Social media is one of the things that come along with living in the 21st century. You can access social media right from your phone. The purpose of social media is to connect you to other people. However, science says that being constantly logged into social media can make you lonely.
Experts have studied the effects of social media on mental health for years. They have found that social media use is linked to mental health problems. They have also found that social media only shows people snippets of other people’s lives.
A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania recruited 143 college students. The subjects were placed into one of two groups. One group was asked to use social media as they normally do. The other group was asked to limit their social media usage to 10 minutes per day.
All of the participants were asked to take screenshots in order to keep track of their social media usage. Melissa Hunt was the lead author of the study. She stated that they analyzed the subjects’ anxiety levels, loneliness and depression. They found that when subjects restricted their social media usage, they were less likely to feel lonely.
One of the problems with social media is that it causes people to compare their lives to other people’s lives. This can cause people to feel inadequate about their own lives. Furthermore, when people are not on social media, they spend more time doing other things.
Dr. Danielle Forshee is a mental health counselor who works in New Jersey. She stated that the only fulfilling relationships that people can have is the one that they have off of the internet. She also stated that the relationships people have on social media are superficial.
Itamar Shatz is studying psychology at Cambridge University. He stated that spending time on social media makes you lonely because you are looking at other people’s lives instead of enjoying your own. Robert Glatter works at Lenox Hill Hospital. He said that people should cut down on social media use by filling up their time with other activities.
