How Social Media is effecting our actual mental health (#2)

Brianna Jefferson #10

Installment #2 

In my last installment, I discussed a few of the dangers of being a social media fanatic. I mentioned that I would discuss how it affects our actual mental health. 

Major Effects 

Addiction 

Social Media addiction is labeled as a psychological addiction. Many people have described that getting a notification on our social media releases the same thing in our brain that would happen if you were taking drugs. It gives a feel-good feeling. These things are called endorphins or dopamine, which is a chemical that is associated with pleasure. Doctors have said that people who are addicted to the internet have the same need as someone is drug dependent. Your brain begins to cause you to want more and more because you get such a good feeling without having to put in too much effort. A study that was done by Swansea University discovered that people felt actual phycological symptoms of withdrawal when they stopped using for some time. Study Author, Phil Reed said, “We have known for some time that people who are over-dependent on digital devices report feelings of anxiety when they are stopped from using them, but now we can see that these psychological effects are accompanied by actual physiological changes.” 

Phantom Vibration Syndrom

As I mentioned before we love the feeling of getting a notification it makes us feel good about ourselves, like someone cares. 

A New thing that experts have discovered is called Phantom Vibration Syndrom. This is when you think that your phone went off but it did not, there were no notifications to be found. A study that surveyed students found that 90% of them have felt this at one time or another. "Through bodily habit, your phone actually becomes a part of you, and you become trained to perceive the phone's vibrations as an incoming call or text. So, due to these kinds of habits, it becomes really easy to misperceive other similar sensations.", says Doctor Robert Rosenberger. He also compares our phones to glasses saying that "sometimes we forget we are wearing them." 

Depression 

Social media causes depression in many people. People who use social media are more than 2 times more likely to develop depression. On social media, we compare ourselves to others more than we do in our normal lives. We feel like if we don't have that or don't look like that than we aren't good enough. A study in 2015 also found that because we use social media as news sources many people experienced PTSD from reading a sad story or seeing a sad picture. According to medicaldialy.com, "This suggests heavy social media use can manipulate our brain and make us more vulnerable to having lower self-control, lower self-esteem, overeat, and prevent us from thinking for ourselves."

How we can fix this problem! 

Many people are on social media because they have something called "Fomo" which means the fear of missing out. We begin to feel like we are disconnected. To avoid social media depression you have to begin to distance your self and not give in to the temptations and the fact that "everyone else is using it".
There are many ways we can stop social media from consuming our lives. You can start by cutting the time you spend on social media in half. If you begin to have a feeling of missing out you can get your news from a different source other than social media.



Related Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=143&v=HffWFd_6bJ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt328lzAqHQ

Sources: 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2017/06/30/a-run-down-of-social-medias-effects-on-our-mental-health/#4f8f16ed2e5a

https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20160111/phones-phantom-vibration

http://www.medicaldaily.com/3-easy-ways-avoid-effects-social-media-depression-420745

Link to last Post: 

http://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-dangerseffects-of-social-media.html

My Comments on other posts: 

https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2017/12/procrastination-and-motivation-or-lack_12.html?showComment=1513177093753#c1576152501326219678

https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2017/12/philosophy-and-music-part-one-10-austyn.html?showComment=1513177365630#c3155676245687611960