Psychological Effects Of Social Media

The Internet and social media has become a big part of everyone 's daily lives and with the rise of technology. social media has become a form of communication, entertainment, and a way to interact with the people around us. Social media is difficult to avoid. Although social media is useful in many ways, it also has some negative effects on its consumers. Some people even feel pressured to play a part in the use of social media and even have negative psychological effects.

Social media is something that can be used on computers and even cell phones, now that applications have become so popular. Whenever we want and where ever we go, people are able to access social media. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat are all very popular forms

Being on social media too much can lead to constantly comparing oneself to others therefore leading to bad psychological effects. When a person is repeatedly comparing their self to another person, think about how that person is more successful or attractive, this leads to them thinking badly about their own self image. A study done by C. R. Blease supports this idea by showing the negative effects of Facebook on some users. People become dependent on what other people think of them over social media and are continuously comparing themselves to others. People even try to determine their popularity, success, and self worth through the amount of "likes" they get, and "friends" they have on social media. Another article by Feinstein et al., discusses an issue known as "Facebook Depression" which is an effect of spending too much time on social media. In other words, spending an extensive amount of time on social media gives users too much time to compare their appearance, success and popularity to other people they see on social media. Both articles show that social media is correlated to negative psychological effects such as depression and anxiety. Although the use of social media may increase interaction through the virtual world it actually decreases interaction with people in the real world. In a research article by Kraut et al., it was shown that the increased use of social media