Social Media & Mental Health

No matter if you’re an introvert or extrovert, human beings are social creatures. Our level of extroversion and introversion can be thought of as a scale that lets us know how much interaction we need. We thrive on our interactions with the community of family, friends, and close loved ones. The rapid growth of social media has offered an abundance of ways to stay socially connected with people from all over the world. Although social media can have some positive impacts on staying connected with close friends and family, the alternative impact has the potential to be quite harmful.

Unrealistic Expectations

Social media has been shown to set up unrealistic expectations for people of all backgrounds. With constant editing, camera angles, and filters, many people tend to show their best version of themselves, with borderline unrealistic versions of themselves. The editing can range from rearranging their body shapes, skin texture, facial features, and more. These images posted on social media leave many individuals under the impression that these photos are “realistic expectations,” and that their own individual features are “wrong” or “unattractive.” This can further fuel poor self-image characteristics, and push individuals to feel that they need to “correct” their appearance. These “corrections,” may include extreme dieting and over-exercising trying to achieve unrealistic body features. In addition to, they adjust their facial features through cosmetic procedures to achieve a certain appearance that may not be real. The list of unrealistic expectations created by social media is endless.

External Validation

With the constant feeling of needing to “improve” ourselves, follows a need for external validation. With every post and comment, comes an option to like a photo; and for many, every “like” is considered an external need for approval. Many have reported feeling this way when posting online, constantly checking their status of “likes,” feeling like they need to receive more and more “likes” to feel validated. The repeating pattern of relying on others for validation and approval further feeds the lack of skills to provide self-validation and approval. When the identity becomes tied to what others think, it may create a loss of security within the individual. This may lead to lower self-esteem, independent morals, values, and more.

Positive Impacts of Social Media

When used effectively, social media can also have benefits in aiding mental healthcare. The pages and people that an individual chooses to follow can become daily moments of motivation and affirmation. For example, if an individual follows a profile that promotes mindfulness, self-care, and individual self-validation, these can be motivating factors for someone to continue to practice positive mental health exercises. Social media has also been found to be very useful in learning new tips, tricks, and skills in many areas, such as mental health. There are countless profiles that offer a wide range of free mental health guidelines for people who may struggle with anxiety, depression, trauma, and more. With this in mind, social media has also been used as a platform to connect people who have common interests, or possibly common issues. This can lead to groups of people coming together to support one another through struggles, including mental health concerns.

How to Keep Social Media from Impacting Your Mental Health Poorly

One great way to adjust your social media use to help with mental health is by re-evaluating profiles you may follow or watch. It may be helpful to unfollow pages that may promote unrealistic body images, poor self-care, and overall harmful content. Consider the following profiles that promote mental healthcare, body positivity, and positive self-care actions. It can be very helpful to consider setting a time limit on how often you are on social media. Many smartphones have the option to set timers for overall phone use, in addition to time use on specific apps.

Lastly, connecting with a friend or family member to help make this transition may also be helpful during this time. Including a friend or family member can help with accountability in following through with these adjustments in how social media is used. The reason why a buddy system can be helpful is that it can be easy to minimize and dismiss the impact of following some pages or how much time is being spent on social media. We may often minimize its impact by telling ourselves, “It’s only one profile,” or “It’s only one more minute.” In these moments of dismissing the impact of these actions, we further fuel the negative impacts and patterns social media can have. Having a buddy system, in this case, can help create stronger boundaries with social media, and as a result, feed positive mental health habits with social media.