Social media has become an integral part of society and culture. It is a double edged sword. Research has shown correlation between ex-cessive usage of social media and poor mental health. An estimated 27% of children who spend 3 or more hours per day on social media exhibit poor mental health symptoms. Adolescents who use social media from a young age are found to be severely stunted.
For young adults, the constant barrage of beautifully filtered images that appear on social network sites can also cause low self-esteem. Continued exposure to unrealistic standards of beauty through social networking sites can impact one’s own self worth and confidence.
Use of social media gets problematic when somebody uses social networking sites as an effective way to cope with stress, isolation, or depression.
Social media detox
If you feel anxious or depressed when you are unable to use social media? The chances are that you are dealing with a social media ad-diction and it is time for a social media detox.
The remedy includes deactivating social media accounts and replaces the time spent on social media with some other activity. Social media can cause havoc on our Dopamine (Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, in the brain). Experts agree that, it would take minimum 100 days for our dopamine to return to normal, post leaving social media.
A detox need not be forever. After a few months one may decide to return but with conditions which include; no-screen time periods during the day such as during meal times, or leaving the mobile phone at night in a different room to avoid disrupting sleep. These practices would increase interaction with the people and help reduce dependency on social media.