Social media addiction is an unhealthy behavior that involves the excessive use of different or specific social media platforms daily. Social media addiction is an over-dependence on social media as the only source of joy and pleasure. Social media addiction comes with many negative effects that affect the overall well-being of social media users.
Human beings are known to adapt to different changes in innovations and technology over time, the birth of social media platforms is a typical example. Social media, otherwise known as microblogging platforms have birthed social media addiction. Some people are stuck on different social media platforms without interest in any other offline activities. Social media addiction is seen more among the young population than the older ones.
Some young adults suffer social media addiction because they wake up, bathe, brush, eat, drink, play, rest, and sleep with their mobile phones, checking and viewing photos and videos on social media platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp and among others. Such young adults see social media as the only thing that make their life complete. They conspicuously show their social media addiction and do not care whatsoever anyone will tell them about the consequences of their overreliance on social media platforms. Over time, such young adults suffer social isolation, and this negatively affects their mental health.
Social media addiction creates social isolation. Social isolation means “a state in which an individual lacks a sense of true belonging, true engagement with others, and fulfilling relationships.” A person who battles social isolation as a result of social media addiction sees social gatherings with families and friends as an anathema. Such a person creates a world, especially in his room, which revolves around himself alone. He feels uncomfortable having a one-on-one conversation with people, except with his social media friends after logging into his social media accounts.
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Between the 1970s and 2017, findings revealed that more teenagers do not come together physically due to time spent on social media as in the past. Some findings informed that socially isolated individuals tend to spend more time on microblogging websites as a result of social media addiction. Other studies found out that many online users are unable to turn the friends that they make on social media into “real” life friends. Researchers observed that social media addicts felt comfortable interacting with their online friends, and saw no need to meet them in real life.
In the United States, no fewer than 70% of adults have at least one social media account, and the average American internet user has seven. More so, social media addiction has been known to be common among Americans. Social media addiction has been known to affect social isolation, however, other factors such as job loss, and marital issues cause social isolation. The sad reality about social media addiction is that social media addicts feel socially isolated when they are off social media platforms. This means social media addicts are not comfortable with offline social interactions.
One of the negative effects of social media addiction is poor communication skills. A person who spends all his time on social media is not comfortable having long conversations. Such a person is often in a hurry to end physical discussion as quickly as possible. Poor communication skills are known to affect relationships, either business or marital.
Social media addiction endangers the love between husbands and wives. If either the husband or wife, or even both couples are addicted to being on social media, and not having physical romantic conversations, their marriage might hit the rock. In a situation where one of the couples meets someone online and the person influences him or her with sweet words, in no time, the marriage might crash. There are countless true life stories where social media addiction has led to separation and divorce. There is a saying that, 'when someone spends time on something or with someone frequently, in no time, an addiction sets in.'
Family and friends will shun regular visits and reunions as a result of social media addiction. A social media addict will see no reason to visit his family and friends. As a result of this, some family members will see the social media addict among them as the black sheep of the family. This will further strain relationships, with amily ties being in jeopardy.
One of the natural health boosters for human beings is recreational and sporting activities. When families and friends come together once in a while for parties, leisure, or picnics, it creates unending happiness, however, social media addiction will not make this possible. Social media addiction makes being in groups for sporting activities a waste of time. Social media addiction makes surfing on social media platforms a real recreational activity.
Another terrible thing about social media addiction is that an hour without being on microblogging websites will cause serious discomfort. A social media addict without his mobile phone for a few minutes feels more or less like a cocaine addict who needs to take his 'coke.'
Social media addiction has created false impressions about real life. It has made social media users think life begins and ends on social media platforms. Therefore, every regular social media user has seen 'fake life' of some social media influencers as the ultimate goal.
Social media addiction has led to a rise in depression and loneliness. News of suicide has been reported due to social isolation. One of such cases that has been reported was in New York City, United States in 2015, where a young adult committed suicide after long social isolation due to social media addiction.
Social media addiction if left unchecked is a ticking time bomb that will lead to a rise in mental health, and eventually more suicide and murder cases.
Sources
https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/social-media-use-increases-depression-and-loneliness
https://www.psycom.net/how-social-media-increases-loneliness
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/03/20/teen-loneliness-social-media-cell-phones-suicide-isolation-gaming-cigna/3208845002/
https://online.regiscollege.edu/blog/does-social-media-create-isolation/#:~:text=However%2C%20social%20media%20usage%20may,to%20feelings%20of%20social%20isolation.
Oladele Hakeem Olaniyan who lives in Nigeria writes this Article exclusively for Naijaloveinfo.
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