Impact of Social Media on us Psychologically

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Through technology, we have seen undeniable growth and progress; we have also seen societal changes because of an increase in social media use.  Unfortunately, our social media use has begun affecting us mentally and has begun changing the way we process information.  The top ten ways social media is affecting us all are: it is addictive, we compare our lives with others, we are restless, cyber bullying has increased, it can make us unhappy, glamorizes drug and alcohol use, leads to multitasking, fear of missing out, helps with connectivity and helps with socialization (degreed.com 2015).  Of course, this list includes both positive and negative ways that social media affects us, but there are more negatives than positives on that list.  As we continue to increase are social media uses we will continue to develop these habits or be exposed to them.  While social media connects us and allows us the ability to choose what and whom we engage with it, bears repeating that we need to ensure that we are participating in healthy and appropriate habits to avoid developing negative habits and experiencing negative side effects.  According to Degreed.com, our social media addiction is at an all time high that a scale entitled The Berge Facebook addiction scale was created to measure addiction levels (2015).   There are many benefits to social media usage and I am, in no way, disavowing the use of social media.  Rather I think it is important that we all understand the ways that social media usage affects us on a psychological level. It is important that we understand how it affects us so that we can continue to use it appropriately.

This short video discusses five of the ways that social media usage is affecting our brains.

  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HffWFd_6bJ0

(2015). Top 10 ways social media affects our mental health. Retrieved from: http://degreed.com/