INTRODUCTION
We live in an era where mental health is significantly trampled upon owing to the wide-ranging grip social media has on human beings. Social media in its real sense was created to achieve four fundamental purposes: Information, Education, Entertainment and Marketing. However, as much as these four elements suggest a positive impact on the phenomenon of social media, the downside to it cannot be over-emphasized, as they are also wide ranging. It is for this reason this paper tilts in the direction of the risk outweighing the benefits when we take into consideration how social media has affected the mental health of individuals to a very large extent.
For context, it becomes imperative to define what mental health entails. Thus, mental health according to the World Health Organisation is a state of well being in which an individual realizes his/her own abilities, can cope with the normal stress of life and can work productively, and is able to make contribution to his own community. To put simply, it is a cognitive behavioural and emotional well being of an individual.
As stated earlier, social media as a tool can be leveraged for positivity in the sense that through social media, individuals can share information which often times than not, is beneficial; learn new skills, ideas whatsoever, interact with people from far and near without having to be there physically and finally, be used as a marketing tool to promote a product and on the long run, drive sales. These are the fundamental purposes of social media which clearly suggests its benefits. Conversely, this is not to say that social media doesn’t have its bane. Hence, in relation to mental health, the risks of social media without any iota of doubt outweigh the benefits when we consider the following factors
beneath.
To begin with, cyberbullying is not new to social media. Many people have been cyber bullied by trolls who simply hide behind their keypads to dish out hurtful comments; others are either intimidated or threatened. There are so many examples of cyberbullying across the world and the effect of this is that it can affect the mental health of the individual on the receiving hand and in some cases lead to death. For example, the unfortunate incident of Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old gay student at Rutgers University who committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010. Apparently, he got to know that his roommate Dharun Ravi had made him a subject of ridicule on Twitter after streaming footage of him kissing another man.
Another risk to consider is the Fear of Missing out syndrome (FOMO) otherwise known as social media anxiety disorder. As the term clearly suggests, it refers to the emotion or acuity that others are having more fun, living better lives, or experiencing better things than you are. It involves an unfathomable sense of jealousy and affects self-esteem. Earlier this week, ‘At 23’ was among the top trending issues on Twitter. It involved individuals talking about what they did or achieved when they were aged 23. There were people that felt triggered by the achievements of others and at that point, their mental health was in jeopardy simply because they felt others were doing better than themselves. The result of this is that the possibility of such a person slipping into depression will be off the charts since they are made to believe that others are doing better than themselves.
Furthermore, inadequacy about life and appearance is another risk posed by social media in that, some people tend to compare themselves unfavourably with others on social media thereby leading them to do things they hitherto wouldn’t have done. However, because of what they see on social media, they think less of themselves and eventually slip into depression and battle things such as anxiety as well.
On the whole, there are a lot of risk factors engendered by social media that cannot be captured in this essay. However, one thing is certain; stress, depression and anxiety play a significant role in affecting one’s mental health. All of these are an offshoot of the negativity orchestrated by social media in as much as FOMO, cyber bullying, depression & anxiety, isolation and the inadequacy about life and appearance are concerned. To this end, this essay submits that in consideration of mental health, the risks of social media outweigh its benefits.
Bio:
Dawodu Oladayo Oluwadamilare is a graduate of History and Strategic Studies with a background in Mass Communications and keen interests in Digital Communication, Public Relations & broadcasting. I’m also a Proven Content Specialist with substantial experience in the media sphere. I love football and wind up with games and music.
Twitter: @dideedre
Instagram:@dideedre
Facebook: Dawodu Oladayo Oluwadamilare