Is social media making them feel depressed?
As a millennial, I have grown up in a weird time. Technology has never been implemented faster than in the recent 20 years, and we have had the opportunity to watch it first-handedly. Because when I grew up, being around 10 years old, we did not have cell phones nor the technology we have today. We had televisions and other types of equipment, however, not even close to what the kids have access to today. Today, I see kids getting smartphones at the age of 7 years. And with smartphones, you will automatically get access to the internet. And on the internet, there is no limitations of what you can find. This is both frightening and exiting. We can now find information in just seconds, and we can keep in touch with people that are on the other side of the globe. However, the concept with social media is relatively new, and we have not seen the long-term effects it might bring. In this research, I want to find out if we should be worried about the development.
The reason behind my research is my sister. I have a close relationship to her, and I deeply care about her. She is four years younger than me, and this made it possible for me to watch up close what has happened with the younger generation. Because the change has been dramatic, only on four years. When I was around 14 years old, I got my first phone. Compared to my sister, she had her first phone when she was 9. Also in the later years, I remember when I was around 16. Of course, I had a smart phone, but I did not really care about it to much. What my friends and I thought about was playing soccer or biking. Compared to my sister which is around that age now, I barely see her and her friends outside. When she has friends over, they stay in her room, both focusing on their own phones. They do not even talk to each other! And then, three hours later, they say goodbye to each other and her friend leaves. I simply do not understand this. I know there is a big difference with girls and boys in that age, however I think it is extremely sad. Because I had such an amazing childhood, and it would be a shame if my sister spent hers on her phone. I fear that 5 years later she will look up from her phone and go: “Where has my childhood gone?”. And it is not only my sister who does this. This is the new generation, and it seems like they are obsessed with social media. I fear the consequences of social media on my sister. I fear mental issues. I fear her missing out on life.
I came across an interesting article from the University of Nevada in Reno, about social media. The title is “Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health: Statistics, Tips & Resources”. The article is about how mental health is connected to social media, and it also shows interesting statistics.
For example, one out of six have experienced abusive behavior online. Also, “20% of people who have at least one social media account feel they have to check them at least once every three hours to avoid feeling anxious”. I think it is scary to think about 20% being anxious if they cannot check their social media accounts in three hours. This clearly shows addiction, and this is not a healthy sign. It has also been shown that social media is made for addiction. The social medias have a way of affecting our dopamine center in our brain, also called the “reward system”. When we visit social media applications, the brain releases dopamine, and we feel a sensation of reward. It is also shown that social media founders have different ways of building up on this. These applications make money when they have visitors on their sites, therefore they try to retain as many people as possible. Their main goal is profit and we are treated as customers. That can be easily forgotten. That really struck me, in the movie “The Social Dilemma”, when they said that “free applications” is not free. The only difference is that you do not pay with money. You pay with your data, and you are the product. I think this was scary, and it shows how gullible and easily deceived our society can be.
Something I also found very useful from the article from the University of Nevada Reno, was some tips that could help you cope with social media. Because it is important to mention that I do not feel social media are all bad. I see many great things about it, and I use it myself. Every day. One thing I love is the ability to keep in touch with friends over a low scale. Before you needed to make a phone call and it was a lot of stress. Now, if I miss my friends in Norway, I can send them a short text or a snapchat. I can also tag them in a funny video I want to show them on Instagram. I love this, and it makes it much easier to keep in touch with your friends and family. The bar to connect is set much lower that before. The four most important tips from the University of Nevada Reno were: “Set limits on the time spent on social media, be aware of how using social media makes you feel, avoid falling into the negativity trap and remember that what you see on social media isn’t real”. These are all great tips that I think can be helpful. However, I think some of these tips can be easier said than done.
An idea “The Social Dilemma” had that I found interesting was that the social media platforms are encouraging their users to addiction, through algorithms. And they show that by using these algorithms, it can encourage the addiction of the users. Before, I always thought social media was made for fun, but we as users needed to be careful with our time. After seeing this movie, I was shocked. Because it shows that the social media platforms are using techniques to keep us addicted. I do not necessarily think this is a part of an evil master plan, however it is scary. Also, it shows that social media platforms have used information of their users to affect political campaigns, but also sold information to third parties. This is wrong, and the users of social media have never agreed to this. As a user, I feel used and betrayed.
I came over a research done by three university students that researched the same topic as I. Their results on their research were this: “(We had 238 participants). Snapchat was the most used social media platform. The device used most to access social media was a cell phone at 97%. 86% reported that they are always logged onto social media. Most estimated that they spend 2–4 hours on social media daily. Most indicated that they post on social media once a month. 25% reported that they had been cyberbullied. 90% use social media to communicate with friends. The average number of social media accounts per person were 5”.
They had two hypotheses:
- Hypothesis 1: When a young adult uses social media frequently, they will report low self-esteem levels.
- Hypothesis 2: When a young adult does not use social media frequently, they will report higher self-esteem levels.
In their summary, they write that both hypotheses were supported during their research. This was interesting to read about, also because I was going to do a research myself. After doing my research questions, my founds matched the research of the students. In my research, 42% answered they would probably be happier without social media. I found out that most of my participants spent over 5 hours a day on their phone. This was shocking for me, because when looking at how many hours you have available for you each day, social media takes up a dramatically large portion of your day. Has social media taken over our lives?
When I first chose this thesis, my main goal was to get more educated on the subject. I had ideas of how social media worked, and what kind of effects it had. However, I wanted to know more so I could make a good decision for myself, and my loved ones. Especially my sister, who I feel is in the biggest target group for social media right now.
I really enjoyed the journey of reading more articles and really going in depth on the subject. I went from having an opinion on something, to be certain of something. And I can now confidently say that I think social media does affect our brain. And not in a good way. After reading both media articles and other scholarly articles, almost every article points to the same conclusion as I, it does not do our brain and mental health any good.
There are positives- we can communicate easier, we can stay in touch with people far away from us, and we can update our friends and family on what we are doing.
The negatives are far more. Briefly explained, social media apps give the brain an instant reward, and it communicates with our dopamine center in our brain. This will gradually turn into an addiction because our brain wants this feeling again and again. That is where the addiction comes from, and it is not healthy. Many people I did research on, could not live without their phones for more than 2–3 hours without getting stressed and irritated.
Another aspect of it is the sadness many people have experienced from social media. Social media is a platform where the updates happen rapidly. It is a stressful factor to always keep on top of what is happening in the world. Also, I had multiple people saying they have experienced thinking badly of their body, after watching pictures on Instagram. Personally, I have also experienced sadness on social media. Not being invited to a party, and then seeing how fun everyone is having at the party through social media is certainly not fun. I remember I was very sad. The last aspect many in my sample group reported was bullying online. I think it might be easier to act tough and rude online, rather than face to face. Many people had experienced name calling or shared pictures they did not want to be shared. Also, it might be difficult to understand each other online. Not being able to see the facial expressions when talking to a person, increases the chances of misunderstanding, resulting in someone getting their feelings hurt.
The last negative effect I found out was the time aspect. Many people reported they used more than 5 hours of their day on their phones. Someone reported over 6 and 7 hours on their phones. Imagine what we could do with that time if we did not spend it on our phones. We could have worked with ourselves, and with being better human beings. 97% reported they would be more productive without social media. Grades would improve, and we would spend more time with each other, rather than with the phone. I think it is so sad that we spend so much time apart when we could have spent that time with family and friends.
Social media is not good for our mental health and we should all be aware of it. I have no problems using it; however, I think it is important that we know the effects of it, and that we try to limit our time online. There are many negative consequences of excess use of social media, the scariest one in my opinion, is time. Something I take away from this, is that I try to limit my time on social media because I will benefit from it. I will do better in school, and I want to spend time with my family. Scrolling through social media is not good for anything, and I will definitely try to limit my time online in the future. Now, I only need to convince my dear sister of the same thing.
Work Cited
Brandy, Emma, Nancy Engel, and Kimberly Mullins. “Social Media Effects On High School Students.” Valparaiso University Department of Social Work. 2018. https://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1886&context=cus
University of Nevada Reno. “Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health.” University of Nevada, Reno. 30 Dec. 2019. https://onlinedegrees.unr.edu/online-master-of-public-health/impact-of-social-media-on-youth-mental-health/
Hidden River Arts. “The Artist’s Dilemma: Refuse the Addiction of Social Media or Fail at Self-Promotion?” Hidden River Arts. 12 Dec. 2018. https://hiddenriverarts.wordpress.com/2018/12/12/the-artists-dilemma-refuse-the-addiction-of-social-media-or-fail-at-self-promotion/
The Social Dilemma | Official Trailer | Netflix. Dir. Jeff Orlowski. Perf. Tristan Harris, Jeff Seibert, Bailey Richardson and Joe Toscano. The Social Dilemma. Netflix/Youtube, 27 Aug. 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaaC57tcci0
Hidden River Arts. “The Artist’s Dilemma: Refuse the Addiction of Social Media or Fail at Self-Promotion?” Hidden River Arts. 12 Dec. 2018. https://hiddenriverarts.wordpress.com/2018/12/12/the-artists-dilemma-refuse-the-addiction-of-social-media-or-fail-at-self-promotion/