Social Media + Mental Health: Friend or Foe?

Most of us are familiar with social media and engage in it daily. In fact, 4.9 billion people around the world are currently accessing it in 2023, more than doubling in less than a decade since 2015. At the same time, anxiety in general has increased in society since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Life as everyone knew it shifted exponentially, and various effects have rippled out since. Anxiety is currently the leading mental health disorder in the United States, with 1 in 5 people report experiencing it. Due to the safety concerns of leaving our homes, many turned to virtual communities upon being isolated from family and friends. While there are and have been benefits to this type of connection, it can be challenging to remain aware of the impacts our social media use may be having on not only our self-worth but also our relationships over time. Furthermore, it may even be exacerbating our anxiety. 

So how and why is it so powerful? The oversimplified answer is dopamine, a chemical in the brain that’s released when we “feel good” or are experiencing pleasure. Receiving “likes” on apps such as TikTok and Facebook gives us a big hit of this, always leaving one wanting more. But the problem is that we increasingly need more and more of these accolades to feel the same effects. When the ‘likes’ stop coming, our dopamine levels will decrease, as may our self-worth and confidence. In an attempt at increasing our odds of feeling good again, we may post and check our platforms more frequently. Another version of this is feeling like we need to post to stay relevant. It becomes a chore instead of something we want to do, and our life can become wrapped around “creating content” instead of living it. However, the reality remains that ‘likes’ are subjective and we cannot actually control them - the unpredictability makes it a vicious cycle. 

When we seek the approval of others, it will always be fleeting. It is incredibly vulnerable to post online, and though it can bring people together, it can also leave some feeling more lonely than before. We often don’t realize that our feeds are the highlight reels of people's lives - we don’t see the bad days, the in-between moments, or the messy nuances of life. Moreover, it’s getting increasingly harder to tell when someone is using a filter because they are designed so well. You can alter lighting, remove blemishes, change your waistline, and even pick a new hair color to name a few. What is real and altered becomes one and the same, and we start to think that what we look like is completely different from everyone else. We may even filter our own photos in an attempt to fit in or feel better.

So when it comes to social media anxiety, is there a way forward? Absolutely, and intentionality is key. Instead of engaging in mindless scrolling, start paying attention to how you feel before, during, and after you use an app. What comes up for you? How much time are you spending? How present are you in real life? If you are looking to make changes, you can cultivate an option that works for you! For some that looks like taking time away by setting limits or taking app breaks. For others it’s finding rituals to start and end their days with instead of looking at their phone, some even leaving it in another room entirely for extended periods of time. We can also increase our dopamine levels in various ways, such as exercising, playing with our pets, yoga, massage, or taking in nature. And though social media use doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon, we hold the power to make our platforms work for and not against us. 

If any of this sounds like you, you are not alone! A therapy group is a great place to revive your atrophied social skills and complement your online relationship-building skills. Click here to learn more about joining a group today!