Introduction

If, at some point since creating one of your many social media accounts, you have questioned whether the positives outweigh the negatives of continuing the use of each - this post is for you.

Sure, in some ways it can be nice to feel we are staying in touch with others or up to date on current information/trends. If you feel social media causes you no issues, I am genuinely happy for you. If, at various points, social media use has brought up negative emotions and influenced a negative self-view or negative thoughts about one’s life, keep reading to find out why.

This post will discuss how the negatives might outweigh the perceived positives and why you may want to consider deleting your social media. We will take a quick look at perspectives from the experts of the social media world, research, and my own clinical experience. 

What The Social Media Experts Are Saying

If you have not yet seen The Social Dilemma, I highly suggest that you head to Netflix and check it out or at least visit their website here. The main message from the film is brought to us by top players: CEOs, lead engineers, and top marketing directors of Facebook, Instagram, Google, etc. discussing how social media’s design nurtures addiction to maximize profit, and its ability to manipulate people’s views, emotions, and behavior.

You are the product these companies profit from. They make their money by finding ways to keep us glued to our phones for as long as possible. The longer we are scrolling, the more money they are making.

The sites gather information from our interests and where we look, and recommend things based on our previous searches to keep us going. Next thing you know, hours have gone by and your time has been spent in another universe, away from the present.

Time you could have spent being productive was wasted scrolling. This can lead to feelings of guilt or negativity toward oneself afterwards. Time you could have spent connecting with others in person, forming bonds and increasing social skills was spent comparing yourself to others from a distance, with an illusion of connection. Worrying or fearing how others may view you or how many likes or positive comments you have or have not received on each post. Leading to an increase in social anxiety and less social skills.

How it works: each time we receive a positive comment or “like” on a post or picture our brains receive a hit of dopamine - the feel good chemical that leaves us wanting more (and leads to addiction). When we see a cute or funny video in our feed (also filling us with dopamine) and we spend time watching it or hit the “like” button, that information is sent along and gathered so that they can send similar content our way to keep us continuously viewing. Their aim is to continue the dopamine hits, leading us to stick around wanting more, becoming addicted. To the point where the act of grabbing the phone and clicking on the app is something that’s automatic and done without intention.

We as humans, are social beings and thrive on feeling connected to others - social media allows us to feel that way but also causes us anxiety, fear and depression when we do not feel accepted by others.

When negative comments are left or not enough people “like” our photo/post, we feel bad. This pulls us further into the digital world in a different way. Negative reinforcement and punishment (see: types of reward and punishment) are also at play here. It forces us to “fix” the post or the picture, the way we look, or the message we are sending, spending more time and attention on these apps getting it “right” to please others in hopes of feeling better about ourselves. 

The biggest takeaway from the film for me personally, was that these are the top people speaking out about their fears for humankind - from the products they have created. They themselves, have fallen prey to the manipulation and addiction and have struggled to pull themselves away. Many are no longer on social media and almost all seem to not allow their children to have it. To me, that is very telling. 

The Research

We now have easy access to loads of research thanks to the various search engines on the internet. With the click of a button we can look up the impacts of social media on mental health and find ample studies.

The key is to make sure you dive deeply into what has gone into the research and who is conducting it, not just reading the headline and what they want you to see. Industry funded studies often downplay the negative effects of social media usage to protect their business model.

I am going to highlight one article from Acta Psychologica I came across on the impact social media has, specifically on young girls.

Twenge et al. (2021) highlights the well-known fact that “rates of depression, anxiety, loneliness, dissatisfaction with life, self-harm, suicide attempts and suicide” (p. 1) began rising in adolescents in 2012.

It is no coincidence that this is the time a majority of youth gained constant access to the internet and social media through smartphones. It is when we began to see the shift of how teens communicate with one another and socialize, along with how they view themselves and others. 

The study not only discusses the dangerous effects social media has specifically on adolescent girls, but further emphasizes the point from the previous section that it is an addiction. The continuous use has led to what I found, very strong - but sadly, not so surprising results in how greatly it has impacted mental health for specifically girls.

Twenge et al. (2021) states, “for girls electronic device use is more strongly linked to mental health than injectable drug use, obesity, exercise, having four or more sexual partners, and having sex before age 13, and is similar to heroin use” (p. 7).

I had to read that a couple of times in order for it to really sink in. This may be a clue as to why therapy is in such high demand and why waitlists are miles long. The link to social media may not be at the forefront of clients’ and families’ minds, but the slow, gradual accumulation of social media access, use, and various accounts is a much bigger player than we are recognizing.

Clinical Experience

A common theme I have noticed when meeting with clients (ages ranging from pre-teens all the way to young adults) in the therapeutic setting is a lack of confidence and constant worry of how others view/perceive them.

The focus is constantly outward - what others are thinking, trying to predict or guess, and coming up with their own conclusions based on these predictions. This draws them away from focus on the self and away from the present. It causes unnecessary stressors and anxiety, negative self-views and thoughts, and can lead to symptoms of depression.

I believe these engrained thought patterns stem heavily from the use of social media; a connection that is not talked about enough.

When posting a picture or sharing a thought online, we usually try to put up something that others will like, share, or comment on - responding in a positive way. We have others in mind more than ourselves when creating the “perfect” post. This is reflected in the increase of social anxiety and youth worrying about speaking up in front of others or in class, in worrying about how they dress or what their make-up looks like (and the list could go on) - all too concerned with how others may view them or how the individual believes they are viewed. Leading to a lack of confidence in oneself when approval or recognition isn’t given.

What would it be like if the time we spent worrying about what others thought of us, was spent bettering ourselves in a different way? - being present. Meeting up with loved ones or friends, going for a walk outside, working out, reading a book we enjoy, etc. The options are limitless.

Could you see how confidence would differ? How interactions might change? How the worry of what others may think could start to dissipate?

Conclusion

People may fall at various places on the spectrum of how they view social media and their own relationship with it. The aim of this post is to really think about how it impacts your life and if/what you want to do about it.

For some, it may be a necessity to have social media accounts for your job/career. If so, are there ways you can limit your exposure to some of these negative aspects?

If you have social media for purely entertainment purposes, how much time a day, a week, a month do you lose to it?

Would you consider limiting your time or ridding yourself of your accounts? Why or why not?

This post is aiming to stir up thoughts and encourage conversation surrounding the topic.

Feel free to leave your thoughts below in the comments section!

Resources

Lanier, Jaron. (2018). Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now. Henry Holt and Company Publishers.

Learning, Lumen, and Jessica Traylor. “Reinforcement and Punishment.” General Psychology, pressbooks.online.ucf.edu/lumenpsychology/chapter/operant-conditioning/. Accessed 30 May 2023. 

“‘The Social Dilemma’ - Gen Z Action Guide.” The Social Dilemma, 22 Oct. 2021, www.thesocialdilemma.com/youth/. 

Twenge, Jean M., et al. “Specification Curve Analysis Shows That Social Media Use Is Linked to Poor Mental Health, Especially Among Girls.” Acta Psychologica, 29 Jan. 2022, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691822000270?ref=pdf_download&fr=RR-2&rr=7ce8aef10d4b3913#section-cited-by.