Social media apps like Facebook and Instagram are extremely popular and have become great resources for catching up with friends and family. Those apps provide excellent opportunities for networking, fashion tips, commentary, jobs and are an influencers haven. However, social media apps tend to make everyone look like they are living their best life, giving those living in a season of lack to develop complex or mental health issues.
Continue reading to discover why there is a correlation between social media and mental health and why social media causes anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues in more women than men.
Negative Feelings
In addition to excessive use, social media forces users to compare their lives to others. And while they may not see their life as grand or spectacular, the people they follow have no shame or problem sharing every aspect of their fabulous (looking) life. Or they see friends hanging out and wonder why they weren’t invited and feel left out.
These comparisons and left-out feelings make individuals feel anxious as they search for answers about their place in someone’s life. They read comments and search for hidden meaning in everything about the post. Before long, they have manufactured feelings of resentment, anxiety, or depression toward friends for leaving them out.
Unhealthy Habits
In addition to being unhealthy, this obsession with living life through a social media app is unhealthy. Users must take a stand with the power to create the life they want. Letting their social media use become unhealthy is especially true for ladies who take what they see on social media apps way more personal than guys.
For too many users, social media is comparable to a popularity contest. And, it would be reckless to say that it affects young women more than older or vice-versa. It affects women of every age. Women question everything about their hair, clothes, makeup, pose, and pure being as intensely personal beings. For women, the pressure to be “on” at all times is real but unrealistic.
As you have read, there is a correlation between social media apps and mental health issues. Users must be careful not to compare or feel left out when reading posts about what their friends are doing and use social media apps responsibly.