By Sheela Ranganathan Writer Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Yik Yak, Snapchat… Social media increasingly controls the lives of teenagers as these apps incessantly gain popularity and the convenient means to network progressively expand. Simultaneously, anxiety has become the greatest mental illness that affects college students in modern American society. I used to roll my eyes at my parents when they told me to limit my time on my phone and to share less posts to my ambiguous, large social media audience. However, researchers from the University of Scotland state that social media is directly linked to depression, anxiety, and poor sleep quality. In particular, those who logged on to these websites at later times in the night demonstrated greater likelihood of risks in mental health. In addition, receiving more or less likes on posts results in beneficial or adverse effects respectively. Extensive studies at the Freie Universität in Berlin demonstrated that receiving likes or tags on Facebook boosted the reward center in the brain. In addition to demonstrating the neurological effects of attention on the brain, this study also provided a basis for how posting on social media can become a compulsive addiction. So, the obsessive quest for compliments on pictures and posts is linked to patterns in the reward and pleasure pathways of the brain. Conversely, the lack of likes to one’s pictures results in feeling undesired or unnoticed. In addition, especially with respect to high school and college students, the concept of pictorial perfection leads to depression as people feel that their own lives are not as exciting or meaningful as the lives of others. Therefore, there is a direct correlation between the length of time spent on social media and the intensity of depression. To scroll or not to scroll? Despite these harms, social media definitely has many perks. However, if viewing the posts on your network makes you feel less confident or happy about yourself, it may be time to hit delete on these apps. Works Cited
[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-use-can-contribute-to-anxiety-and-depression-2015-6 [2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/social-media-college-mentalhealth_55ae6649e4b08f57d5d28845 [3] http://sundial.csun.edu/2015/03/to-like-or-not-to-like-how-social-media-effects-self-esteem/ [4] http://healthland.time.com/2013/08/31/this-is-your-brain-on-facebook/ [5] http://www.health24.com/Lifestyle/Teen/News/Social-media-may-increase-depression-in-teens-20150915
4 Comments
9/26/2018 10:13:42 pm
Nice post. I learn something more challenging on different blogs everyday. It will always be stimulating to read content from other writers and practice a little something from their store. I'd prefer to use some with the content on my blog whether you don't mind. Naturally I'll give you a link on your web blog. Thanks for sharing.
Reply
9/26/2018 10:24:15 pm
Nice post. I learn something more challenging on different blogs everyday. It will always be stimulating to read content from other writers and practice a little something from their store. I'd prefer to use some with the content on my blog whether you don't mind. Naturally I'll give you a link on your web blog. Thanks for sharing.
Reply
8/18/2019 06:24:54 am
There are some interesting points in time in this article but I don?t know if I see all of them center to heart. There is some validity but I will take hold opinion until I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we want more! Added to FeedBurner as well
Reply
8/18/2019 06:24:57 am
There are some interesting points in time in this article but I don?t know if I see all of them center to heart. There is some validity but I will take hold opinion until I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we want more! Added to FeedBurner as well
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorsThe authors of these blog posts are staff writers of The Triple Helix at Georgetown University. Archives
November 2016
|