Western media caution: Beware of social networks affecting mental health

The Spanish newspaper Abezel published an article titled "You Don't Know How Social Media Affects Your Mental Health" on September 1 by Maria Alcaraz. The full text is excerpted below:

Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or tiktok have become part of many people's daily lives. While the original idea of using these social tools was to create spaces to interact with others, share knowledge, and build networks of exchange, side effects are susceptible. Users are insecure, humiliated, and envious of others who live better than themselves, which is a common network risk, and these psychological problems are not only found by Internet celebrities.

Psychologist Laura Palomares points out that "social networks can lead to addiction in addition to making people pay too much attention to physical appearances" and "social networks" This addiction manifests itself in the desperate pursuit of liking and following the content they post. Over time, this enthusiasm can easily lead to depression and anxiety and other diseases, and will also affect self-confidence.

One of the biggest influences of social networking is what health psychologist Angel Louis Gilian calls the "sun effect." On the one hand, we visualize (and receive) the real life in which happiness and fun predominate through the web; on the other hand, in the cyberspace built by social networks, everyone is configured with a "virtual identity" that may be far from "real identity." Living in a parallel and fictional world can be disconnected from reality and derive antisocial behavior.

Most of the activity in social networks is image-based, which can have a huge impact on self-perception. The online evaluation system (likes or comments from others) makes many people rely on this recognition and evaluation to build their own positive image. If the feedback received is negative, it can seriously affect the individual's mood.

It's still interesting to look at your own behavior to determine if your relationship with social networks is "healthy." See if your mood fluctuates with comments and views, and does it hurt your confidence and self-esteem because of this? Do you get distracted without your phone and need to keep checking for new news? Ji Lian pointed out that the following performance may indicate that users are "at risk" with the social network:

Give up sleep and rest because of the use of social networks.

Social networks take an absolute priority over other activities.

Despite the negative consequences, maintain relevant social behaviors.

Social isolation, i.e. preferring to interact socially over the web rather than face-to-face.

If all these consequences are felt, then leaving the social network for a while may solve the problem, but certain guidelines must be followed. Laura Palomares said that if someone relies heavily on social networks and leaves social networks without prior emotional adjustment, it can exacerbate anxiety and depression, leading to other health problems. Therefore, he encouraged the disconnection for a period of time, supplemented by psychological counseling and other work, so as to avoid the recurrence of old problems.

Source: Reference News Network