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Why Does Social Media Cause Anxiety

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Why social media can cause anxiety and depression | Larry King Now | Ora.TV

Users with SAD engage on social media more frequently and passively than non-socially anxious people. They prefer feed scrolling over posting.

This online silence can be accompanied by anxious rumination, brooding, the desire to get into interaction, and overwhelming fears that result in deleting newly written lines for a potential post or comment. This creates more space for worries.

A 2014 study found that, for people with high SA, online communication was easier than face-to-face but brought more social media anxiety compared to passive scrolling. It triggered the same complex cognitive and behavioral processes as face-to-face interactions in people with high SA. It reinforced the existing unhelpful beliefs that others are critical, judging, or rejecting led to an increase in safety behaviors and drove more negative thoughts and interpretations.

For everyone, social media creates a feeling that anything we do, anywhere we go, there is potential for criticism, rejection, judgment, and meeting internet trolls. Thus, instead of letting us embrace positive moments, social media causes anxiety, stress, and depression symptoms, creating a vicious cycle.

Sleep Deprivation And Depression

Some of the ways in which social media use impacts mood may be indirect. For instance, one of the most common contributors to depression in teenagers is sleep deprivation, which can be caused, or exacerbated, by social media.

Research shows that 60 percent of adolescents are looking at their phones in the last hour before sleep, and that they get on average an hour less sleep than their peers who dont use their phones before bed. Blue light from electronic screens interferes with falling asleep on top of that, checking social media is not necessarily a relaxing or sleep-inducing activity. Scrolling on social media, notes Dr. Hamlet, can easily end up causing stress.

Social media can have a profound effect on sleep, adds Dr. Bubrick. You have the intention to check Facebook or Instagram for 5 minutes, and the next thing you know 50 minutes are gone. Youre an hour behind in sleep, and more tired the next day. You find it harder to focus. Youre off your game, and it spirals from there.

Social Media Anxiety Disorder

Social media anxiety disorder also needs to be mentioned when talking about how can social media cause anxiety. This is a disorder that is linked to social anxiety which is a worry or a fear of embarrassing yourself or being judged by others. If you suffer from social media anxiety disorder then your usage of these platforms will impact your physical and mental health.

In these cases, the person is likely to feel very self-conscious about what they are doing on these platforms and will constantly be worrying about how they come across. Will they be judged for what they have posted or look foolish? This can lead to feelings of anxiety and depression.

The pressure to be perfect on the platforms goes far beyond what we have already spoken about. Social media anxiety disorder can make people spend hours and hours a day trying to create perfect posts and responses. If the feedback they get is not what they expected it can create huge amounts of anxiety and worry. Social media starts to become an obsession which takes over their life. Usually in situations like this professional help from a therapist is needed to stop the negative patterns of behaviour.

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Documenting Your Every Move On Social Media Can Take Its Toll

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The rise of social media has meant that people are more connected than we have ever been in the history of time. But our reliance on social media can have a detrimental effect on our mental health, with the average Briton checking their phone as much as 28 times a day.

While social media platforms can have their benefits, using them too frequently can make you feel increasingly unhappy and isolated in the long run.

The constant barrage of perfectly filtered photos that appear on Instagram are bound to knock many peoples self-esteem, while obsessively checking your Twitter feed just before bed could be contributing towards poor quality of sleep.

Here are six ways that social media could be negatively affecting your mental health without you even realising.

Helping A Child Or Teen With Smartphone Addiction

Do you think that social media are harming the mental ...

Any parent whos tried to drag a child or teen away from a smartphone or tablet knows how challenging it can be to separate kids from social media, messaging apps, or online games and videos. Youngsters lack the maturity to curb their smartphone use on their own, but simply confiscating the device can often backfire, creating anxiety and withdrawal symptoms in your child. Instead, there are plenty of other ways to help your child find a healthier balance:

Be a good role model. Children have a strong impulse to imitate, so its important you manage your own smartphone and Internet use. Its no good asking your child to unplug at the dinner table while youre staring at your own phone or tablet. Dont let your own smartphone use distract from parent-child interactions.

Use apps to monitor and limit your childs smartphone use. There are a number of apps available that can limit your childs data usage or restrict texting and web browsing to certain times of the day. Other apps can eliminate messaging capabilities while in motion, so you can prevent your teen using a smartphone while driving.

Create phone-free zones. Restrict the use of smartphones or tablets to a common area of the house where you can keep an eye on your childs activity and limit time online. Ban phones from the dinner table and bedrooms and insist theyre turned off after a certain time at night.

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Social Media And Adolescents And Young Adults Mental Health

Elina Mir, Caroline Novas & Meg Seymour, PhD, National Center for Health Research

Most adolescents and young adults use social media. With 45% of adolescents reporting that they are online almost constantly, and another 44% saying they are online at least several times a day,1 experts are asking if social media use can be harmful to mental health. Heres what you need to know about social media use among teens and young adults.

Finding Help For Social Anxiety Disorder

Undiagnosed and untreated social anxiety disorder is a devastating condition that can severely limit daily functioning. Even when social anxiety sufferers realize they have a serious problem they may have difficulty asking for help, since therapists are authority figures and people with social anxiety disorder generally avoid interactions with authority figures if they can.

But social anxiety disorder is highly responsive to treatment, and when sufferers do summon the courage to ask for help they often achieve terrific results, both short-term and long-term.

While antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications are often prescribed for people with social anxiety disorder, psychotherapy is the core of social anxiety treatment. Cognitive-behavioral therapy in particular has been found to be effective against social anxietys most disabling symptoms, and is almost always recommended by mental health professionals who see social anxiety disorder patients.

Most treatment for social anxiety takes place on an outpatient basis. But people whove struggled with social anxiety disorder for many years can gain great benefit from inpatient stay in a mental health treatment facility, where all the focus is on recovery.

Social anxiety disorder is difficult to endure, but with the help of treatment services and mental health professionals its symptoms are manageable. Even though social anxiety sufferers sometimes have trouble asking for help, once they do they never regret it.

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Social Media And Self

Another theory about the increase in depression is the loss of self-esteem, especially in teenage girls, when they compare themselves negatively with artfully curated images of those who appear to be prettier, thinner, more popular and richer.

Many girls are bombarded with their friends posting the most perfect pictures of themselves, or theyre following celebrities and influencers who do a lot of Photoshopping and have makeup and hair teams, explains Dr. Hamlet. If thats their model for what is normal, it can be very hard on their self-confidence.

Indeed, image-driven Instagram shows up in surveys as the platform that most leads young people to report feeling anxiety, depression and worries about body image.

Curation of a perfect image may not only make others feel inadequate, its unhealthy even for those who appear to be successful at it, notes Dr. Bubrick. Kids spend so much time on social media trying to post what they think the world will think is a perfect life. Look at how happy I am! Look how beautiful I am! Without that theyre worried that their friends wont accept them. Theyre afraid of being rejected. And if they are getting positive feedback from their social media accounts, they might worry that what their friends like isnt the real them.

Reaching Out For Help

Does social media cause anxiety?

Even if it doesnt feel like it right now, there are many people who want to support you during this difficult time. Reach out to someone. Do it now. If you promised yourself 24 hours or a week in step #1 above, use that time to tell someone whats going on with you. Talk to someone who wont try to argue about how you feel, judge you, or tell you to just snap out of it. Find someone who will simply listen and be there for you.

It doesnt matter who it is, as long as its someone you trust and who is likely to listen with compassion and acceptance.

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The Social Challenge: Rise In Internet Addiction Amid Pandemic Isolation

“We were asking people who weren’t depressed about their social media use,” said Dr. Roy Perlis, one of the studys authors. “Then we came back later to see if the people who were using certain kinds of social media were more likely to be depressed.”

Compared to adults who did not use social media, “people who were using Facebook, people who were using TikTok, and people who were using Snapchat were substantially more likely to come back and tell us they felt depressed the next time they filled out the survey,” said Perlis, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

The research does not prove social media causes depression. Indeed, it is possible that people already prone to feeling sad were more likely to log on to such sites.

But it adds to evidence of a growing mental health crisis in the United States. Nearly one-third of American adults reported feeling depressed in an , up from 8.5 percent before the pandemic.

Survey respondents who had minimal symptoms of depression early on were more likely to report an increase in symptoms in later surveys if they used social media.

The research is limited in that it cannot tease out what kinds of content people were exposed to or sought out online. And previous research has shown an overall increase in social media use over the past year.

The Risks For The Reward

Social media has a reinforcing nature. Using it activates the brains reward center by releasing dopamine, a feel-good chemical linked to pleasurable activities such as sex, food, and social interaction. The platforms are designed to be addictive and are associated with anxiety, depression, and even physical ailments.

According to the Pew Research Center, 69% of adults and 81% of teens in the U.S. use social media. This puts a large amount of the population at an increased risk of feeling anxious, depressed, or ill over their social media use.

But what makes users come back for more even when it can literally make them feel sick?

When the outcome is unpredictable, the behavior is more likely to repeat, Sperling says. Think of a slot machine: if game players knew they never were going to get money by playing the game, then they never would play. The idea of a potential future reward keeps the machines in use. The same goes for social media sites. One does not know how many likes a picture will get, who will like the picture, and when the picture will receive likes. The unknown outcome and the possibility of a desired outcome can keep users engaged with the sites.

To boost self-esteem and feel a sense of belonging in their social circles, people post content with the hope of receiving positive feedback. Couple that content with the structure of potential future reward, and you get a recipe for constantly checking platforms.

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Whats Driving Your Social Media Use

These days, most of us access social media via our smartphones or tablets. While this makes it very convenient to keep in touch, it also means that social media is always accessible. This round-the-clock, hyper connectivity can trigger impulse control problems, the constant alerts and notifications affecting your concentration and focus, disturbing your sleep, and making you a slave to your phone.

Social media platforms are designed to snare your attention, keep you online, and have you repeatedly checking your screen for updates. Its how the companies make money. But, much like a gambling compulsion or an addiction to nicotine, alcohol, or drugs, social media use can create psychological cravings. When you receive a like, a share, or a favorable reaction to a post, it can trigger the release of dopamine in the brain, the same reward chemical that follows winning on a slot machine, taking a bite of chocolate, or lighting up a cigarette, for example. The more youre rewarded, the more time you want to spend on social media, even if it becomes detrimental to other aspects of your life.

Your Fears Make Social Media Your Emotional Center

Why Does Social Media Cause Anxiety

As soon as you log on, you are on a constant state of anxiousness and anxiety.

That is because you are a slave to your fears.

You are afraid that you will miss a message. Or that someone will comment on your post, and you will look stupid or say the wrong thing.

Or perhaps someone will call you and ask you out on a date, and youre not ready to date.

Or perhaps your friends will ask you a question, and you dont know the answer.

Your fears make social media your emotional center.

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According To A New Study Excessive Social Media Use Television Viewing And Computer Use Are Linked With Increased Risk Of Anxiety Among Adolescents Read On To Know About Other ‘strange’ Sources Of Anxiety

Written by Paras Hemrajani | Updated : December 2, 2019 1:49 AM IST

With the tide of teenage anxiety rising, it is hard to imagine a single source of it. Generation ‘Z’ are facing anxiety issues that the older generations never did. This is despite advancement in technology whose sole purpose is to lessen the load, says a new study. According to a research published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, higher than average use of social media, computer and television for more than 4 years can cause anxiety or increase the severity of their symptoms in adolescents . Anxiety is a normal feeling of nervousness over uncertainty. But when this anxiety takes a longer time to disappear or appears in not so nervous times, then it is called anxiety disorder.

According to researchers of the study, extensive use of social media is an indicator of this condition. Teens are repressing their anxiety symptoms by overly indulging in social media and computers. Repressing these symptoms is giving anxiety an opportunity to spread its wings. To support their hypothesis, researchers asked students to self-report the amount of time spent in front of digital screens. They also asked them to answer a questionnaire on various anxiety symptoms. The findings suggested a need to regulate the amount of time teens are spending on social media and computer.

Treatment For Smartphone And Internet Addiction

If you need more help to curb your smartphone or Internet use, there are now specialist treatment centers that offer digital detox programs to help you disconnect from digital media. Individual and group therapy can also give you a tremendous boost in controlling your technology use.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy provides step-by-step ways to stop compulsive behaviors and change your perceptions about your smartphone and the Internet. Therapy can also help you learn healthier ways of coping with uncomfortable emotionssuch as stress, anxiety, or depressionthat may be fueling your smartphone use.

If excessive use of Internet pornography or online affairs is affecting your relationship, counseling can help you work through these challenging issues and reconnect with your partner.

Group support. Organizations such as Internet Tech Addiction Anonymous and On-Line Gamers Anonymous offer online support and face-to-face meetings to curb excessive technology use. Of course, you need real-life people to benefit fully from any addiction support group. Online support groups can be helpful in finding sources of assistance, but its easy to use them as an excuse to spend even more time on your smartphone. Sex Addicts Anonymous can be a place to try if youre having trouble with cybersex addiction.

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Does Social Media Worsen Social Anxiety Symptoms

Feeling increasingly anxious when scrolling Facebook or Instagram? Maybe social media is fueling your social anxiety symptoms.

For many people, social media is a big part of daily life. If you wake up in the morning and grab your phone for the latest Twitter updates, youre not alone.

About 72% of people in the United States currently use at least one social media platform. Thats more than 223 million people checking out social media feeds.

How you react to social media depends on many factors. If you live with mental health conditions, such as an anxiety disorder, social media use may have a particular effect on your symptoms.

In general, if you live with social anxiety, you may benefit from some aspects of social media. But its more likely that some of your symptoms will increase or intensify.

Social anxiety disorder is the second most common anxiety disorder. It affects approximately 12.1% of U.S. adults at some point.

When you live with social anxiety disorder, you may have persistent fears about being in social situations. You might also constantly worry that other people will judge you or be focused on you at all times.

These concerns often impact how you function in the world and relate to others.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fifth Edition , a reference handbook used by many mental health professionals, outlines the criteria for diagnosing social anxiety disorder.

But what happens if you already live with anxiety symptoms?

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