Sullivan, Charles
Faithful, George
New Tech: Ethics & SJ
May 9, 2022
Social Media on My Mental Health
Throughout life the attention that people use with electronic devices such as phones,
laptops, gaming devices, and other items creates a sense that to be happy you need to use a
device. Over the past year I have been taking daily notes on how I have seen my mental health
change if I used social media when I first woke up, right before falling asleep and how I’d feel
on days where I did not use it that much. I did not count text messages as a form of social media
because I used that to communicate with my boss and coworkers about work related things. As
much as I enjoyed using social media there was a part of me that wondered is it healthy to use it
this much and why is everyone so attached to using it for happiness. I have also read online
about the effects it may have on humans overall mental stability and reliance on the happiness
that it creates.
With my note taking over the past year I have learned that almost every day I would
unconsciously go to my phone when I woke up and right before I went to sleep. It would create a
sense that I can see others happy so I can also be happy before I start my day and end it. This
took time to unlearn and reflect that the effects it had when it was not the first and last thing that
I was doing were beneficial. I used social media mostly to watch videos, see how friends are
doing and what is going on in the world, however I did not ever think that as much happiness
that I see on those apps it cannot be what is truly going on with said person. Social media
worsened my mental health because it made me feel that I had to show only the happiest of
moments to my friends because that is what they also did. The way that Instagram also showed
who liked your photo created a sense of that’s the number of friends that I had when I first
started to track how social media affected me, however now it’s just meaningless to me. It is
meaningless because social media is not a meter for friendship that you have in real life it made
up of past friends and newer friends.
According to research done by Mclean Hospital they noticed that people would get upset
if someone liked their post or if someone, they were close with didn’t like their post. The
reactions to the likes were taken to heart instead of the possibility that the person just forgot to
like it or hasn’t seen it yet. Also a British study that was done in 2018 showed that the use of
social media had an effect on sleep which ultimately reflected in school performance, memory
loss, depression. With the effects that filters can have on the way you are portrayed in pictures on
social media individuals now want to be like what the filters make them look like creating a false
reality. If you look like that you will be more popular. These are all factors that were specifically
made with these apps, the apps are as addictive as slot machines since what the next post of
video you see is completely unknown everyone wants to see what is next. In a article from
Lancaster General Health, they talk about the idea behind FOMO or feeling of missing out that
social media creates. I especially worried about missing messages, or a post that was super
important which made me always want to have my phone in my hand and be on social media. I
was stuck on my phone or computer using social media instead of going outside and getting real
human to human interaction which is a necessity to grow and learn how to be a normal person.
As much bad as there is to how social media contributes to mental health it is a two-edged
sword. In the article “Creating a healthier relationship with social media” They reference the
cons but also the pros. It can help people who have social anxiety get comfortable with talking to
people without being in the uncomfortable position. It helps show people how to express
themselves in different ways and do it in a healthy manner. I used social media to meet likeminded people who played the same games as me or went to the same school. It helped me
become friends with people I would have never met.
The biggest ethical issue I have with social media is the idea that someone can say what
they want when they want and hide behind a screen. Yes, in America we have freedom of
speech, but it is still upsetting behind able to hide with a fake identity and harass and say
derogatory comments to anyone. Anyone you is on social media has a chance to see this
happening and it’s up to them to say something, I have seen it first-hand many times and I have
said some stuff at certain times and it has bitten be back as I comment with my real account. I
have had hurtful things said to me from people with random usernames and I try not to pay
attention. As much as everyone loves social media I should not keep going down the path of only
showing the happy parts of life, it should support expressing anything that is going on and for it
to be a safe environment.
Bibliography
“The Effects of Social Media on Mental Health.” Lancastergeneralhealth.org, 1 Sept. 2021,
https://lancastergeneralhealth.org/health-hub-home/2021/september/the-effects-of-socialmedia-on-mental-health.
“The Social Dilemma: Social Media and Your Mental Health.” Here's How Social Media Affects
Your Mental Health | McLean Hospital, 21 Jan. 2022,
https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/it-or-not-social-medias-affecting-your-mentalhealth.
Tartakovsky, Margarita. “Creating a Healthier Relationship with Social Media.” Healthline,
Healthline Media, 20 Apr. 2022, https://www.healthline.com/health/social-media-andmental-health.