Effects Of Extreme Use Of Social Media On Behaviors And Mental Health

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Effects of Extreme Use of Social Media on Behaviors and Mental Health

With moderation, social media is one of the most necessary means of interaction.

Unquestionably, the society is developing a reliance on the technological advancement that

unites billions of people. However, this begs the question whether overreliance on social media

causes addictive behaviors and mental health problems. The shocking news on the number of

attempted suicide incidences and irresponsible conducts in the recent past have increased the

intensity of this debate. As such, healthcare professionals and the general public have articulated

strong opinions especially after reports on a case of attempted suicide, which emanated from the

obsession with “selfies,” in the UK in 2014. In the last decade, mental health practitioners have

been conducting studies that focus on the use of social media; therefore necessitating hasty

elucidations on the prospective effects. Without a doubt, extreme use of social media can

contribute to addictive behaviors and mental health problems.

Although the ubiquity of social media is not yet prescribed as a clinical diagnosis, the fact

that a variety of adverse moods and health disorders emanate from social media use is

irrefutable. Recently, Facebook reported reaching 2 billion active users every month. Hence, the

mental health professionals’ concern over the consequences of digital technology is warranted.

Bozoglan asserts that besides fueling addiction and causing a change of conduct, social media

users spend a lot of time online rather than indulging in more productive undertakings (20).

However, such upsides of social media usage as communism still have affirmative impacts on

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cognitive behavior through the providence of opportunities for interaction. Some people claim

that social media conducts and posts are significant depression prognosticators. Consequently,

traumatic feelings and psychiatric conditions such as dwindled self-esteem, Anxiety,

deteriorating concentration and other signs of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

remain the most evident apprehensions.

Recent surveys have incessantly linked online social schmoozing with poor performance

at work, violence, and pornography among other infatuations. A child psychiatrist in Los

Angeles, Dr. Karrie Lager, elucidates the relationship between youths, use of social media, and

drug addiction (Vinerean et al. 66). In a rejoinder to a study issued by CASA Columbia, Dr.

Lager explains that 70 percent of the youths between the age of 12 and 17 spend a typical day on

social media. Further, forty percent of these teens acknowledged seeing pictures of people under

the influence of drugs. Importantly, the survey illuminates that exposure to scenes of drugs and

alcohol abuse predisposes teenagers to experiment on them. Besides, pornography has remained

a social menace since the innovative introduction of the internet. Hence, constant exposure to

addictive behaviors on the media platforms glamorizes alcoholism and use of drugs and causes

the desensitization of undesirable demeanors.

The rapport between the extreme use of social media and addictive behaviors as well as

mental health problems is unmistakable. Social media is a vital way of interacting, but lack of

moderation and the societal overreliance on technology and the internet raises eyebrows.

Therefore, healthcare specialists and communities have expressed strong sentiments which have

stimulated studies that focus on the negative and positive impacts of using social media. Thus,

this paper provides vivid elucidations on the prospective effects such as mental disorders,

violence, addiction to pornography and poor performance at work. Furthermore, social media has

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become a smuggler of time that requires adequate and prompt attention. Nevertheless, it also has

such advantages as connecting people, which have positive effects on mental behavior.

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Works cited

Bozoglan, Bahadir. Psychological, social, and cultural aspects of Internet addiction. Hershey,

PA: Information Science Reference, 2018. Print.

Vinerean, Simona, et al. "The effects of social media marketing on online consumer

behavior." International Journal of Business and Management 8.14 (2013): 66.

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