Social media is a great form of entertainment and an easy source to get worldly news from, but it comes with its side effects. From societal standards being portrayed on social media to horrifying news, sometimes social media gets too overwhelming. Constantly being exposed to various triggering snippets of information and photos can have damaging effects on the psychological well-being of many. It is for this reason that we may need a break from social media. Sometimes this break could be for a week, a month, or even a year – it can be for as long as it takes to break free from the constraints that social media prompts.
Negative Impacts of Social Media
Constantly using social media every minute of every day has its negative consequences, ranging from addiction to social isolation. Social isolation is a phenomenon defined as “a deficit of personal relationships or being excluded from social networks.” Although the question of whether social media decreases or increases social isolation has been debated, we cannot deny the fact that it does play a role in making us keep to ourselves and just get absorbed in it. We become dependent on what it has to offer, when, in reality, sometimes social media offers negativity and pain. Social media usage has been linked to feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness.
Someone that suffers from depression or anxiety can get triggered by various posts that are hurtful unknowingly. The fact that social media is a medium of opinions, news, and communication makes it easy for information – all kinds of information – to be disseminated quickly. Whether it is worldly news regarding human rights violations or what that celebrity ate today, information can all too easily make its way into our sight. Sometimes, this information is damaging. Constantly being exposed to so much pain that is happening in a country, poverty, famine, trauma, and the like can be too much for us to handle. It is not healthy to be in constant exposure to various triggering events, important as they may be for us to know and learn of.
This constant isolation from our daily lives, mixed with constant exposure to events that may be too much to handle, makes it all too easy to slip into demotivation and negative energy. We lose the drive to do things we once loved, and our mental well-being plummets. This social isolation not only plummets our mental well-being, but is also associated with a higher suicide risk.
Why It Is Important to Take a Break from It
We need to create a balance in our lives because exposure to various triggering events on social media can only worsen our well-being, and this impacts various aspects of our lives. That is why it is essential to detox from social media, because this helps you gain awareness of your surroundings and ground yourself. You need to be conscious of the way you use social media and taking a break from it could do just that. Not only this, but taking a break from social media allows you to explore other interests and to surround yourself with things that you like doing.
Studies showcase that using social media for only 30 minutes a day can actually benefit our well-being, but this limitation does take time to showcase its effects on us. A social media detox may be just what you may need when it becomes too much to take in, and you get to decide the extent of this detox. It may be that you can just decide to unfollow an account that makes you upset or completely delete a social media application for a month – it really depends on how impacted you are by what you are exposed to.