Social Media as a Double-edged Sword: Better Life and Addiction

“We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it?” This question came from Erik Qualman, which makes people consider how they use social media. Social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, are websites and applications that users are able to share their information in social networking. Furthermore, social media provides a chance for its users from all over the world to interact. Users can connect with people that away from them through discussions, messages, photos, and videos. There are about 3484 million social media users active worldwide, accounting for about half of the current world population and nearly 3256 million are active mobile social media users (“Global Digital Population”). With this extreme number of people using social media, state that social media is already one of the most important parts of human life. Even though social media is created to make human life better in all the ways, which are providing better communication between people and the world around them, it still has many negative effects. However, nowadays, its users are getting addicted to it, which would lead to bad effects on their physical health, mental health, and daily activities.

The first effect of social media on human health is through their physical health. Based on research, a usual phone users touch their phone about 2617 times daily, and this number can be reached to more than 5400 times daily, about the top 10% of users (“Smartphone Addiction'). This is a really high statistics that point out how much people are relying on their phone. One of the reason for this to happen is social media addiction. In addition, according to the National Human Development Report (NHDR) 2014, the lifestyles of 23% of young people have changed. Most teenagers spend their time using social media, resulting in lower physical strength due to lack of physical fitness. The NDHR has confirmed that this is a significant lifestyle change in the younger generation ('Kids at Risk'). Social media addiction has significantly changed human life, making them rely more on their phone and Internet.

Jo Begent, an adolescent doctor at University College Hospital in London, said that many parents brought their child to him because of their health problems, such as breathlessness, exhaustion, or a persistent headache with no immediate explanation. Through questioning and testing, Begent finally figured out that these problems happened because of “the inactivity caused by the amount of time they were spending on the internet”. He believed that there is “the extreme social pressure of being in a ‘streak’ on Snapchat”, which leads some children to social media addiction. From what he has witnessed, he stated that physical effects on their health are significant, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, severe sleep deprivation, behavioral problems, or even worst as poor brain development (Begent). Type 2 diabetes is an illness that can lead to death. Therefore, preventing from getting social media addiction is necessary.

The second effect of social media on human health is through their mental health. In 2012, Medical News Today reported that “Facebook use may feed anxiety and increase a person’s feeling of inadequacy”. Recently, Ethan Cross, a social psychologist at the University of Michigan, figured out that “Facebook may even make us miserable” ('The Effects of Social Media'). Moreover, in Sri Lanka, there were several suicides that are believed as a result of the victim involvement with social media ('Kids at Risk'). Social media is created to make human life better, though it seems like people are using it the wrong way and lead to unintended consequences. Using social media is already part of human life but do not make it as a tool to kill yourself.

There are many situations that people using social media almost the whole day. According to Dr. Sameer Malhotra, a director of mental health and behavioral science at Max Healthcare, stated that he has been through many cases that youngsters came to him because of social media addiction. One of his patients is Krishnan, a 15-year-old boy that spent nearly 16 hours daily on Facebook. After a long period later, the boy realized that he is obsessive with himself because he was unable to manage his lifestyle, which Dr. Malhotra had to treat him through both counseling and medicine to turn his energy into positive work. From all the cases of social media addiction that Dr. Malhotra has been through, he told IANS that “Facebook addiction is similar to cocaine addiction to a certain level as there are certain neurochemicals like dopamine which operate across brain reward pathways and are responsible for maintaining addictive behaviour.” ('Beware, Facebook'). In another word, social media addiction can be considered similar to many other types of addiction, including drugs. Everyone knows how bad drug addiction affects human health, then thinking on how to use social media effectively is really necessary. It is not wrong to use social media, but finding a way to use it intelligently so that there will not be any bad consequences for mental health.

The third effect of social media on a human is through their daily activities. The role of social media in human life has become important over time, which could change human lifestyle. Marshall B. S. Dhanoa, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief, said that pilots have become dependent on social media, which leads to missing their communication and personal skills. In the 57th annual meeting of the Indian Aerospace Medicine Association, Dhanoa wanted the Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM) to have the system or method to check whether the pilot has been slept deprived or not. He stated that “Getting hooked to social media like Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for long hours in the night was making pilots sleep late and less than required for flying. The IAM should find a method to de-addict the pilots of social media.” ('Social Media Addiction”). The pilot's sanity is really important for every single flight. If the pilots are not conscious during the flight, it could lead to significant consequences. This required the pilots to have enough sleep at night and enough resting time so they can “be fresh and alert for flying sorties” ('Social Media Addiction”). This example demonstrates that social media has affected pilots through their job, which could make them out of job or unable to provide a safe flight.

In addition, Dr. N. Kumaranayake, a clinical psychiatrist of the Base Hospital, Kiribathgoda said that he saw about 5 students, who are addicted to the Internet, lose their social and academic skills ('Kids at Risk”). This is a really big problem among teenagers. Kumaranayake also explained, “They spend most of their free time online, and show less interest in offline or real-life relationships. Teens often use entertainment media at the same time they do other things, such as homework. Such multi-tasking can have a negative effect on their studies. Teens featured on social media often show risky behaviour, such as substance use, sexual behaviour, self-injury, or eating disorders” ('Kids at Risk”). Social media catch a lot of attention from teenagers because things on social media happen faster and nowadays, more and more interesting things are on the internet more than in real life. Teenagers found the internet more interesting than what’s actually happen around them so they spend more time on it, which leads to social media addiction.

The reason social media is created is to make our life better in many ways, but nowadays, the purpose has changed, it's now changed to how people choose to use social media. Having problems with physical health, mental health or even struggle with their lives, which affect many relationships, are some consequences of social media addiction. Even though social media have many benefits, there’s a possibility of addiction. All things considered, social media is a double-edged sword and it is important to keep teenagers from addicted to it.