The advent of social media was basically to strengthen online rapid relationships and interactions between family and friends. However, in recent times, this purpose has taken a new course with the inclusion of entertainment, career, and advertisement.
Over the last decade, in the bid to search for updates and find closure on social media, many seem to get some things wrongly.
Although some people make use of social media for all the right reasons, some people are in the problem of social media addiction. It is the act of being overwhelmed by the desire to log on to social media and staying connected.
What is social media addiction
Social media addiction is one of the numerous behavioral addictions that there are. It is the compulsive urge that people have towards social media by devoting so much time and energy to it, till it becomes disadvantageous to other aspects of their lives.
Similar to other behavioral addictions, an obsession with social media is a physiological disorder that is capable of affecting the brain in several harmful ways.
There is no standard diagnosis for identifying social media addiction. Regardless, we can not dispute the fact that there are downsides to the overuse of social media.
Disadvantages of social media addiction
Connecting to social media for work or random social interaction might not pose so much threat to one’s mental existence. However, as resourceful and advantageous social media is, an addiction to it can be overly significant to our mental and physical health. Some probable drawbacks may include:
- Poor grades for students and poor performance at work for those who work.
- Increased anxiety, loneliness, depression, and environmental isolation
- Reduced physical activity and inappropriate sleeping patterns due to the outrageous time spent on social media.
- Low self-esteem, which is possibly due to the wrong feeling that the lives of others are way better compared with yours.