Last Updated on July 5, 2023 by Shane Corbitt
Social media may arguably be one of the greatest inventions in history, next to the internet. It allows connecting and being able to see people you know, getting to communicate and receive a response in just seconds, and to be friends with people all over the world.
From children to teenagers to adults, who doesn’t have a social media account nowadays? Even grandma and grandpa do. Some may even have multiple Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. In this very tech-savvy world, those who do not engage in the social network trend are almost considered outcasts.
While social media has influenced people’s lives in a positive way, it can also be undeniably destructive. Reports such as the increasing number of cases of cybercrime, severe cyberbullying, and even social network addiction are all caused by the advent of social media. In addition, social media has been found to contribute to anxiety in many users. How is this so?
1.Followers and Likes
Whatever social network platform you are part of, likes and followers are always part of the game. The more followers and likes you get, the more famous or popular you are. With this outwardly invisible rule, a social network user who has fewer followers or does not get as many likes as others will feel unimportant and irrelevant, thus triggering anxiety.
2.Tags and Notifications
The driving force that causes social media users to check on their accounts repeatedly on a daily basis is to see whether they have tags from friends or any updates/notifications. Without the ability to check-in, you start to get anxious because maintaining and being up to date with your social media status has become a huge part of your everyday life.
3.Reality versus Imagination
You get to see a lot of people living a happy life inside social media – images and pictures of vacations, family get-togethers/outings, night outs with friends, the most blissful and joyful statuses, and many more. You may begin to feel like you are competing and trying to keep up with “the Jones” all the time, as you compare your life to theirs.
What social media portrays is not always reality, as it is often a façade of real-life happenings. A user does not always want to post-reality in social media, thus filtering certain life events and only posting the good times. This causes anxiety for both the account owner and the viewer. For the account owner, he/she may feel that he/she has to portray an image that is contradictory to his/her real beliefs or life experiences. The viewer, meanwhile, will also feel anxious seeing that he/she cannot afford to go on vacation like his/her social media friends, reinforcing the belief that he/she is living a stagnant and monotonous life.
4.Being Left Out
Do your work colleagues talk a lot about what’s trending on Facebook or another colleague’s vacation pictures on Facebook? The feeling of being left out during these types of conversations will generally generate anxiety to a social network user.
Or what about when you notice that someone has unfriended you? This can cause increased anxiety, making you wonder why this has happened. If you have an overactive brain that tends to focus on the negative, it may cause you to come up with your own opinions of why this happened, which could be false and only more harmful to your mental health and happiness.
Above, four ways that social media is contributing to anxiety, have been described. These are just a few examples. That is why it is important that if you (or your children) use social media, that you recognize these potential issues and learn healthy ways of dealing with them.
