Do You Know The Effects of Social Media Addiction on Mental Health?

Currently, it cannot be denied that human life is closely related to social media, making it possible for humans to share information, learn new things, get entertainment, express themselves and communicate without time and distance limits. However, behind these various benefits there is a negative impact of social media on physical health if used routinely.¹

Social media addiction occurs when people spend too much time and use it excessively, thus disrupting their daily activities.² Social media addiction can affect the brain and cause people to use social media compulsively and excessively. This condition is related to the production of a chemical in the brain, dopamine, which provides a pleasant sensation after using social media. At the result, the brain identifies this activity as useful, enjoyable and should be repeated.³

Symptoms of Social Media Addiction

Someone with social media addiction can experience different symptoms depending on the extent to which the technology affects them. The following are some of the symptoms that can appear^{: 1.2}

- Immediately check social media before and after waking up.

- Always online, not even take notice about things that could endanger themselves or others, such as crossing the street while opening social media.

- Never get bored playing social media, even if they play on their cell phone all day.

- When upload something, it must be liked and get lots of comments from other people.

- Experience stress when they could not get access to the internet, because they are afraid of missing out on information or Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).

Negative effects of social media addiction

Someone who is addicted to social media can also experience other negative effects as follows:^2.4

- Low self-esteem and increased social jealousy due to make unhealthy comparisons via social media continuously.

- Reduced feelings of empathy due to lack of understanding of real life situation.

- Anti-social and commonly affect their personal life.

- Difficulty on focus or concentrate when studying or working.

- Anxiety disorders due to fear of missing out on social media.

- Problems with self-control because sleep quality disturbance, making them more irritable and panicky.

- Often feel lonely if they don't communicate with other people for hours via social media. This condition will increase the risk of depression and anxiety disorders.

- There is an increased risk of being exposed to cyberbullying, so that victims can experience mental health problems and can even lead to suicidal thoughts.

How to overcome social media addiction

Social media is designed to make it appear as if one person and others are still actively using it. Therefore, it may be difficult to completely eliminate its use. However, we should still try to limit our exposure and protect ourselves from the negative impacts of social media. Below are several tips that can be applied to overcome the negative impacts of social media.⁵

- Minimize and set limits on regular use of social media, such as not using social media right after waking up and before going to bed.

- Set a time or install an app that can track time spending on social media. This is need to make people aware of the time they spend on opening social media.

- Temporarily turn off social media notifications on the cellphone so people do not get trapped into the habit of checking it constantly.

- Avoid using social media by deleting its applications on the cellphone.

- Spend most of the time doing other activities, such as reading books, going on vacation, or trying a new hobby

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