Nowadays, when smartphones have become a necessity, social media is a topic that almost everyone has to deal with. Sometimes he just watches kitten videos on Instagram, sometimes on Twitter. we are having heated and somewhat exaggerated debates. While we’re on social media to “distract,” research shows, social media negatively affect the mental health of users.

Hannah Jarman and her team, from La Trobe University in Australia, revealed in their study that social media has devastating effects on individuals. Let’s take a look at how social media platforms affect us this way.

In the research article, social media, in English “welfare” and in our language “welfareThe effects of a recognition meaning “” are mentioned. well-being, person both physical and mental health and happiness resources. For easy understanding throughout the article, the term “welfare”luckWe will refer to as .

Data collected from 7,000 volunteers in the 4-year study

During 4 years of in-depth research, Jarman and his team more than 7000 Worked on young adults and adults. Volunteers, who were regularly observed and participated in surveys in the company of expert psychologists, were not exposed to any external force for 4 years. used social media platforms as desired.

The study found that happiness and mental health are directly linked to social media use. By comparing their own lives to what they see on social media platforms, users feel that they cannot enjoy life, become depressed and they even start to become antisocial. popped up.

A dangerous circle is forming

In the study, social media users were happy at first, but later saw the lives of famous people on social media. “shiny life” As it turned out, they compared it to their own lives. Volunteers, who later became depressed, end up spending more time on social media, further depressing their morale.

As such, the use of social media and deterioration of mental health is a gets into a vicious circle. The more users use social media, the more pessimistic they become, and the more pessimistic they become, the more they increase the use of social media instead of socializing. In the study, initially 2-3 hours users using social media increased daily in the latter stages of the experiment. 8 to 10 hours started spending time on social media. of 7,000 volunteers While 70% enter this vicious circle the remaining 30% have either reduced their use of social media or all the way to the left.

So how can you avoid this situation?

Researchers and expert psychologists argued that it is difficult, but not impossible, to get out of this vicious circle. According to experts, the main point here is to increase the use of social media, and experts argue that you should not let social media take the place of your social activities. Instead of getting into such pessimistic thoughts, the content producers and people who watch and imitate the lives of celebrities that you see on social media. being motivated to live a similar life and it was recommended to work in this direction.

If you have such pessimistic thoughts, the best thing you can do is try to reduce your use of social media. get psychological support will be.