SOCIAL MEDIA : The cause of mental illness

We are all aware of how social media has become an essential part of our life. Social media has the same good and bad aspects of everything. Nowadays people's mind are not stable. What happens with excessive use of social media? The question is how much time is okay to spend on social media? And going beyond what limit is included in getting addicted to it? Too many social media users are falling prey to mental illnesses. Suffering from depression and sleeplessness. Getting addicted to something does not just show excessive interest in it, but addiction means that people have become dependent on that thing for their mental and emotional needs as well. They start ignoring their real world relationships. Then, the coordination that should be there between work and the rest of life also starts getting messed up. It is just like how people get addicted to alcohol or drugs.

How youth are getting influenced by reels?

The Killer of Sound Sleep: There are many ways via which mindless scrolling negatively impacts your sleep and eventually takes away your right to a good night’s sleep every day 

Emotional content: You can’t control what comes up on your screen while scrolling through reels. Emotionally charged content can induce stress and anxiety. You won’t be able to fall asleep easily. 

Disturbs your bedtime: Mindless scrolling won’t allow you to sleep on time. No matter how many promises you make to yourself, you are bound to sleep late once engaged. Thus, shorter sleep durations and poorer sleep quality are eminent.

Impact on Eyes: Seeing reels for prolonged periods can hamper your eyesight by causing damage to the retina. Blue light strains your eyes and can lead to multiple issues, such as dry eyes, irritation, headaches etc.

How trolling affects our mental health? 

Trolling can cause significant harm and distress. It is associated with several serious physical and psychological effects Including disrupted sleep, depression self harm, suicidal thoughts and attempts. People base their sense of self-worth on how many likes, comments, and retweets their postings receive. Cyberbullying, sexual harassment, trolling, offensive memes, and late-night timeline surfing have an impact on mental health and sleep. Trolling is, alarmingly, a very prevalent occurrence. This highlights how critical it is to comprehend why individuals troll. Many suffer from trolling lack of confidence, have a bad impression of themselves, have limited friends, and have a fondness for being alone which may result in destructive behavior.

How to avoid this situation? 

Well negative effects of social media can not be removed fully because it is well said that where there are advantages there will be disadvantages too. 

But, it depends on the person as well, if you are willing to do so you will for sure be able to reduce negative effects. 

One can reduce the negative effects of Social Media by adhering to the following:-

1. Be mindful of your Social Media Habits. 

2. Set limits on the amount of time you spend on Social Media.

3. Use social media to connect with people who inspire you, share similar interests, and provide a sense of belonging. 

4. Unfollow accounts that portray negative emotions.

--Jigyasa Sharma (MJMC-II)