social media

Social media dramatically impacts our offline lives and mental well-being; examine its benefits, risks and controversies through scientific studies, real-life anecdotes and more.

I Don’t Hate Social Media, But Instagram Filters Need To Be Stopped
They have been acting silently for years, they have settled in your phone, tangled in your head and although at the beginning it was a fun feature, you can no longer live without them.
By Mindsmatter.5 years ago in Psyche
Is Social Media Affecting Your Mental Health?
Studies say that social media can become an addiction for people, which makes sense since we are social by nature, but too much of anything is a bad thing. People need to interact with others to improve their mental health and creating new connections online can help immensely by relieving anxiety, stress, depression, and giving yourself a boost of joy.
By Nicholas McKenna5 years ago in Psyche
Instagram Is a Well-Oiled Machine to Make your Life Worse
As the operator of a touristic hostel in Europe, few times I was mocked for not having an Instagram, neither for me nor for my business. After all, it is commonplace for my fellow competitors to promote their Hostels there and use it to attract backpackers.
By Borba de Souza5 years ago in Psyche
You Are Not a Customer of Facebook, But Their Cattle
People think they are the customers of social media. This error is not only extended but renewed by the belief that social networks exist to serve us.
By Borba de Souza5 years ago in Psyche
The Brain Never Gets Tired
The feeling of fatigue after a cognitively exhaustive day is quite ubiquitous in people. It is a radical change in the kind of "tiredness" experienced by the people in the past centuries. Surprisingly, your brain never gets tired. From where does the feeling of 'burnout' arrives after a workday? Is it the effect of physical fatigue that ensconces inside neurons? To add some weight to our following assertions, I would like to present a snippet from the book Deep Work by Cal Newport -
By Saral Verma5 years ago in Psyche
Does an 'influencer' do more harm than good?
The phrase 'social media is fake' is tossed around so often that it has become a cliché amongst the 'influencer' community. The importance of self-love and self-care is brandished in a sparkly filter and edited to make the 'influencer' look more aesthetically pleasing and so, undermines and contradicts the actual message they are advertising. The irony being that 'social media is fake' - and that is all of it. Every. Single. Thing. This is what many young people do not understand. When your favourite 'influencer' is talking about self-love in front of a filter to make their waist look smaller on a video, they are being fake as well. They are promoting the idea of self-love from a place of great narcissism and bad intentions. Why? So that you do not use said filters and editing to make yourself look a certain way, but they continue to. Again, why? Well, because they want to make themselves feel like they are better than everyone else and because of the vapid nature of an 'influencer' - they focus purely on the appearance and nothing else. Intelligence, personality and personal qualities do not matter to them. If they can feel like their appearance is better than yours then they will promote this in any way possible. It is a senseless and sociopathic act of narcissism.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Psyche
The Persistent and Perplexing Problem of Popularity
I was out with my husband recently and the venue we were at had a section closed off for a private function. Hubby said to me, ‘we’d never get that many people to one of our parties.’ In that moment, even though we made a joke about it, I felt like a failure.
By KC5 years ago in Psyche
Tiktok slammed for being addictive.
I think all of you have heard of the application called Tiktok, the application that got alot of users over the past two years.
By Ahmed5 years ago in Psyche
My digital detox journey
I have heard about a digital detox many times before. For a long time I never put much thought into it. Even when I got a 30-day digital detox in a subscription box. There are 30 cards, and you do one a day for 30 days. Not only about social media, but it also has activities that do not require any technology, such as doing a recipe from an actual cookbook. When I first got them I put them aside thinking, oh that's nice, and didn't think much about it after that. When we went into the second lockdown it was winter, and so it was very cold where I am. Being stuck at home all the time, and really unable to go anywhere, well it can get fairly boring. I was finding myself filling my days just endlessly scrolling on social media, wasting hours and days. I found that I wasn't being present. Everything I did I always had my phone open. I realized that I needed a change when I would put my phone down and leave the room. Then my daughter would always bring my phone to me, like I had to have my phone on me.
By Talara Nolan5 years ago in Psyche
Survey Reveals Two Thirds Of Social Media Users Want Better Mental Health Protection
New research has revealed that two thirds of UK adults believe that social media companies should have a duty to protect the mental health of people who use their services on various different platforms.
By Ashish Prabhu5 years ago in Psyche
Echo-Chambers and the Dangers of self-radicalization.
Dear Damen, I hope all is well today, as you are off on a playdate with mom, leaving Dad alone to ponder on how he will inform you on the ever quickly moving world of radicalization through echo-chambers and our selective information gathering.
By Elliott Morreau5 years ago in Psyche
How is Modern Society Damaging Our Mental Health?
Modern Society, the society we live in, is often deemed to be the one that is the best, the most advanced and the most efficient. But did not every single society throughout history think that of itself? Exactly who is our society 'efficient' and 'advanced' for and why are we, average people, not really seeing the benefits?
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Psyche