Impacts of Social Media

• Teens who spend more than three hours a day on social media are more likely to report high levels of behaviors that may be indicators of mental health problems compared to adolescents who do not use social media at all, according to a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
• If the majority of your interactions with others are coming through a screen or in written messages, especially when you are young and your brain is still developing, you may be missing out on opportunities to improve your people skills through face-to-face communication. 
• People often present unrealistic or adjusted images of themselves and their lives on social media. They may only share the fun and exciting aspects of their lives, never mentioning any of their private struggles - or they may digitally edit photos to hide things they perceive as flaws. Constantly viewing these idealized depictions can lead to feeling competitive and/or unhappy if we try to compare ourselves to these images that may not be realistic.
• "Here's the bottom line," experts indicate. "Using less social media than you normally would leads to significant decreases in both depression and loneliness. Source: Penn Today
• Social media use can lead to low quality sleep and harm mental health. It has associations with depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Source: Medical News Today
• National surveys and population-based studies show that the world of social media can have devastating effects on users' mental health. In the U.S. alone, survey findings show a 25% increase in suicide attempts among teenagers between 2009 and 2017. Source: Medical News Today
• Social media may trigger feelings of inadequacy. People may feel as though their life or appearance does not compare favorably with that of others on social media, leading to feelings of envy and dissatisfaction. Source: Medical News Today
• A 2018 study found that high social media usage increases rather than decreases feelings of loneliness. It also reported that reducing social media use helps people feel less lonely and isolated and improves their well-being. Source: Medical News Today
• Additionally, social media can facilitate cyberbullying and create unhealthy self-centeredness and distance from friends and family. Source: Medical News Today

• Checking your social media feeds is the first thing you do in the morning.
• You can't focus on your tasks at school, work, or home without taking a break
• for social media.
• You have a hard time interacting with people in real life.
• You spend hours every day scrolling through your social media feeds.
• You're convinced everyone else is more successful than you.
• You don't feel as good about yourself if the pictures you post don't receive a certain number of likes.
• You log in to check "one quick thing" and end up doing something completely unrelated.
• You can't go anywhere without taking a picture or video for Instagram or Facebook.

Source: Mind Body Build - 10 Signs Social Media is Negatively Affecting You

How to respond if you or someone you love mental health or self-image is negatively impacted by social media:

• Use an app to track how much time you spend on social media each day. Then set a goal for how much you want to reduce it by.
• Turn off your phone at certain times of the day, such as when you're driving, in a meeting, at the gym, having dinner, spending time with offline friends, or playing with your kids. Don't take your phone with you to the bathroom.
• Don't bring your phone or tablet to bed. Turn devices off and leave them in another room overnight to charge.
• Disable social media notifications. It's hard to resist the constant buzzing, beeping, and dinging of your phone alerting you to new messages. Turning off notifications can help you regain control of your time and focus.
• Limit checks. If you compulsively check your phone every few minutes, wean yourself off by limiting your checks to once every 15 minutes. Then once every 30 minutes, then once an hour. There are apps that can automatically limit when you're able to access your phone.
• Try removing social media apps from your phone so you can only check Facebook, Twitter and the like from your tablet or computer. If this sounds like too drastic a step, try removing one social media app at a time to see how much you really miss it.

We all need the face-to-face company of others to be happy and healthy. At its best, social media is a great tool for facilitating real-life connections. But if you've allowed virtual connections to replace real-life friendships in your life, there are plenty of ways to build meaningful connections without relying on social media:

• Set aside time each week to interact offline with friends and family. Try to make it a regular get-together where you always keep your phones off.
• If you've neglected face-to-face friendships, reach out to an old friend (or an online friend) and arrange to meet up. If you both lead busy lives, offer to run errands or exercise together.
• Join a club. Find a hobby, creative endeavor, or fitness activity you enjoy and join a group of like-minded individuals that meet on a regular basis.
• Don't let social awkwardness stand in the way. Even if you're shy, there are proven techniques to overcome insecurity and build friendships.
• If you don't feel that you have anyone to spend time with, reach out to acquaintances. Lots of other people feel just as uncomfortable about making new friends as you do-so be the one to break the ice. Invite a coworker out for lunch or ask a neighbor or classmate to join you for coffee.
• Interact with strangers. Look up from your screen and connect with people you cross paths with on public transport, at the coffee shop, or in the grocery store. Simply smiling or saying hello will improve how you feel and you never know where it may lead.

• Feeling and expressing gratitude about the important things in your life can be a welcome relief to the resentment, animosity, and discontent sometimes generated by social media.
• Take time for reflection. Try keeping a gratitude journal or using a gratitude app. Keep track of all the great memories and positives in your life as well as those things and people you'd miss if they were suddenly absent from your life. If you're more prone to venting or negative posts, you can even express your gratitude on social media-although you may benefit more from the private reflection that isn't subject to the scrutiny of others.
• Practice mindfulness. Experiencing FOMO and comparing yourself unfavorably to others keeps you dwelling on life's disappointments and frustrations. Instead of being fully engaged in the present, you're focused on the "what ifs" and the "if onlys" that prevent you from having a life that matches those you see on social media. By practicing mindfulness, you can learn to live more in the present moment, lessen the impact of FOMO, and improve your overall mental wellbeing. Read more about practicing mindfulness.
• Volunteer - Just as human beings are hard-wired to seek social connection, we're also hard-wired to give to others. Helping other people or animals not only enriches your community and benefits a cause that's important to you, but it also makes you feel happier and more grateful.

Childhood and the teenage years can be filled with developmental challenges and social pressures. For some kids, social media has a way of exacerbating those problems and fueling anxiety, bullying, depression, and issues with self-esteem. If you're worried about your child's social media use, it can be tempting to simply confiscate their phone or other devices. But that can create further problems, separating your child from their friends and the positive aspects of social media. Instead, there are other ways to help your child use Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms in a more responsible way:

• Monitor and limit your child's social media use. The more you know about how your child is interacting on social media, the better you'll be able to address any problems. Parental control apps can help limit your child's data usage or restrict their phone use to certain times of the day. You can also adjust privacy settings on the different platforms to limit their potential exposure to bullies or predators.
• Talk to your child about underlying issues. Problems with social media use can often mask deeper issues. Is your child having problems fitting in at school? Are they suffering from shyness or social anxiety? Are problems at home causing them stress?
• Enforce "social media" breaks. For example, you could ban social media until your child has completed their homework in the evening, not allow phones at the dinner table or in their bedroom, and plan family activities that preclude the use of phones or other devices. To prevent sleep problems, always insist phones are turned off at least one hour before bed.
• Teach your child how social media is not an accurate reflection of people's lives. They shouldn't compare themselves or their lives negatively to others on social media. People only post what they want others to see. Images are manipulated or carefully posed and selected. And having fewer friends on social media doesn't make your child less popular or less worthy.
• Encourage exercise and offline interests. Get your child away from social media by encouraging them to pursue physical activities and hobbies that involve real-world interaction. Exercise is great for relieving anxiety and stress, boosting self-esteem, and improving mood-and is something you can do as a family. Read more about the benefits of exercise. The more engaged your child is offline, the less their mood and sense of self-worth will be dependent on how many friends, likes, or shares they have on social media.

Source: Help Guide: Social Media and Mental Health