Impact of Social Media on us by Victor Mushimbami
Impact of Social Media
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Social media is becoming a normal part of our lives. It has been observed that “90 percent of American teenagers use social media and the average teen spends more than five hours daily on social media” (Burke and Pruszynski, 2022, Social media).
By “social media”, we mean platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, etc. More are still being created. I deleted my TikTok account because I had no choice on what to watch and everyone was dancing! (Burke and Pruszynski, 2022).
We are grateful to the social media creators because social media connects us with people from different parts of the world, enabling us to collaborate and appreciate diversity. We can also communicate easily with family and friends who are far away from us. For example, my two sisters, Kezia and Prisca Mushimbami, are out of Africa in the far western world, but we can talk to them as if they are nearby and we can also discuss family issues. However, social media also has some negative effects on our mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being, especially for teens and young adults. (Burke and Pruszynski, 2022).
How can Social Media affect our Physical Health?
Burke and Pruszynski (2022) state that "one problem with too much social media use is that the time spent online replaces time spent on other health activities like sleep, exercise, and real-time social interaction with family and friends" (Social media).
As the saying goes, "too much of anything is bad". Misusing social media can disturb our good sleeping habits, decrease our focus, and cause health issues such as obesity (due to lack of physical activity), increased risk of heart disease, and diabetes. Furthermore, spending too much time on social media can reduce the amount of sleep we get. This can lead to stress and anxiety, which can further decrease our sleep quality and affect our daily activities. (Burke and Pruszynski, 2022).
If our sleep is disturbed, it can affect our mental and emotional health and weaken our immune system, making us more prone to illness. Eight hours is the recommended amount of sleep for adults.
We should avoid multitasking, such as being on social media while doing homework or watching TV while eating and browsing social media. It can impair our ability to focus and concentrate on one task, which can potentially damage our attention span. (Burke and Pruszynski, 2022).
How can Social Media affect our Mental Health?
Many of us spend too much time on social media. It has been observed that people who spend too much time on social media are stressed, anxious, lonely, and less sociable in person. Social media encourages comparison with others, which could lower our self-esteem, increase our anxiety over body image, expose us to online bullying, negative comments, and inappropriate sexual content.
There is a lot of fake life on social media. These fake pictures can make us feel inferior as we compare ourselves with the unreal people we see on social media. (Burke and Pruszynski, 2022).
Fear of missing out
A feeling that makes us check our social media because we think we have missed some interesting things. According to a study conducted in 2018, "College students who limited social media use to 30 minutes per day reported feeling significantly less lonely and depressed". This was compared to students who did not limit their social media time. (Burke and Pruszynski, 2022).
During my theological studies at the Center for Christian Missions (CCM), students were observed to spend most of their learning time on social media. This was affecting their connection with the lecturer.
Using too much social media can create a feeling of always trying to impress our friends online, looking at how many likes we get, as we lose touch with the real world. (Burke and Pruszynski, 2022).
Social Media and Social Skills.
While the name "social media" has the word "social" in it, using media and texting as a primary way of communicating can actually hurt your social skills and ability to relate with others. (Burke and Pruszynski, 2022).
The Child Mind Institute tells us that spending time looking at the screen rather than at a person not only eliminates the personal aspect of conversation, but also prevents non-verbal communication such as "body language and facial expressions, which can greatly affect how the information being communicated is received or understood" (Burke and Pruszynski, 2022).
The rules of communication are the same for both online and in person. Be respectful online because what you post there will remain there for the whole world to see. I remember, before the 7th Zambian president came into power, there were comments all over his page that he would never be the Zambian president. After he came into power, people went back to those comments and asked them how they felt since the one they said would not become a president was now a president. Never disrespect anyone because your comment will always be there. People never learn!
How to use Social Media in a Healthy Way?
Here are some health tips that could help us:
• Unfollow unhealthy accounts: some of what is posted online is not real. Therefore, following and comparing yourself with them can make you lose touch with reality and harm your life. Pay attention to how the accounts you follow make you feel. Do they make you feel sexual? Then it won't take long before you hear about rape cases and broken marriages. Do the accounts you follow make you feel like you are nothing? Then it won't take long before you put up a fake life that makes you appear as if you are successful.
• Connect with and support others: social media gives you the opportunity to connect with people from all over the world. Make sure you are supportive and encouraging, not rude, discouraging, and mean when engaging with others. Social media is not a battlefield and you are not acting, you are living and whatever you post reflects who you are in the real world and life.
• Beware of what you share before clicking the share button. Think about where what you are about to share is coming from. Look at the source of what you are about to share. You might find a post "Legends are born in June" that catches your attention and share it quickly because you are born in June, without knowing that it is from a porn group or page. How can you explain that to your audience?
• Reduce your screen time: reduce the time you spend scrolling social media. This can help you do other physical activities and socialize. Never make the mistake of being on social media while spending time with your spouse.
• Lastly, take a break from social media: if it is not easy to reduce your social media usage, try to take a break. Take a day off, a week, or a month and pay attention to how you feel. With all that time, you can spend it on doing your hobbies, spending time with your spouse, being physically active, and spending time with your friends and family.
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Thank you for your time!
Reference
Burke, C. W., & Pruszynski, K. (2022). Social Media. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/MWVBHA208849870/HWRC?u=lirn17237&sid=bookmark-HWRC&xid=ce0916c8
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