Social Media Addiction

 

Social media is such a powerful medium that it can make you meet a person in any corner of the world in a few seconds and you yourself now that with the help of one click you reach another world where an ocean of information awaits you. Although you are close to your family, you become distant from them. You become unaware of what is happening around you. The voices of your own children do not fall in your ears or in other words the hearing become less. Thus, the two-minute task for which you pick up the mobile phone turns into two hours and if you don’t have someone to shake you, it takes several hours. The present condition is, social media has become an addiction in which everyone from children to old people is caught.

Over the past 20 years, computer technology has developed rapidly and the Internet related social networks Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube have changed the lives of human beings. People have become overly dependent on these sites, many authors and researchers have termed it social media addiction.

What is addiction?

Addiction is defined  as not having control over doing, taking or using something to the point where it could be harmful.

Addiction is commonly used for gambling, drugs, alcohol, smoking and medicine. A person can get addicted to anything like work, shopping, Internet usage, video games etc. But it is not necessary that everyone gets addicted to these things in psychological term. So we can say,

“Any action which is done intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or unconsciously is called addiction”.

Many studies show that excessive use of social media is leading to psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, loneliness, self harm and suicidal thoughts. The average person spends more than three hours on their phone each day, with an estimated 2 ½ hours spent on social media.

Research shows that doing anything constantly for longer periods of time causes psychological changes in brain and it begs the question of what social media is actually doing to our brain.

How does social media affecting our brain.

According to experts from Harvard University, when a person is networking, a specific part of his brain, the nucleus accumbens is activated, which is the part of the brain that is activated by using cocaine.

According to Pew Research, more than 69% of adults and 81% of teens use social media daily with more than 90% of teens using it for more than 4 hours a day. The constant ability to access social media through smartphones means our brain are exposed to high volumes of stimulation and our neurons are firing all day long, which creates changes in the neurological architecture of our brain. Its mean constantly and regularly social media usage changing our brain structure, function and cognitive development. People who spend more than two hours per day on social media have a higher tendency to report a mental illness. Even without mental health disorder, these platforms can make anyone feel negatively about themselves.

It has become necessary for regular users of social media to adorn their profiles with every incident of their life, whether it is happiness or sadness, life or death uploading a picture or video is must. Then every moment is spent to check how many likes and views it has received.

According to UCLA study, the brain reward center, the nucleus accumbens, lights up when people receive “likes” on social media. People strive for this acceptance,  and this addiction of social media is more prevalent then the addiction of cigarettes and alcohol.

New research shows that using social apps to document an experience may actually diminish your memory of the moments you sought to preserve. Researchers believe social media is affecting our transactive memory the way our brain divides information, and decides where to store it. It is very easy to say social media eats away at our mental abilities and slowly makes us ineffective and it becomes difficult to spend 10 to 15 minutes without looking at the mobile screen. Researchers believe, regular social media users,  especially people under the age of 30, compare themselves and their lives to the lives of people they see on social media.

This artificial platform has deprived humans of the richness of face-to-face interaction. A person sends his audio or video messages to others by using WhatsApp, messenger and other such applications or by typing the message.

If you are spending too much time on social media and feeling depressed, unsatisfied or lonely, it’s time to re-evaluate your online habits and find a healthy balance. It might be time to do it.

Frequent use of social media is affecting us in the following ways.

Negative impacts

·          Decrease concentration ability.

·          Decrease academic performance.

·          Poor sleep.

·          Fatigue eyes.

·          Overspending to create perfect videos and photos.

·         Creates psychological and emotional problems ( depression, anxiety, jealousy, inferiority complex, mental illness, isolation lack of satisfaction, self harm, (FOMO) fear of missing out, irritability, change in attitude, unrealistic approach).

It is said that excess of everything is bad, same is the case with social media, where the increased use of social media is increasing the health problems but it also has some positive traits and benefits.

·         Brings people together in an instant.

·         Increases knowledge and information.

·         Provides opportunities to show your creativity.

·         Means of increasing income and earning money.

·         Source of entertainment.

·         Use for marketing and organizational promotions.

·         Medium of fun and happiness.

·         Can stay in touch with your new and old friends.