Although one of the main uses of social networks is to maintain contact with the people you care about and be aware of all kinds of social activities, paradoxically they also encourage the development of narcissistic and antisocial behaviors. The problem is to believe that social networks faithfully reflect reality, when rather they show it to us from a single angle, preventing us from capturing it in all its dimensions.
At some point along the way we have abused the advantages of social networks, they have quickly gone from being a means of being an end. Suddenly, choosing a suitable profile picture has become a concern that can make your day bitter. We have reached the point where we are not only constantly comparing our lives with those of others, but we are not even able to live up to our own digital person (which only shows an edition of our best moments). In the era of self-promotion, we are not even able to buy ourselves.
The DoSomething.org portal shows us a list of 9 ways in which technology is affecting our mental health:
- Dream.
Using a laptop or a mobile device during the night can seriously affect our sleep patterns, to the point of generating a disorder. This generates stress and symptoms of depression. - Depression.
People who feel the need to keep constantly accessible through their mobile devices tend to manifest more symptoms of depression. - Addiction.
It may not be necessary to say it, but the constant use of networks generates addiction at the cerebral level, activating the same mechanisms that any addictive drug puts to work. - Stress 24/7.
When we connect to the internet as soon as we arrive from work or school, our brains do not have time to relax after the day’s activities. If the first thing you do when you wake up is to check your Facebook you probably have your brain working under stress that does not stop throughout the week. - FOMO
“Fear Of Missing Out” (Fear of missing something). While the popularity of social networks increases, this feeling of feeling pressure to attend each event and share each experience has become a real phenomenon. It’s the idea that everyone is having fun and doing it without you. - Isolation.
Excessive use of technology can lead to isolation while having the illusion of creating real connections with others. - Aggression.
With the increase in the use of the internet, rudeness and incivility have also increased. The anonymity and the possibility of mass dissemination of content pave the way for cyber bullying to grow. - Insecurity.
The constant access to social networks through mobile devices makes us constantly aware of what others are doing. What happens: we are buying our daily life all the time with the glamorous edited life of others. That way you will always have the ones to lose. - Anxiety
After using social media people have the feeling of not being creative enough. The same goes for the other networks: we will never know enough music or have been in as many places as the others. There will always be someone more successful than us, at least according to the part of their life that they don’t keep hidden.