Question: How can using social media affect your mental health?

Lisa Orchard answered on 4 Mar 2021:

Hello! Great question! There are lots of concerns around social media having a negative affect on mental health. One of the biggest concerns is that people tend to compare themselves to other people. On social media we make a real effort to make ourselves look good. So we only choose photos we are happy with; or write things we want people to know. This may give us the wrong perception of other people’s lives and we may start feeling like other people are prettier than us, or more popular, or are generally better at things. So there are concerns that some people (particularly those with a low self esteem) may feel bad using social media – particularly those who are just scrolling through their phones lots rather than posting and interacting. There is also concerns around whether we can get addicted to social media and become too dependent on getting feedback from others. However, recent research has suggested that social media only plays a small effect on our wellbeing, and other criteria (such as family and friends support) is much more important for our wellbeing. For instance, a recent study found that coming off social media made no effect to wellbeing. Social media may actually be beneficial to our mental health; particularly in lockdown when we are struggling to connect to other people. So my answer would be that social media itself is not as important as reflecting on your own use. If people personally feel that social media is having a negative effect on them, then they should perhaps think about why this may be and how to change their use to make it a more positive experience.