Silent Epidemic Behind the Screen
As today’s generation lives in a smartphone-dominated world, social media has become a part of our lives. It helps us connect to far-off relatives, provides us a platform to learn from others in a social environment of our chooses, and offers a platform to express ourselves to others. Yet in this world of social media that offers us various forms of connectivity to others around us, there exist invisible health hazards to us as a society. As social media usage has become a major health risk to society’s younger generations in today’s digital age, this phenomenon has manifested itself as a major health problem in society’s younger generation when an individual chooses to indulge in social media to such an extent that they start to wish to compare their lives to others in hopes of receiving validation from other social media members to alleviate their addiction in a world where this phenomenon has become a health issue in society itself in which health is not a habit to us as a society in today’s world.
It has been observed by mental health experts that social media use is associated with rising anxiety, depression, stress, and low self-esteem. It has been seen that the more time teenagers spend on social media, the more likely they are to feel lonely, unhappy, and less satisfied with their lives. One of the main reasons is constant comparison with idealized images and lifestyles. Social media often shows a filtered reality where only success and happiness are displayed, while struggles remain concealed. This builds a false benchmark and makes users feel not good enough. The brain reacts to social media just like a reward system. Every like, comment, and share releases the chemical dopamine, which gives pleasure. This becomes addictive to the user to feel accepted, and when the response does not come, it leads to disappointment and emotional stress.
Sleep disorders are another major health concern that social media poses. Users stay awake till late hours, hence affecting the sleep patterns. This affects the level of the hormone that induces sleep, i.e., melatonin, as the screen emits blue rays that interfere with the level of the hormone. Lack of sleep can cause tiredness, difficulty in focusing mental attention, memory loss, mood swings, and even weaken the immune system. Long hours without adequate sleep can cause increased susceptibility to diseases like depression, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc. Overuse of screen time is also affecting people physically, as is noticeable in the lives that people live every day. Various problems like eye strain, headaches, and back strain are experienced by individuals who spend more hours on social media screens. Lack of exercise while on social media can cause obesity.
Social media can also cause emotional health problems like cyberbullying, harassment, or negative comments. A human being is social, but negative messages can cause fear or anxiety concerned with low self-esteem or self-confidence. For instance, youths, mainly teenagers, are more susceptible to harassment on social media, which can cause emotional trauma. However, the other effect is related to the implications on attention or productivity. This happens because constant notifications or videos cause partial attention. Such cases can cause poor academic performance or increased levels of stress among students or working professionals.
The problem is not with the social media, rather with the misuse and overuse of the social media. Social media is a media that can either harm or benefit us. People should take a healthy approach and advise healthy social media habits. Parents have to advise their children about healthy social media use. Students should adopt healthy lifestyles. At the same time, the healthy lifestyles have to be discussed by health professionals with the teens during routine checkups.
Several simple steps can help, like reducing daily screen time, eschewing mobile use before going to bed, taking breaks from it regularly, doing physical activity, and keeping real-life social contacts. Use social media with mindfulness. One has to remember that virtual life is not real life, and the value of a person is not measured by likes and followers. The mind and body need rest, and the best healing will come from real relationships, nature, and balanced routine.
In conclusion, social media is not only a social problem but also a health problem. Its implication on mental and physical health does exist and is serious. If we further keep ourselves blind towards the injurious impacts of excessive usage of social media, then it will be costing communal burden for mentally ill and lifestyle diseases. Thus, to save health, awareness and its responsible use, along with healthy lifestyle practices, are required. Social media should be used under control and not as a continued practice for drawing benefits from its advantages without losing our mental peace and physical wellbeing.
Mohammad ArfatWani is a nursing student from KuchmullaTral.
