Out of 4.5 billion internet users in the entire world, almost 3.75 are active social media users. What is the fact behind such a huge following of social media platforms? And is it going to be flooded more with our upcoming generations? Well, it is not a bad thing, if nowadays everything has just become digitized. However, everything existing in this universe comes up with some downsides, too, apart from the good ones. Curious to know what can be the negative effects of social media? Chillax’ we are going to find it out in our today’s blog! Stay tuned.
Below you will find a list of the eight most common bad effects of social media upon our lives. Also, keep in note that’ these are not the only factors that negatively influence our life,’ and the list may keep on updating as technology innovates.
Top 8 Negative Effects of Social Media:
1. Loss of Proper Sleep:
All those who are badly addicted to social media can relate to this factor! I will even include myself in this category. Also, the number of social media platforms you join is directly related to the duration of time you are dedicating to your accounts. This results in a considerable amount of loss in your sleep timings hence affect your health directly.
You might probably be aware of the fact that if you sleep lesser than 6-7 hours daily, this might end up destroying your immune system in the long run. Hence, making you prone to many diseases. This is one of the most prominent effects that social media casts on you!
2. The Flow of False Information:
Do you need to make something famous? Put it on social media and digitally market it. Your product is going to get recognized in a day! Because that is how this platform works. Though this can be called one of the positive effects of social media, ‘but on the contrary, false and untrue information can also spread like fire on social media platforms.
Unauthentic medical sites lead you to a greater health risk. Plenty of such websites are now banned by Google delivering false and unverified medical solutions to the users. However, spam and rumors containing data still exist. And this can be a cause of great damage to real human life.
3. Inefficient Time Management:
For all the working people and particularly students, can you tell me how many hours daily you spend on the internet using your social media accounts? Probably around 5-6? Or maybe even more than that?
Apart from the health, mental, and other risks,’ the biggest damage that unnecessary use of social media is doing to us is the wastage of time. And remember that; Time, once gone, can NEVER be obtained back!!
4. Effect on Mental Health:
Medical professionals reported that people who use Facebook and Twitter a lot relatively have higher stress issues than those who use other platforms. This is because two of the most popular social media platforms, where news spread quickly, whether a good one or an abusive one, are Facebook and Twitter.
Well, I would say, if you are spending too much time and devoting much of your attention to social media, it might result in having a very bad influence on your mind and your mental health.
Also, this may affect your overall work productivity since when your mind is not relaxed, you can not work properly at all!
5. Online Bullying; A Curse Indeed:
Nowadays, many youngsters end up taking their lives because of Cyberbullying and its after-effects. This is one of the most dangerous negative effects of social media upon us. Not only are young people, but adults also are contributing to this cause.
Unpleasant content, aggressive comments, and foul language that may destroy a person’s self-esteem have become very common on social media. We seriously need to take note of this practice and help prevent it from our society to eliminate this harm from growing to make better use of our social media accounts.
Cyber-bullying is now becoming a serious concern as the new prodigal apps like Clubhouse are failing to put forward an efficient blocking or reporting feature for users.
6. Online Shopping Frauds:
As almost everything is going tech facilitated today, Online shopping has also become the need of the day. Social media platforms provide many such opportunities where you could easily make up an essential cart and purchase the things you need.
However, one of the negative effects of social media arises as a fraud during online shopping becomes common. Many times you do not get the product you ordered and end up wasting your money. This is more common with the newly established low-end online companies.
To save yourself from such traps, do proper research of all the available authentic shopping sites present on social media platforms. If you are not sure, check out the review of the products customers have purchased from the sites. Because this might help you make a better decision to save yourself from online fraud.
7. Leading to Anxiety and Depression:
Apart from serious mental illness, people also report having mild symptoms of depression and anxiety from excessive social media use. A peek into celebrities’ lifestyles ignites insecurities in users’ hearts and minds.
Such acts lead to depression, which is more common among younger people. According to a recent research study report, about three-fourths of the people studying in a department had minor or major symptoms of depressions. And almost all of them were super active on their social media accounts, spending a minimum of 8 hours daily using it.
8. Increase In Suicidal Rates:
Suicides? Well, the answer is very simple! When you can not appreciate yourself or your life anymore, you tend to finish it up by choosing the most unpleasant option of suicide! But what makes people not appreciate and disregard themselves? Are humans not selfish beings? Does he not love himself?
SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE is the root of all such acts a person does to himself. Destruction of self-love and turning hard to oneself is because of others’ acts and lifestyle upon a person. Instead of becoming responsible citizens, who could protect their nation and the communities, we decide to finish ourselves and hurt our close ones! SUCH A PITY!
CONCLUSION
These eight may not be all the effects that social media has upon us, but they prove to be the most prominent ones. I will say that, Do not think we can not eliminate these harmful effects of social media. If we can answer basic questions such as ‘why is social media bad for mental health?’
OR ‘Why do people suicide due to social media?’, we can surely find a solution together. If united as one force, we can flush off all these negative effects of social media. We can move towards a happy and healthy digitized lifestyle! All you need is commitment and responsibility! Let’s do it! XX
