Social Media Depression
In the world of numerous networking tools, it is always difficult to decide of how much is too much and how less is too less?
Lucky to be born in a generation where we grew up having no access to mobile phones, we can’t help but see strange behavioral patterns and a whole different attitude while growing up in the millennials for sure. Life was so much more simpler where entertainment and networking was found outdoors. A party in the parks, get together was in the pool, hiking together, having a disciplined format even within weekly or fortnightly social gatherings was a way of life. With all the technology that the millennials have access to, random impromptu plans and indiscipline in the amount and quality of talk time/ meeting time is quite evident. No offence to them, surely they are the smarter lot and have an attitude they carry beautifully towards developing powerful personalities, having faster success rates and building strong individualism as well. But the worrisome part is that almost over 30% of the youth of this generation has a condition known as social media depression.
What is social media depression? Research has proven that there is a strong connection between addiction to social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram and developing depression on a serious level. Studies have proven that the kids and young adults who have been spending more time on social media are at a higher risk of developing depression compared to those who spend substantially lesser amount of time scrolling through them. Electronically connecting with peers results in almost no benefits gained compared to what one does with real social interactions. The funny part is that the brain is tricked into feeling secured with the kind of communication that electronic mediums help make. Social media depression is nothing but a mental condition developed due to overuse of these platforms leading to addiction of a type which can be compared with cocaine or heroin addiction!
Falling prey to a deceiving post or making your life look very beautiful and perfect on social media is a talent in itself. Technology has also provided us with bag full of tools and techniques in order to be able to carefully, creatively make your photos and captions look interesting. While many take the extra efforts and use those tools and techniques, there are many who don’t care to invest time in this business!
You could compare it with an advertiser making that cheap China made product look very pretty and interesting on his or her a website online but when you actually shop and receive it, it’s not half as good! Feeling deceived, deceiving someone else, setting wrong expectations for self and others, faking it all, falling prey to fake post that boast of richness, goodness or beauty and in the end comparing your life that does not look as good with that over done post coming from a friend. All this and much more can be felt after one single session of scrolling through a social media networking platform! Sounds overwhelming, imagine what is does to one’s mind set.
Social media depression is also a result of sleep deprivation due to overuse of smartphones an hour or two before sleep time. The radiation is good enough to help you feel over hyper, active and anxious whirling one out of relaxation.
Fear of missing out is also the latest mental condition caused due to social media addiction. When there is an audience only putting up the fancy part of their lives online and masking the reality and the times bad, it is very easy to want to be a part of that fancy too. Why- not-for-me is a natural emotion caused when you see someone going to a place where you want to go, shopping something that you want to shop since long, wearing something that you want to wear and doing things that you always wanted to do! It is very easy to then forget that every life journey is different and circumstance is unique and not all can have the same set of fancies right? You may be fancy in your own way and that is convenient to forget while scrolling through someone else’s over done page.
The other aspects of social media depression are anxiety, poor self esteem, lack of confidence, poor interpersonal skills, lethargy, poor self acceptance and a lot of difficulty in being able to focus on a task and concentrate!
Ensuring there is a balance in life by giving limited time to detrimental activities and giving more time to positive self developing activities is the key. To not fall prey to such mental illnesses caused by the modern day abundance of networking platforms and gadgets needs a lot of self control and willpower. The educational systems need to include the importance of limited use of these networking platforms and more of practicals and outdoors. That has to be awareness on the use and abuse of these platforms. Parenting plays a very important part in curing or avoiding depression amongst teenagers and young adults as well. Communicating with the kids and talking them out of the addiction or even sharing what they see online is a great way of counselling. Recently, we have had Hollywood stars like Selena Gomez and Lindsey Lohan trying to set examples by getting off the social media platforms while treating themselves out of depression. Digital detox is a great way to keep sane.
