Most of us love to stay connected on social media. We love to express our views, emotions, and feelings, and even love to browse through different types of posts and videos. Not only that, we have started connecting with strangers all around the world through social media. We seem not to be threatened by our growing dependence on social media and its influence on our lives. In this article, we are going to focus on some negative effects of social media that can be an eye-opener for us.

7 Negative Effects of Social Media

1. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

One of the major negative effects of social media is it develops FOMO in the minds of everyone. It is the feeling a complex an individual gets by thinking that others are enjoying better things in their lives. This, directly and indirectly, affects one’s self-esteem, state of mind, and happiness. Therefore, it forces people to check social media now and then and check what other people are doing. So, you are losing your peace of mind, self-confidence, sleep, and good times because of FOMO.

2. Cyberbullying

The recent Netflix release Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror shows us how simple chatting online can turn deadly. Bullying and overpowering young minds have been around online for a long time. The vulnerability of lonely, adventurous, and young people can be used by cyberbullies to blackmail or embarrass them later.

3. No Time for Family

Social media has been discouraging us to reduce face-to-face interaction. So, we have stopped spending quality time with family, and friends who mean a lot to us. But instead, we are spending endless hours scrolling through social media posts. Being physically present with our closest ones makes us feel comfortable, strong, and wanted. But we are deliberately ruining our relationships with the people around us by making these people feel less wanted in our lives.

4. Self-Image Issue

The images or videos shared on social media are mostly manipulated ones. The lives of celebrities and their images tend to mislead people and feel depressed about their self-images. Seeing people appearing perfect on-screen can make you develop a complex issue about your looks and appearances. Thus, it may encourage you to take unhealthy or unreasonable steps to make yourself look better. We need to understand one thing no one wakes up looking like a beauty queen. Besides, celebrities or influencers allow you to see only the part they are willing to show but not everything that’s going on in their lives.

5. Addiction

Addiction of any type is bad as long as it harms your mental and physical health. One of the negative effects of social media is that it is making everyone addicted to it. You can’t live without it even for a day. You feel as if you are missing out on something if you do not touch your phone for a few hours. It is affecting your sleep as you are scrolling through the posts late at night. You are wasting your time so much on social media that you have no time for exercise or to enjoy a hearty meal. So, all in all, your addiction to social media is eliminating the elements that are required for healthy living in your life.

6. Depression

If we sum up the above points, we can find out how social media is ruining our mental health. Also, lack of sleep and lack of physical activities are adding up to the cause arousing negative emotions like anger, anxiety, and fear. Besides, the constant comparison of one’s life with others is making one feel like a loser. All these together are causing depression in people.

7. Suicide

If the sad demise of 17 years old Christopher James Dawley aka CJ could not open our eyes, then nothing else can. As per a report published by CNN on their website in April 2022, CJ started his social media journey at the age of 14. His social media activities knew no limits. Starting from sharing nude photos to getting obsessed with his looks, social media was ruling his life.  He shot himself with a 22-caliber rifle while catching his phone in the other hand. The mother is now suing the owners of Facebook and Instagram for his death. According to his mother, social media has no feature for the parent to monitor the activities of the children.

We all know social media’s pros and cons but we are reluctant to take any measure to reduce its uses. It’s high time now that we think about the negative effects of social media and limit its uses for our own benefit. Remember the famous quote by the author Terence, “I hold this as a rule of life: too much of anything is bad.”