What is it and why is it everywhere? These days, wherever you look you can find someone with some piece of technology. Whether it be a child glued to an iPad or a high school student obsessed with their Instagram, technology has become a mainstay in people's lives and will continue to for a long time. Being social in more ways than just a face-to-face Social media has become a popular channel for people to build strong social connections with their friends and family, share interesting things going on in people's lives, and a place to get away and see what's going on in the world. Through the social connections people build on social media, people can offer social and emotional support during difficult times as well as act as a resource for people to share similar interests and goals. Too much of anything can be a bad thing At times, social media use can often become excessive and affect our health negatively when we start to depend on it. When we use social media to share things, we put ourselves at risk for engaging in negative behaviors such as comparing ourselves to our peers or having the need to constantly check the notification that pops up on our screen. Social media can make people feel inadequate about their life or personal appearance, lead to FOMO (Fear of missing out), feelings of isolation and loneliness, cyberbullying and even self-absorbed feelings. Ironically, social media was designed to connect people and bring them closer together. In reality, they have caused problems that have led to serious health consequences. This video explains how social media affects the brain in different ways. This infographic highlights the top 4 social media platforms used by teens and their use. Did you know? When people get positive reactions to their posts on social media such as likes or shares, they will often experience a release of a hormone called dopamine. This hormone is the same hormone that is released when something good happens to us such as eating our favorite foods or winning in a game. This infographic describes how technology and social media use can negatively affect mental health. Social media is never going to be a replacement for real-life, human connections and we need to find ways to keep a balance between communicating. At the end of the day, we need to be able to draw boundaries that will prevent us from opening up our phones to see what our friend's have messaged us or check out what celebrities are doing. Whether it be setting a limit of screen time before bed or turning off all notifications, any efforts to reduce technology and social media use will help to prevent negative health outcomes.
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AuthorHey, my name is Bradley and I am a health sciences student from SFU. This blog is here to provide information on important topics that affect our personal and mental health. ArchivesCategories |