EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON PEOPLE’S MENTAL HEALTH

Are you familiar with the trends and issues going on recently on social media
platforms? The red hair filter trend, the viral dance craze in TikTok, the viral memes
on Facebook, and the issues involving famous personalities? Do you tend to dig in
with these matters, especially the scandalous issues, or try to fit in and do these
trends just for you to look up your notifications almost every second to see who had
been seeing and reacting to your posts? Well, then, congratulations because you
proved yourself to likely be addicted to social media!

Access to social media without enough knowledge can greatly affect a person's
mental health, especially teenagers, who can be emotionally sensitive due to
puberty.

The "one-week" break a few years ago has influenced our relationship with
technology even to this day. Throughout our stay-at-home era due to COVID-19, we
were stuck on seeing and meeting the same faces every day inside our houses,
having no in-person social interactions with other people outside our homes, which,
many of us were not used to doing. As a result, people searched for a thing to cope
with the loneliness building up inside them because of the lack of communication
with people they have been close to when everything was still normal. And that is
where social media comes up. Social media has long been designed to be addicting
to users, and it has gotten in effect since then, but the situation lately had just made
it worse. So suddenly it was like people can't live without social media anymore. And
it was partly because of the overwhelming loneliness they had to manage during the
quarantine.

Accessibility comes when it is about choosing what you need, and, living in the 21st
century, gadgets and the internet are always there when someone is in need of it,
whether at cheap or average prices. And therefore, using gadgets is what keeps
people from boredom, and they also use it to cope with their loneliness. This
includes the use of social media. But a study at the University of Pennsylvania found
that high usage of Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram increases instead of decreases
a person's feeling of loneliness. In fact, not using these platforms too much could
help lessen one's loneliness.

Social media do not help with loneliness. If anything, it makes the feeling worse as
we use it over time, because of the factor of FOMO, or the fear of missing out. We
use social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok to keep up with the trends
happening around us. Everybody is almost addicted to social media so not knowing
about trends in the platform can make one feel left out of their discussions, feeling
the need to learn the things people around them are talking about.

Because of FOMO, you'll help yourself get consumed by social media, even if it
means all day scrolling through your phone. Failing to make other people know that
you are updated on what they are talking about can affect your self-esteem, and can
also lead to feelings of anxiety and depression.
Learning to gradually quit using social media platforms with obvious toxicities can
help not to further damage a person's mind. Social media is indeed very addicting
that even many people who are aware of its negative effects on us cannot help but
still entertain themselves by using the platform. We never know how much of an
impact social media would cause in the future, but given today's situation, there's a
possibility it will end up being a negative thing. So like what we would always do for
the bigger problems in our country, we should learn to act before everything gets
worse. This includes making yourself have a long rest from social media, taking little
breaks, and informing other people about the negative effects of social media.

Being one with people, and sharing interests about a topic, is a nice thing to
experience. But not to the point that it would cost you your mental health.
Sometimes, it is just okay to let people know that not everything they know or do is
required for you also to have knowledge about.