Linda Johnson (Social Media Impact)
Linda, a coach and consultant, explores the complex relationship between social media and mental health, particularly among young people. She addresses the rise in anxiety, depress...
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How Do Algorithms Contribute to the Problem?
Algorithms provide constant exposure to curated images and posts, and all of this can often lead to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. We think everyone else has this beautiful, glamorous life. Everyone else has endless love. Everyone else looks perfect. It's only me not realising that a good filter and filtering out what you show people and just plain lying is creating a false image for many people about what they're really about.
What are the consequences of social media?
This results often in loneliness and isolation. We lack meaningful face-to-face connections. More and more there is cyber bullying where people are just taunted by others, whether they know them or not. Social media for many people has become an addiction. They can't put the phone down. They can't log off. They can't switch off because they have to find out, well, what's going to happen next? What is this one saying? Are people responding to my posts? Am I getting a lot of likes? There's fomo, the fear of missing out because again, we have a false idea of what other people's lives look like, what success looks like. Social media can affect our body image because again, we have these distorted ideas about what people's bodies look like, and they are doing all kinds of tricks to make it look like their bodies are looking ideal, but don't believe the image people are losing sleep. They're having a decreased attention span, all because of over exposure and improper relationship to social media.
What Are the Dangers of Social Media?
Social media, like anything else, has a beautiful bright side and it has a dark side. The dark side is becoming a mental health crisis around the world. There are young people who are hurting themselves trying the latest social media trend. There are people who have actually ended their lives because of depression, because of something that was done to them or said about them. In social media, anxiety has increased again, especially among young people and even among young people. It seems to affect young girls or women more than men. There are increased levels of anxiety and depression. The more people use social media, the greater risk they are at developing these problems.