Healthline: The Benefits of a Social Media Break, Plus 30 Things to Do Instead
“So, what does the research have to say about the effects of social media on your health and well-being? You might be surprised to learn most studies aren’t too favorable. In fact, your brain may just be begging you to slow your scroll.
A 2015 study found that U.K. children were twice as likely to report high or very high scores for mental ill-health if they used social networking sites for 3 hours or more on a school day.
A small 2018 study found a direct link between decreasing social media usage and improvements in depression and loneliness. In a 2021 survey by ExpressVPN, 86 percent of a sampling of 1,500 Americans reported that social media directly negatively impacts their happiness and self-image. Between 79 and 83 percent reported negative effects on anxiety, loneliness, and depression.
A 2022 cross-national online survey of the United States, U.K., Australia, and Norway found that those who used social media for entertainment or to decrease loneliness during the pandemic experienced poorer mental health.
While using social media for personal contact and maintaining relationships was associated with improved mental health, there was still a correlation between increased daily time on social media and poorer mental health overall.
On the other hand, a 2021 pilot study of 68 university students found that most students reported a positive change in mood, reduced anxiety, and improved sleep during and immediately after a break from social media.
The data seems pretty clear. If you don’t want to experience poor self-image, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and even poor sleep, making some tweaks to your social media use may be a good idea.”
My Takeaways From This Article
According to the article, there are negative emotions that are associated with social media usage including aforementioned poor self-image, anxiety, depression, loneliness and poor sleep. Social media has been so intertwined to our lives it's important that we recognize the limitations that it has on our lives.
Like I like to say for all kinds of things, there is a good and bad way of using this, social media is no exception. Social media has helped us connect with one another on an unprecedented level and given us more avenues of communication increasing productivity, efficiency and connectedness.
Just how sugar in the past used to be a delicacy and now that more of it is available and causes issues, social media presents the same issue. Entertainment on our fingertips and social connection at a whim can lead to mass desensitization of attention, interest and focus within our lives. Like sugar, it’s important that we limit our intake of social media as well.
Full article is here!
What are your takeaways from your article? What do you think about social media and how it is affecting people today?
#SocialMedia #MentalHealth #Well-being
@sunnyWriting4806
This was such an interesting article! Thank you for sharing, off to my social media break 😛
@WarmLightXO
Glad you're able to apply it right away XD! Hope you have a nice and meaningful time off social media!
@sunnyWriting4806 I think social media is great for some things, like staying in touch with friends and family. But, I do think it has negative aspects too. We need to be careful how much time we spend on social media because it can really bring a lot of negative things to our lives, like those mentioned in the article. I am a firm believer that young kids should not have social media until they are at least a teenager because kids don't know how to properly socialize anymore. I don't plan on giving my future kids phones until later on.
@fruityPond7887
That's definitely a valid point and I think a lot of parents make that an actual principle to live by to prevent their kids from getting negative influences from social media. Thanks for sharing!
@sunnyWriting4806 Of course! Thank you for sharing the article! 😀
