In contemporary society, the use of social media has dramatically increased, negatively and positively influencing the lives and way of living of individuals across the globe. While its supporters have expressed how it enhances communication and development of different areas of life like businesses, healthcare, and education, a growing body of scientific research contends that its negative effect on mental health, interpersonal relationships, and other aspects of personal and community well-being far overshadows any purported positives.
One of the most alarming things about social media is its negative impact on mental health. According to Dwivedi et al., while social media has come up with essential determinants of people’s lives, it is claimed to have brought about problems related to mental health and generally the well-being of adults and youths. For example, the Uses and Gratification Theory explains how social media use may negatively impact individuals’ mental well-being. According to the theory, individuals tend to utilize social media to fulfill their personal needs, such as acceptance and pleasure, resulting in users who engage in cyber-attacks to fulfill vengeful and malicious goals while avoiding face-to-face contact, which may, in turn, cause harm to others. In addition, the use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook usually contains well-edited images and unrealistic standards that could lead to even further negative perceptions of body image and low self-esteem among influencing teenagers. Therefore, while arguing that social media has all good sides, this clearly indicates that the negatives of these sites have outweighed their positives in very many ways.
In addition, social media results in the rise of cyberbullying and online harassment that have plunged some victims into dire consequences. The emergence of COVID-19 led to high usage of social media, including learning, which in turn prompted increased cases of cyberbullying and security concerns. According to Lubua et al. (6), as internet use continues to increase, concerns associated with its security and potential cyber-attacks continue to pose a challenge. Cyberbullying often occurs on platforms like Facebook and TikTok, where cyberbullies often target their victims by their physical appearance, body shaming individuals by their looks, which often results in feelings of low self-esteem, depression, and, at times, suicidal thoughts. Moreover, while there is an increase of new users on social media, most of them become vulnerable to security concerns, such as losing crucial and personal information to unauthorized hands, as they lack experience and knowledge to secure methods for internet use. Therefore, increased cases of cyberbullying and security concerns, as supported by the Lubua et al. study, highlight the negative impact of social media on the mental well-being of individuals, which outweighs its positives.
Moreover, excessive use of social media is linked to lower academic achievements and lower GPAs among students. While social media has proved to help enhance learning even during emergencies like COVID-19, its use has also been accompanied by several negative impacts on individuals’ mental and daily performances. For example, the use of social media in learning tends to act as a distractor among learners, whereby, instead of focusing only on educative sites, their focus may be pulled away from learning due to the various sites such as TikTok and Twitter, which are more entertaining. According to Tarantino et al., students who spend longer hours on social media have an overriding problem of failing to balance their virtual life and academic obligations, further impacting poor performance. In addition, increased use of social media may result in unclear vision, eyestrain, reduced daytime functioning, and parent-child relationship problems, resulting in increased levels of stress, which may negatively impact the mental health of learners affecting their academic performances. Hence, while social media has proved to be helpful for academic purposes, its excessive use may result in a potentially negative impact on learners, such as distracting them from their focus, which is learning and resulting in unclear vision and possible parent-child problems, which may, in turn, affects their mental well-being.
In conclusion, while social media has undeniably and spectacularly revolutionized and widened communication and connectivity in the contemporary world, the adverse effects it places on the mental equilibrium of people seem more than balanced with the advantages, which the latest scientific research seems to validate. For instance, more exposure to social media due to less interaction in person has resulted in more cases of isolation, anxiety, and depression. In addition, the high levels of increased bullying on social media have also resulted in possible harm to victims, resulting in low self-esteem and potential thoughts of suicide by victims. Moreover, excessive use of social media has been shown to impact learners’ academic achievements and performances. Hence, through the analysis of different scientific and literal works, it is true to say that the negative impacts of social media on mental well-being outweigh its positives, suggesting the need for more awareness, regulation, and responsible usage to scale down harm impaled on individual persons and communities across the globe.
Dwivedi, Yogesh K., et al. “Social Media: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” Information Systems Frontiers, vol. 20, no. 3, 22 Mar. 2018, pp. 419–423, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10796-018-9848-5, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-018-9848-5.
Lubua, Edison W., et al. “Factors Affecting the Use of Social Media in the Learning Process.” SA Journal of Information Management, vol. 19, no. 1, 31 Oct. 2017, https://doi.org/10.4102/sajim.v19i1.764.
Tarantino, Kristen, et al. Effects of Student Engagement with Social Media on Student Learning: A Review of Literature. 2013.