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In recent years, there has been a significant increase in social media use. According to the Pew Research Center, 72% of Americans in the U.S. use social media.

People use social networking tools to stay in touch with family and friends, get their news, and share their political views. This has some researchers wondering about the long-term effects of social media use.

Because social media use is still relatively new, there are no long-term studies documenting its effects. But several studies indicate that social media impacts mental health in a number of ways. The increasing reliance on and use of social media puts a large number of Americans at an increased risk for feeling anxious, depressed, lonely, envious, and even ill over social media use.

Why Social Media Is Growing in Popularity

Aside from the fact that social media allows people to reconnect with family and friends that live far away or that they have lost touch with, it became a vital communication tool during the pandemic.

Social Media Supports Connections

People used social media to share information and connect with others when stay-at-home orders kept them from meeting in person. It became a vehicle for social support and connectedness that they would not otherwise have had.

Social Media Makes People Feel Good

Social media has a tendency to reinforce use. People quickly become hooked on checking their statuses for comments and likes, as well as perusing other people's posts.

Using social media sometimes activates the brain's reward center by releasing dopamine, also known as the feel-good chemical. This dopamine release, in turn, keeps people coming back because they want to repeat those feel-good experiences.

Social Media Boosts Self-Esteem

Social media also can boost self-esteem, especially if a person is viewed favorably online or gets a number of likes or interactions on their content. And social media allows some people to share parts of their identity that may be challenging to communicate in person.

Social media can be particularly helpful for people with social anxiety who struggle to interact with people in person.

Social Media and Mental Health Concerns

Despite the above benefits, researchers are discovering that there are some downsides to social media, particularly with regard to mental health.

Social Media Use May Contribute to Depression

For a technology that's supposed to bring people closer together, it can have the opposite effect-especially when disagreements erupt online. Social media has been linked to depression, anxiety, and loneliness. It can make people feel isolated and alone.

One 2017 study found that young people who use social media more than two hours per day are much more likely to categorize their mental health as fair or poor compared to occasional social media users.

Social Media May Hurt Your Self-Esteem

While social media can sometimes be a self-esteem booster, it can also cause you to experience feelings of inadequacy about your life and your appearance. Even if you know that the images you see online are manipulated or represent someone else's highlight reel, they can still cause feelings of insecurity, envy, and dissatisfaction.

Fear of Missing Out

Another mental health phenomenon associated with social media is what is known as FOMO, or the "fear of missing out." Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram exacerbate the fear that you're missing something or that other people are living a better life than you are.

In extreme cases, FOMO can cause you to become tethered to your phone where you are constantly checking for updates or responding to every single alert.

Social Media Can Lead to Self-Absorption

Sharing endless selfies as well as your innermost thoughts on social media can create an unhealthy self-centeredness that causes you to focus on crafting your online image rather than making memories with your friends and family members in real life.

In fact, strenuous efforts to engage in impression management or get external validation can have psychological costs, especially if the approval you're seeking is never received. Ultimately, the lack of positive feedback online can lead to self-doubt and self-hatred.

Impulse Control Issues

Excessive social media use can lead to impulse control issues, especially if you access your social networks using a smartphone. This means that you have round-the-clock access to your accounts, which not only makes it easy for you always to be connected, but can affect your concentration and focus. It can even disturb your sleep and compromise your in-person relationships.

Social Media May Be Used As an Unhealthy Coping Mechanism

Social media can become an unhealthy way of coping with uncomfortable feelings or emotions. For instance, if you turn to social media when you're feeling down, lonely, or bored, you're potentially using it as a way to distract you from unpleasant feelings.

Ultimately, social media is a poor way to self-soothe, especially because perusing social media can often make you feel worse instead of better.

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Signs Social Media Is Impacting Your Mental Health

Because everyone is different, there is no set amount of time spent on social media that is recommended. Instead, you need to evaluate how your social media use is impacting your life, including how you feel when you don't use social media as well as how you feel after using it.

A 2018 University of Pennsylvania study suggests that self-monitoring can change one's perception of social media. According to the lead researcher, psychologist Melissa G. Hunt, PhD, using social media less than you normally do, can lead to significant decreases in loneliness and depression. By using self-monitoring and making adjustments, people can significantly improve their overall well-being.

Social Media Distracts You

If you find that your social media use is impacting your relationships or is distracting you from work or school, it may be problematic. Additionally, if scrolling through social media leaves you feeling envious, depressed, anxious, or angry, then you need to re-evaluate your use.

It could be that you need to detox from social media and spend some time offline in order to safeguard your mental health.

You Use Social Media to Avoid Negative Emotions

Social media also could be an issue if you tend to use it to fight boredom or to deal with loneliness. Although these feelings are uncomfortable and it's only natural to want to alleviate them, turning to social media for comfort or as a distraction is not a healthy way to cope with difficult feelings and emotions.

As a result, it may be time for you to reassess your social media habits. Here are some additional signs that social media may be having a negative impact on your life and your mental health:

Your symptoms of anxiety, depression, and loneliness are increasing.

You are spending more time on social media than with your real-world friends and family members.

You tend to compare yourself unfavorably with others on social media or you find that are your frequently jealous of others.

You are being trolled or cyberbullied by others online.

You are engaging in risky behaviors or taking outrageous photos in order to gain likes.

Your work obligations, family life, or school work is suffering because of the time you spend on social media.

You have little time for self-care activities like mindfulness, self-reflection, exercise, and sleep.

If you're spending a significant amount of time on social media and you're beginning to notice feelings of sadness, dissatisfaction, frustration, and loneliness that are impacting your life and your relationships, it may be time to re-evaluate your online habits.

If you find that even after adjusting your social media use, you're still experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety, it's important to talk with your healthcare provider so that you can be evaluated. With proper treatment, you will soon be feeling better.

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How Social Media Impacts Your Mental Health

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The majority of Americans use social media, but how is online activity affecting their mental health? Find out how social media and mental health are intertwined.

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Social Media Is Increasing Major Symptoms Like Anxiety and Depression

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multiple studies have found a strong link between heavy social media and an increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts. Social media may promote negative experiences such as: bad thoughts about your life or appearance.

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By some estimates, roughly 4 billion people across the world use networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This usage has prompted mental health experts to investigate whether the enormous popularity of social media plays a role in depression.

Research suggests that people who limit their time on social media tend to be happier than those who don't. Studies also indicate that social media may trigger an array of negative emotions in users that contribute to or worsen their depression symptoms.

U.S. Surgeon General Warning

What to Know About Clinical Depression

Clinical depression or major depressive disorder is a mood disorder characterized by ongoing feelings of sadness and loss of interest in activities that an individual once enjoyed.

Depression can be mild or severe and make it difficult for those with the condition to concentrate, sleep or eat well, make decisions, or complete their normal routines.

People with depression may contemplate death or suicide, feel worthless, develop anxiety or have physical symptoms such as fatigue or headaches. Psychotherapy and medication are some of the treatments for depression. Limiting time on social media and prioritizing real-world connections can be beneficial to mental health.

The Facts on Social Media and Depression

Causation or Correlation?

Some studies about social media and mental health reveal that there's a correlation between networking sites and depression. Other research goes a step further, finding that social media may very well cause depression. A landmark study-"No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression"-was published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology in 2018.

This indicates a relationship between lower social media use and emotional wellbeing. According to the researchers, the study marked the first time scientific research established a causal link between these variables.

"Prior to this, all we could say was that there is an association between using social media and having poor outcomes with wellbeing," said study coauthor Jordyn Young in a statement.

To establish the link between social media and depression, the researchers assigned 143 University of Pennsylvania students to two groups: one could use social media with no restrictions, while the second group had their social media access limited to just 30 minutes on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat combined over a three-week period.

Each study participant used iPhones to access social media and the researchers monitored their phone data to ensure compliance. The group with restricted social media access reported lower severity of depression and loneliness than they had at the beginning of the study.

Both groups reported a drop in anxiety and fear of missing out (FOMO), apparently because joining the study made even the group with unrestricted access to social media more cognizant of how much time they were spending on it.

Less Social Media, Less FOMO

It's not certain why participants who only spent 30 minutes daily on social media experienced less depression, but researchers suggest that these young people were spared from looking at content-such as a friend's beach vacation, grad school acceptance letter, or happy family-that might make them feel bad about themselves.

Taking in the photos or posts of people with seemingly "perfect" lives can make social media users feel like they just don't measure up. A 2015 University of Missouri study found that regular Facebook users were more likely to develop depression if they felt feelings of envy on the networking site.

Social media can also give users a case of FOMO, for example, if they were invited on their friend's beach vacation but couldn't go for some reason. Or if the friend didn't ask them on the trip at all, users might feel hurt and left out to see that others in their social circle were. It can lead them to question their friendships or their own self-worth.

Social media users who visit an ex's social media page and see pictures of their former partner wining and dining a new love interest can also experience FOMO. They might wonder why their ex never took them to such fancy restaurants or lavished them with gifts.

Ultimately, limiting one's time on social media can mean less time spent comparing oneself to others. This can extend to not thinking badly of oneself and developing the symptoms that contribute to depression.

Why Young People Are at Risk

Prior to social media and the internet, children only had to worry about bullying on school grounds, for the most part. But social media has given bullies a new way to torment their victims.

With just one click, bullies can circulate a video of their target being ridiculed, beaten up, or otherwise humiliated. People can swarm a peer's social media page, leaving negative comments or spreading misinformation. In some cases, victims of bullying have committed suicide.

Worsening matters is that the victims of bullies often fear that the bullying will increase if they speak to a parent, teacher, or administrator about their mistreatment. This can make a child feel even more isolated and go without the emotional support they need to handle a toxic and potentially volatile situation.

Bad News and 'Doomscrolling'

One in five Americans now get their news from social media-a larger proportion than those who get their news from traditional print media.

For heavy social media users, people who log in for multiple hours at a time or multiple times a day, this means frequent exposure news, including bad news. Headlines related to natural disasters, terrorist attacks, political strife, and celebrity deaths frequently top lists of social media trends.

The habit of binging bad news on social media sites or elsewhere online is known as "doomscrolling," and it can adversely affect one's mental health, leading to development or heightening of anxiety or depression symptoms.

A 2018 Lancet Psychiatry study of 91,005 people found that those who logged onto Facebook before bedtime were 6% likelier to have major depressive disorder and rated their happiness level 9% lower than those with better sleep hygiene did.

Psychologist Amelia Aldao told NPR that doomscrolling locks the public into a "vicious cycle of negativity." The cycle continues because "our minds are wired to look out for threats," she said. "The more time we spend scrolling, the more we find those dangers, the more we get sucked into them, the more anxious we get." Before long, the world appears to be an altogether gloomy place, making doomscrollers feel increasingly hopeless.

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Safely Using Social Media

Using social media comes with mental health risks, but that doesn't mean it should be completely avoided. Experts recommend using these networking websites in moderation.

Set a timer when you're on social media or install an app on your phone or computer that tracks how long you've spent on a networking site.

Without these timers or apps, it's easy to spend hours on social media before you know it. To limit your time on social media, you can also plan real-world activities that help you focus on your immediate surroundings and circumstances. Read a book, watch a movie, go for a stroll, play a game, bake some bread, or have a phone conversation with a friend. Make the time to enjoy life offline.

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Social media is more popular than ever, but research has found that it may contribute to symptoms of depression. Logging off on occasion may help.

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According to research depression often gets worse if it isn't treated, resulting in emotional, behavioral and health problems that affect every area of your life.

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Social media is full of fake influencers and there are many teens who look up to these fake influencers everyday and try their hardest to fit their beauty standard and when they can't look a certain way they start to hate the way they look when it was lost likely a filter or makeup to make there influencer look a certain way.

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Exposing The Fake Luxury Lives Of Influencers - Instagram VS Reality

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Depression in Relationships: When to Say Goodbye

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Breaking up with your partner can be downright painful. Learn about when it’s time to say goodbye in a relationship involving a depressed person.

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Suicide is very common in cyber bullying there has been let alone over 700,000 worldwide. Nearly half of U.S. teens suffer from cyberbullying they go through things that no one else sees social media is a very big thing that us teens use 24/7 we look up to certain people on the internet not knowing what they are actually like.

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Cyberbullying, sometimes called cyber-harassment, is bullying or harassing committed by electronic means. Cyberbullying has become a major issue in schools, as well as society at large, particularly after several high-profile incidents where kids who were bullied online committed suicide. The White House called a summit on the phenomenon in 2011.

More than 30 states have cyberbullying laws and other states have laws that require public school districts to amend their anti-bullying policies to include cyberbullying.

First Amendment challenges to cyberbullying laws

Cyberbullying presents First Amendment issues because the statutes often criminalize speech and some of the language in certain laws and regulations arguably is overly broad or vague. For example, the New York Court of Appeals invalidated Albany County's cyberbullying law as overbroad in People v. Marquan M. The defendant, a high school student, posted sexually explicit pictures of classmates on the Internet.

Prosecutors charged him with violating Albany County's law, which read:
"any act of communicating or causing a communication to be sent by mechanical or electronic means, including posting statements on the internet or through a computer or email network, disseminating embarrassing or sexually explicit photographs; disseminating private, personal, false or sexual information, or sending hate mail, with no legitimate private, personal, or public purpose, with the intent to harass, annoy, threaten, abuse, taunt, intimidate, torment, humiliate, or otherwise inflict significant emotional harm on another person."
The New York Court of Appeals reasoned that the law was too broad, because it "embraces a wide array of applications that prohibit types of protected speech far beyond the cyberbullying of children."

The North Carolina Supreme Court invalidated its state cyberbullying law in State v. Bishop (2016). This case also involved a high school student who posted negative comments about a classmate under a sexually explicit photo. The state law prohibited the use of a computer to "post or encourage others to post on the internet private, personal or sexual information pertaining to minors" with the intent to intimidate or torment a minor.

The state high court explained that the law failed to require that the subject of an online post suffer injury from the online tormenting and, thus, the law "sweeps far beyond the state's legitimate interest in protecting the psychological health of minors." The state court also noted the failure of the state legislature to define the key terms "intimidate" or "torment." Thus, the law could be applied to merely annoying speech protected by the First Amendment.

Regulating student off-campus, online speech

A related issue involves school officials attempting to punish students for their cyberbullying speech that takes place entirely off-campus. Many state laws targeting cyberbullying apply whether or not the speech takes place on-campus or off-campus.

However, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in a couple of decisions that school officials lack the authority to discipline students purely for off-campus, online speech. In one of those decisions, Layshock v. Hermitage School District (3 Cir. 2011), the Third Circuit wrote that "it would be a dangerous and unseemly precedent to allow the state, in the guise of school authorities, to reach into a child's home and control his/her actions there to the same extent that it can control that child when he/she participates in school sponsored activities."

However, most other circuits apply the familiar " substantial disruption" standard from Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969). Most courts have applied the Tinker's reasonable forecast of substantial disruption standard even to off-campus, online speech so long as there is a reasonable connection or nexus to school activities.

There is another part of the Tinker test that is often forgotten. In Tinker, the Court intimated that school officials could punish students if their speech invaded the rights of other students. Cyberbullying expert James C. Hanks explains in his book School Bullying: How Long Is the Arm of the Law that this part of the Tinker case could provide the legal justification for cyberbullying laws.
David L. Hudson, Jr. is a law professor at Belmont who publishes widely on First Amendment topics. He is the author of a 12-lecture audio course on the First Amendment entitled Freedom of Speech: Understanding the First Amendment (Now You Know Media, 2018). He also is the author of many First Amendment books, including The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech (Thomson Reuters, 2012) and Freedom of Speech: Documents Decoded (ABC-CLIO, 2017). This article was originally published in 2009.

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Cyberbullying, bullying through electronic means, presents First Amendment issues when statutes criminalizing cyberbullying are overly broad or vague.

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A Social Life | Award Winning Short Film | Social Media Depression