Social media currently plays an important role in our lives - through them we contact family and friends, establish certain professional matters or follow information about our idols. Social media certainly has its benefits, but there are risks associated with using it in excess. Ultimately, excessive use of social networking sites can negatively affect both mental and physical he alth.

Only a dozen or so years ago, when Poland did not yet have universal access to the Internet, hardly anyone heard about any social networking sites. As we gained access to the web, social media began to expand. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok are just examples of portals used by both younger and older internet users. Most people are unlikely to think at all about the fact that having an account with such platforms may involve any risk. In practice, however, such a risk not only exists, but also can be very high.

What makes us so eager to use social media?

Social media is actually very popular. It is especially visible in the case of the youngest Internet users, who often overestimate their age in order to be able to set up an account on one of the websites.

There are at least several factors responsible for the fact that we use social media so eagerly.

Social media allows people to create their own image in some way. Photos from an exotic vacation or a post about visiting an exclusive restaurant make it possible to create the image of a we althy man who leads a quite successful life. The likes and positive comments received from posts can foster self-esteem.

Social media can be used not only to share good moments - sometimes they are used to show worse moments. Breakup with a partner, betrayal, loss of job - many social media users publish posts about such events, and then they can see comments with words of support under them or receive comforting news after publishing them.

It is impossible not to mention that the mediasocial networks are now a mine of knowledge. Thanks to them, we can check where someone works, what is their education, and what people a given portal user knows.

At the moment, profiles in social media accounts are viewed not only by people who go on a date with someone they have not known, but also by employers planning to hire a new employee.

Positive aspects of using social media

The fact that social media can be very useful was discovered quite recently, when the COVID-19 pandemic began in the world. In the period when social contacts were rather inadvisable, social networking sites made it possible to stay in touch with other people - thanks to them it was possible to talk to loved ones, as well as connect with them for video conversations.

Social media has really become a power - you can see it, among others in the case of various charity collections. Thanks to their publicity in various portals, it is possible to collect astronomical (up to 10 million zlotys) amounts for the treatment of children suffering from spinal muscular atrophy.

Of course, it would be possible to carry out such collections in the real world instead of in the virtual one. On the Internet, however, not only can they be publicized much faster, but also people from all over the world can participate in them.

Social media is a space where people from different cities and different parts of the globe can communicate with each other. Social networks abound in various types of groups that connect fans of an artist, young mothers or members of one professional group (e.g. doctors or lawyers).

In this way, social media becomes a place where it is possible to exchange experiences or give each other advice. It must be added here that the help you need on the Internet can be obtained almost immediately.

Shadows of using social media

Social media can be useful, but on the other hand, using them carries many different risks. For many people, it happens that they transfer their lives to the virtual world - instead of meeting their friends in the city, they chat with them online.

Browsing more and more pages may obscure all other activities, and may also develop a specific syndrome, which is called FOMO.

You can write anything on the web. It is also not difficult to create a completely anonymous profile with a fake name, surname, and sometimes even fake photos.

Ultimately, portalssocial networks are often filled with anger and even hatred. It is especially visible in the case of celebrities, actors and musicians. Many of them say that they try not to read information about themselves posted on the Internet. A poorly fitted blouse or an insufficiently styled hairstyle can be specific motives to pour out an avalanche of hatred on a famous person. Why is this happening? It's hard to say unequivocally, but it seems that slandering someone on the Internet brings satisfaction to some people.

Famous people, like everyone else, get sick, have bad days, but also break the law. When a prohibited act is committed by an anonymous person, usually only their relatives learn about it. However, it is different when the law exceeds the celebrity. Web portals are rarely willing to publish positive articles. They are much more likely to publish content that focuses on pointing out their mistakes and imperfections. Unfortunately, the reason is unpleasant - people read about various scandals and failures the most.

Ultimately, social media can ruin your career. An example is the situation where a celebrity is caught driving a car after drinking alcohol. One article informing about this fact rarely ends, because the topic appears many times in the media.

Social media and teen use

Social media is actually used by people of all age groups. Most often, however, the users of such websites are teenagers. They share their difficulties in them, sometimes they look for support. However, they do not always receive them.

Moreover, many teenagers fall victim to cyberbullying. It is not difficult to come across a young man about whom offensive posts were published, some unpleasant graphics were created using his image or excluded from any groups important to him.

Teenagers - unfortunately - pay a lot of attention to how they are presented in the virtual world. It is not difficult to be offended in it. Ultimately, there are known cases of young people who, due to the experience of Internet violence, contracted depression, anxiety disorders or even attempted suicide.

Social media and mental and physical he alth

It would seem that using social media should be a good way to avoid feeling lonely. In practice, however, it often happens differently: it happens that some people - seeing pictures of people who spend most of their time in the company of others -they start to feel really lonely and have the feeling that something is missing in their own lives.

Various studies have been carried out to assess the relationship between the use of social media and the risk of mental disorders. It was often finally pointed out that depressive disorders or anxiety disorders are more common in people who use social media very often.

Social networking sites can negatively affect the course of interpersonal relationships. In the past, at times when meetings were embarrassingly silent, people tried to engage in some sort of conversation. It was the same while waiting for a meal in a restaurant. Today, however, it is different - in embarrassing moments, many of us reach for a smartphone and start browsing portals, which is usually considered natural. After all, it is not natural at all.

You can mention here, for example, people who have difficulties in establishing relationships with strangers. Once, during a social gathering, such people would most likely try to break their resistance somehow, which could make it easier for them to make friends in the future. At the moment, however, most often such people escape into the world of social media, which means that they do not have the opportunity to test themselves, and the problem they experience simply persists.

A sedentary lifestyle is the bane of our population - it promotes cardiovascular disease and obesity. Using social media unfortunately increases the risk of increasing the number of hours spent in a sitting position.

How do I find a balance in my use of social media?

There are signs that social media has started to play too much of a role in our lives. An example would be when browsing various websites is the first thing a person does after waking up.

Consider whether social media is starting to negatively affect your life, should also be those people who have difficulty focusing on work or any other duties due to the fact that they feel compelled to check notifications from social networks.

It is difficult to cut off from social media, if only because they accompany us everywhere - most of the people who use them have finally installed appropriate applications on their smartphones.

When we see for ourselves that using them takes too much time, it is worth considering uninstalling them and browsing portals not constantly, but only a few times during the day - e.g. in the evening, whenwe have access to a computer at home.

Category:

Psychology