HOW SOCIAL MEDIA WILL HAVE AN IMPACT ON MENTAL ILLNESSES AND FRIENDSHIPS IN THE YEAR 2030.

How social media will have a impact on mental illnesses and friendships in the year 2030.

                                                          Written by: Alexia Taylor

Social media has had a negative impact on people who suffer from mental health, anxiety, depression, and especially body image. Social media tends to negatively affect those who suffer with the following mental health issues due to the fact that we are continuously comparing ourselves to those who seem to “have it all”. Part of the reason Facebook makes people feel socially isolated (even though they may not actually be) is the comparison factor. We fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others as we scroll through our feeds and make judgements about how we measure up (Walton, 2017).

 Social media allows us to portray ourselves as confident and somebody who seems to have themselves “together”. This is simply due to the fact that we can change the perception on our lives, we create a false image for those around us. We may not even realize it, but those around us are comparing themselves to our lives. Through social media, people tend to compare their wealth, beauty, health and achievements.

By the year 2030, mental health caused by social media will probably have caused extreme cases of anxiety, depression, and body image issues. Social media continues to evolve every day, causing us to find new ways to compare ourselves to those around us. We seem to find ourselves online for hours a day, increasing anxiety and depression. If we continue to build our anxiety, depression, and decrease our body image, we will find ourselves becoming less social and more attracted to the media portion rather than continuing to keep up with friendships. We have to take much needed breaks from social media, we will be less likely to find ourselves in a mental health epidemic. Only a couple hours a day without social media will allow us to focus on our own self-image, self-worth and self-goals rather than comparing ourselves to those online.

References

Walton, G. A. (2017). 6 Ways Social Media Affects Our Mental Health. Retrieved from:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2017/06/30/a-run-down-of-social-medias-effects-on-our-mental-health/#1a102bdb2e5a

Saelee, K. (2018). Negative Impact of Social Media on Mental Health. Retrieved from:
https://medium.com/@kellysaelee99/negative-impact-of-social-media-on-mental-health-491a163f795a