The Effects of Social Media That Nobody Talks About

Social media has opened up a platform for the introverts to express themselves and the talented to showcase their talents. It’s now a riot, everyone wanting to portray their own imperfect life in their most perfect manner. It’s all about showing off on the internet because the world needs to confirm your living your best.

Scientist actually believe posting on social media and getting ‘likes’ activates the reward pathway. The release of dopamine regulates incentive salience (motivation and desire) for rewarding stimuli and facilitates reinforcement and reward-related motor function. By so, we get false expectations on how young people should look and behave [an ideal body image] and when we can’t meet the standards our self-esteem deteriorate.

 The pressure to be {always on} is leading people to take their eyes off the road. Since it’s a massive competition now, we have to look flawless on social media. The Royal Society of Public Health recently found 9/10 young females say that they are unhappy with the way they look. People get used to have to earn an audience, and when gratification is not experienced, they feel unwanted, not beautiful and end up having mental breakdown. I once witnessed a friend of mine taking down her photo because it didn’t get many likes as she anticipated, and she has also been experiencing incidents of anxiety due to ignored status update.

Dr. Dan Herman explains the concept of FOMO (fear of missing out) as a pervasive appreheasion that others might be having rewarding experience from which one is absent. It is characterized by a desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing. Studies have shown that FOMO leads to anxiety and depression and that it can resemble addiction

People have gone ahead to sacrifice their privacy in lieu of attention. Not long ago someone posted on how her boyfriend has been treating her so bad and was seeking advice on whether to stay in the relationship or give him another chance. A study done by Dr. Mushtaq Ilamdin shows that people who post their problems on social media tend to feel better after. Now this is something you get to see but don’t get to hear every day. The question is; SHOULD we keep updating people on whatever we are doing or go through?