tool in the right hands and with a well-attuned mindset, but most people do not know how to utilize technology to the best of their own interest, damaging their mental health as a result of this collective human ignorance.
Internet space is an offspring of advancements in technology. Official statistics indicate that more than half the population of the world use internet as a means for communication and business. If we take a closer look at the phenomenon, it is not that bit of a stretch to conclude that even after all these years, internet and social media are still peculiar wonders of technology.
At a particular point in history, our culture was hit by a wave of technological advancement that no one was remotely prepared for. Even more so, one could go so far as to suggest that internet holds in itself an unnatural amount of power and source of potential, therefore making it a questionable addition to our lives.
If someone were to tell you that the amount of time you spend on Twitter or any other social media is affecting you in unreasonable ways, even though you enjoy your time there and might feel addicted to it, how would you respond?
Individual human interaction in the physical reality of texture and senses has been reduced as a result of social media and its grasp on our identity. Social media gives you the power to stay in touch with a lot more people than you could if you were to utilize the old-fashioned ways, but that real rush of adventure and feeling has been replaced by a virtual space that is merely a pale shadow of true reality.
Social media increases our need for attention. These websites give you a glamorous stage of the entire world and its population, regardless of their education and knowledge, their priorities and mindsets, and their true state of mental health.
Sending or posting different statuses and moods on the social media has turned into a destructive habit for a lot of people. Privacy can sometimes be forced to a position of absolute redundancy.
As a result, most of our youth focus on being the stars of this glamorous stage, rather than taking actual pride from working hard on things that would be beneficial to their character and their life.
Studies show that people who are addicted to social media are more prone to mental illnesses in the depression department. These people are exposed to a whole lot of people every day and literally experience what they go through and how they choose to deal with it.
That level of emotional attachment and exposure can sometimes lead to dangerous pitfalls, more so when you consider the fact that most of these emotions are empty at their core and have no value of reality in the virtual space of social media.
Immense exposure to social media can also be a fast way of killing your inner creativity. Surfing through endless pages of other people’s profiles and stories can be the same as thoughtlessly sitting in front of the TV and wasting hours watching programs with no sense of awareness and consciousness.
In this state, the human mind has no space to evolve and grow with the foundation of new ideas and interesting thoughts. This will effectively turn your mind into a blunt and useless instrument.
As we said earlier, more than half of the world’s population have an active presence in different social media platforms. When you are an addict of such platforms or spend a lot of time using them, you are exposed to a whole lot of different people.
Rich and poor. Old and young. Successful and miserable. Seeing yourself as a reflection in the mirror of all these people can eventually lead to a sense of emptiness and nihilistic outlook on life.
All of our arguments above are not to say that you should abandon the internet and utterly reduce your presence in any form of social media. What we are saying, though, is that maybe it is time to take a look at the amount of time that we spend every day looking at a small digital screen and mistaking it for actual reality.
Every phenomenon is a tool in the brilliance of bright minds. Technology and internet are also tools that can be effectively utilized in a journey towards a better life.
A BIG HUG!
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Important Note!
I have been working very hard on this blog since the beginning. I have a very busy life but I am giving my best and believe me I have shared experiences that I have been coaching thousands of people and I know that the change of the Mindset should be daily. I am already grateful to see you giving upvotes to each other and you can see this with the fact that many already have 8, 9, 10 upvotes. But I'm sure that with the effort of all of us we will see a community with, 40, 50, 80 upvotes and for that everyone should get engaged so we can make it come true. I believe and we can! Resteem...
***Remember Community: Please, if you commented and upvote on a new post I did, please always go back to the previous one because if someone in the community commented lastly because of time zone differences it will be without your upvote and that would not be fair.
You all know the goal! We can reach: 50+ Upvotes each others!
Attention!!!
I'm reading all the meaningful comments from the posts.
I am here making a list of all of you who have helped build this community by voting for each other who write meaningful comments and soon I will respond to everyone with comment and thank you all because I can already see this spirit being built in this Positive Mindset community and help between all of you.
You will receive my upvote in all material and brief comments I will do this in all the posts I am following very closely and I can see what the people who are generous and contribute to this legacy that I am trying to build with all of you can become reality in a short time.
AND
First of all, I would like to thank all of you, who are the most active and proactive in this community, showing your generosity and always with meaningful comments. From now on I will always make a list of these incredible people who have helped to expand our goal of growing ever more.
But I ask that if you are new around here you read many of the previous posts because they make it clear that we are building a community with respect among all, generosity and this blog is for those who really want to start moving their Mindset to positive and moreover be part of the growth of all of us who contribute to this blog. Please do not ask to include you in the list if you are just wanting upvotes because we want here people genuinely attuned to growth and good attitudes and as I have always said with Respect as the basis of all, generosity and positivity!
ABOUT OUR LIST!!! WE NEED GROW THIS LIST! LET'S GO TOGETHER IN THIS COMMUNITY - RESTEEM!
Feel free if you want to be included in the list of contributors to this community. Just ask at the end of your comment.
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Thanks All of You!!!!
No doubt social media and internet has changed our life. Precisely it has improved our lives and made it advance but again everything should be used wisely and excess of everything is bad for us and social media is not an exception. Now a days people are getting addicted to social media tool like Facebook, instagram and Twitter etc. I think all these stuff should be used for limited time there shouldn't be case when we spend most of our daily time in to it which could be more productive in other sources. Though steem is also a social media kind of platform but here motive is different as not for the people who wants to show off their richness or their lifestyle. I know many people who share whole their life on Facebook and Instagram and they are literally dying for likes and people's attention. If we use it wisely then all these are the best ways to stay connected but again we need to be considerate. Nice topic @chbartist
Have a great day.
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Well said
Anything of too much is bad.
Everything has pros and cons. Using it wisely makes complete sense.
Can be difficult as addiction kicks in but can be doable
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You are absolutely correct @moghul we need to considerate for our own sake.
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My problem with studies like this is that is too easy to make a clickbait article title, there is pros and cons to pretty much everything in the world, so you can make an article saying social media is bad for you or good for you.
I really see an article written by Professionals The Way of the benefits of both sides, but those articles are probably out there in peer reviewed journals just I'm not going to read them. So I guess it's my own fault.
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The problem is excess, everything in excess does not do well. I understand that technology is important, onclusive I have a technology company for 20 years. But I do not like to see boyfriends in a restaurant and they're not talking to each other. Notice how they look like they go out to drink some good wine and stay on whatsapp? Just like the immediacy and addiction of not being able to hear the beep of instagram or whats and having to see at the same instant and every 10 seconds this is definitely not beneficial. Regards
Just because you feel it's bad to be on your phone while out on a restaurant doesn't mean it is. I'd like to see some psychologists argue for the benefits.
For example instead of communicating with just one person they are likely communicating with 10 to 20. Obviously that communication is of a much smaller scope but it still helps to build connections and a community.
When I see people on phones I think they are reading more and communicating with more people.
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Actually so would I. Of course you're absolutely right with regards to there being pros and cons in relation to everything, but I'd be very surprised to learn the pros outweigh the cons in this instance. It's quite tragic really, the potential to do some great things is there, but the human factor has got in the way of it's potential.
As animals we are hardwired to assume the cons outweigh the pros.
Bad things kill us whereas good things only help us a small amount.
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Technology is our friend if we use it for a noble cause and a systematic way . We have many social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We can share whatever we want but if we don't use these platforms correctly there is so many negative effects. Excess use of social media or internet leds us to depression.
We have to use these platforms wisely so we don't get affected.
Sir, you are right, we have the technology in our hands, but we do not understand how we use it, and this is a big problem.
Thanks for sharing.
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Right is written friend It is very frightening. Now if any notification comes from any place, it seems that someone has uplvoted someone who has responded and wants to see him immediately.
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Hi @chbartist
Well said!
The social media tends to inject dopamine in our systems, which is a feel good chemical. Sooner or later we become addicted to it. Because we want to feel good. Each time the phone rings for a message if we feel irresistible temptation to check it out, we might be already addicted.
The worst affected are the children population. They cannot handle the dopamine effects in their bodies and they become very soon addicted to phone and social media. That's why once they are exposed enough, they cry when they are stopped or regulated.
Frankly speaking, I am also a kind of addicted. I am planning to schedule it out but I have not implemented it yet.
Thank you
Your post gave me strength.
@questionthetrend
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Estamos interesados mucho en este tema, sobre todo haciendo una mirada pedagógica : el curriculo oculto en las redes sociales, de como las redes sociales estan formando a nuestros niños y los docentes desconocen todo este mundo virtual. El caso que vemos con mayor preocupación son los Youtuber, muchos niños han dejado de ver televisión para solo visulizar los youtuber. En estos dias realizamos un foro y el desconocimiento de los y las docentes en este campo era abrumador.
Great topic
I would say it has a negative effect more times than not really unfortunate
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I had never had an issue with this until Steem came into my life... Given the potential of this ecosystem, I have found myself spending a lot of time here engaging however it has enabled me to open myself to new possibilities whereas I was closed in the last. Now it is the need to find the right balance while still engaging with the community to foster growth in this great platform.
Posted using Partiko iOS
Yes friend, but how you said: right balance
@chbartist nowadays it's a very hazardous problem for our society. Youth is totally include in it. They think a lot about it. Social networks are not bad but matter is how we use this, we are interested in it or fond of it. But it's became a dangerous situation when we get addition of it .
@ankitjnv