We can’t underestimate the countless benefits of social media in our lives. Remember the dark and lonely days of quarantine? Family Skype meetings and creating TikTok videos were huge saviors preventing us from drowning in the depression ocean. Besides, watching memes, DIYs, and reading funny or educational tweets sometimes make you have a blast.
However, scrolling through social media sometimes is like riding an emotional roller coaster. You may feel lonely after seeing a post of your friends hanging out and having fun or inadequate while seeing status updates of your colleagues getting promoted. Whatever the feeling is, it’s generally negative, and Social media is the one to blame!
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Table of contents
Some negative impacts of social media at a glance
- Constant Attention seeking
- Distraction from life goals
- Increases the risk of depression
- Relationship failure
- Cyberbullying
- Sleeping disorders
Attention seeking
The never-ending battle for more likes and comments is no secret to anyone. Looking for attention is a natural need in all of us. However, social media has taken this need to its highest level as it enables you to seek attention anytime you want. Remember, what you receive comes from the personality you’ve constructed online and not your true self, and that’s why it’s not fulfilling, and you still feel lonely.
Distraction from life goals
It’s a known fact that achieving your purpose needs motivation and hard work.
However, social media works like the poisoned apple. It traps you and takes all your time, energy, and attention, making it hard for you to get back on track.
Increases the risk of depression
Most of the time, you compare yourself and your life to others without even knowing it. The damages caused by these comparisons are not recoverable. Therefore, you’ll feel more and more depressed due to the feelings of not being as good as your social media friends.
Relationship failure
So many factors caused by social media can break a relationship. Feeling jealous of other couples or constantly tracking your partner on social media is the common reason for controversy amongst young couples.
Cyberbullying
As you know, people feel more comfortable expressing themselves on social media rather than in the real world. Disrespecting others and judging their look, face, accents, etc., count as online harassment. Unfortunately, the odds of encountering it on social media are very high. They ultimately can damage the picture of humanity as we believe everyone is trying to hurt us. Besides, it takes a lot of courage and hard work to ignore such comments. That’s why in most people, cyberbullying leads to low self-esteem.
Sleeping disorders
People who constantly use social media are more likely to have difficulty sleeping. The relationship between a good night’s sleep and scrolling through social media is not complex. The light emitted from your smart devices easily tricks your brain into thinking it’s still not the proper time to sleep. After a while, your body loses its capability to determine the right time to alarm you to go to bed.
Believe it or not, the list of damages caused by social media is even longer! These #6 negative impacts were just a heads up. If you keep ignoring them, they’ll interfere with your life quality. That’s why we’ve provided a list to help you avoid the “negative effects” of social media.
#7 practical methods to avoid the negative effects of social media
Have a break
Consider taking a break from social media sometimes. Give yourself some time and space out of it to rest and energize. Besides, when you pause your activity in the virtual world, you have time to prioritize your friends, family, and yourself. Rather than that, As you’re repeating a task, your brain enters a sleeping phase which causes loss of focus and productivity. Taking a step back forces your brain to regain its strength and get back on the horse.
Set a goal
Before engaging yourself with various platforms, try to create a purpose for each one of them. It can be either keeping in touch with your friends or even educational. For instance, I chose YouTube as a social media channel to learn new tricks and methods about Digital marketing. Keeping that goal in mind keeps me from wasting my time on junk content.
Feel free to accept the friend requests of the ones you like
Sometimes, you feel obligated to accept the friend request of the people you don’t care for due to social conventions. I know how it feels to open your Facebook page and see the photos of the people you don’t even like. That’s one thing that can ruin your social media experience. Instead, try to connect with the people you adore and give off more positive energy.
Change your point of view
We can apply the expression “the coin has two sides” to our everyday issues and struggles. The content we see on social media is not an exception. For instance, you can decide to be jealous of your friend getting a new job and feel bad for yourself or be happy for her and try harder for your own goals in life.
Keep your newsfeed filled with positive content
People mainly underestimate the impact of the content we see every day on our mental and physical health. There’s a strong relationship between your exposure to bad news and negative content and your peacefulness. Fill your homepage with happy quotes and energizing photos and videos to see its direct result on your life.
Play your part in this game
According to studies, active users build a stronger bond with the social media world. On the other hand, users who stay out of the game of liking and sharing tend to feel envious and lonely. Instead of scrolling, play your part and contribute to the platforms you’re using.
Take control of your emotions
Remember, at the end of the day, YOU are the one responsible for your feelings. Regardless of the negative impacts of social media, you should be able to take control of your emotions. That’s why we have a table full of options such as block, report, unfollow or remove.
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Final words
Despite all the features and benefits social media offers, it can have severe negative impacts on our lives. But don’t sweat it, as there are various methods to battle against it. Acknowledge these negative results and learn how to defeat them.
We’re more than happy you came this far 🙂
Xino Digital Team!
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