Have you ever sent a text and began to worry about when they are going to text you back, what they are going to think of your message or noticing how long it takes for them to reply? Have you posted a photo and refreshed the page over and over again to see if you got anymore likes? Have you not posted a photo because you think people will think your “ goofy” “overweight” provocative” or another negative image you have created for yourself?
Social media is a great tool for connecting with almost anyone you want and sharing absolutely anything you want but it has this way of getting inside our heads and messing with our self-esteem and really impacting our health and wellbeing.
Studies out there show that social media is linked to higher levels of loneliness, envy ,and can become addictive. Let’s look at loneliness, a study from 1998 ( Kraut 1998), although a bit dated, chose to look into internet use and psychological impact and concluded, and this study focused mostly on communication and not simply browsing the web, that greater use of the internet was associated with loneliness and increased potential for depression. This study was before Instagram even existed, I imagine if a study focused on Instagram alone, the results might be quite frightening. It was interesting to find some data on envy, because I think this one is so true. We see others online post the most incredible photos and paint these beautiful pictures of their lives and we begin to want that too and feel disappointed in our worlds and the realities we live in. A study (Krasnova et al, 2013) found that excessive following leads to envy feelings that can lead to decrease in life satisfaction. We are constantly comparing and this is negatively impacting our self esteem. Finally, I want to touch on addiction, as event though most of might not think we have an addiction to our devices and online profiles, research does suggest otherwise, Boyd ( 2014) devotes a chapter in her book to teenagers and addiction to social media and a study that came through the American Psychological Association, targeted only facebook, however concluded that it can become addictive and result in negative emotions and resentment toward self and others ( Anderson et al, 2012)
So what’s my takeaway from this? Let go, lean in.
I think it’s obvious that our social media use can take over our lives at times, and create constant thought in our minds, constant worry and really just overall stress. My suggestion; learning to let go. Practicing awareness of just how much time you are spending thinking about social media communications or how much time you are spending online and letting go of expectations or negative self-talk go. Create space for more positive use of time or thoughts. How can we do this? My suggestion would be to journal at night and to practice meditation. One that I have started using you can find here.
We can continue to research negative impacts, obsess over social media, or learn to find balance and have a healthy relationship with both yourself and the online world.
References:
Anderson. B, Fagan.P, Woodnutt. T and Chamorro-Premuzic. T ( 2012) Face psychology: Popular questions answered by research. American Psychological Association.
Boyd, D. (2014). It’s Complicated: the social lives of networked teens. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press
Krasnova, H. Wenninger, H; Widjaja, T and Buxmann, P. (2013) "Envy on Facebook: A Hidden Threat to Users’ Life Satisfaction?" Wirtschaftsinformatik Proceedings 2013. 92.
Kraut, R., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., Kiesler, S., Mukophadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998). Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being? American Psychologist, 53(9), 1017–1031. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.53.9.1017