Here’s How Social Media Is Actually Good For Your Mental Health, According To A Therapist

Despite the harmful aspects, social media can have great benefits too.

We live in the era of globalization, which means today people face many issues unknown in previous decades. Some of them have not been present in our lives for very long, yet life is hardly imaginable without them. Definitely, the phenomena of both social media and dating apps can not be omitted here.

Today 4.7 billion people have profiles on social media, which is actually 56.8% of the world’s total population. Because of the popularity of social platforms, their influence on mental health is widely discussed. Multiple studies have already discovered a link between social media and an increase of the risk of depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and even development of suicidal thoughts.

Why is that even becoming possible — what risks has digitalization brought to our lives?

One of the most obvious issues is worries about your life’s appearance in comparison to others. Even if we know that people only share highlights of their best life moments, seeing others’ success might lead to disappointment in your own life and yourself. And this experience doesn’t even include ‘success’ stories of celebrities and influencers.

Surprisingly, social media that were invented to unite people, are also reported to increase feelings of loneliness — Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram users have reported feeling less lonely when they decrease social media usage time. Why? This happens in the case of replacing real life with a scrolling social media feed without actual interaction with friends or other random users. Besides the issues mentioned above, social media causes FOMO — aren’t all other people actually leaving their best life, visiting more parties, traveling more, and having more fun altogether? That might cause the feeling of missed opportunities and experiences.

What’s more, one of the core features of our digital life — likes — makes people feel valued by all others. This digital popularity forces people to not always be true but show their best shots instead. That’s why face and body changing apps became possible and popular.

Another digital issue that is pretty frequently used in modern society is dating apps. If social media are more focused on communication with people you already know, dating apps are created to meet new people. These platforms were also reported as the ones leading to depression development. That’s how it all works: people face self-esteem decrease because of rejections that occur while using dating apps. One of the most obvious examples of developing problems of low self-esteem because of dating apps is increasing worries about poor body image. Many dating apps make users feel that the key for success are their photos or appearance, in other words. Thus, users might link their failures to the way they look.

“Thanks to problems like cyber bullying, social media addiction, and social pressures to present a certain way, social media has carried quite a bad rap,” comments Betsy Chung, a clinical psychologist and a relationship expert at XOXO dating app. “In fact, it’s quite common for people to underreport their level of usage in fear of negative judgment. But despite the harmful aspects, social media can have great benefits too”.

How does online communication benefit your mental health?

On the other hand, these platforms were invented to let people stay connected — wherever they are, and fight against loneliness. Loneliness is traditionally named as one of the most crucial factors of depression or anxiety development (in the case of depression it is called a chicken-and-egg situation — it’s hard to say which appeared first — loneliness or depression; still, they influence and increase one another).

Even those who consider themselves to be an introvert actually cannot be fully isolated from social life and connections with others. As much as loneliness hurts people, social connections not only undo some of the negative impacts of loneliness but also protect mental and even physical health. According to Harvard studies of adult development, people with stronger social connections were healthier and happier. Other studies have proven that even weak social interactions, like the ones with classmates or neighbors, can reduce stress and provide psychological support.

“Human connection is a basic need that we all have to function at our best. A lack of connection with others leads to serious mental health difficulties such as loneliness, depression, and isolation. Social media offers a simple and accessible way for people to connect with others that they would’ve otherwise never met, or wouldn’t have time to socialize with,’’ says Dr. Chung.

One more issue to be mentioned: the younger generation seem to feel more comfortable communicating online instead of offline interaction. For instance, some people may experience difficulties with vocalizing their thoughts. Online conversations are also more self-paced and less physical language that might be challenging to control during live communication (and which can lead to feelings of awkwardness and self-doubts).

Surprisingly, 57% of teens have made an online friend — games and social media are currently the most common places in which to make new friends. There might be a variety of reasons for preferring online friendship; one of them is feeling socially isolated in ‘real life’.

As it was mentioned above, social isolation has a bad impact on mental health — it leads to depression, anxiety, and even suicide. Social media and other types of online interactions, on the other hand, can connect people from all over the world.

“Everybody needs to feel heard and understood, but for various reasons, some individuals may struggle to connect with existing relationships, and get the support they need to get through painful events. Social media offers a sense of anonymity that allows struggling individuals to speak their truths with vulnerability and privacy,” explains Betsy Chung.

Thus, in some cases, social media and dating apps bring to our lives social interactions that we actually need — they allow us to meet new people and make friends. In other words, these platforms can still be a tool to cope with social isolation. What’s more, both social media and dating apps seem to change their design to reduce possible social pressure and negative effects on mental health.

Social networks make it possible to hide likes, while dating apps are experiencing even more significant changes. For example, some dating apps suggest creating community, building friendships, and contributing to a safe society. More and more dating apps are shifting the focus from the users’ appearance to their personalities. What’s more, some of the apps reduce rejection features to lower the possible decreases in self-esteem among users. Those are essential steps to create a safe space that will be psychologically comfortable in an effort to emphasize positive aspects of online communication. One more current trend for dating apps is group chats where people can constantly be in society and get social communication whenever they need it.

All in all, online communication can be a salvation in case of social isolation or loneliness. It has its negative aspects, but the issues that cause them are changing. Still, it is a positive thing to know that whenever you feel lonely and need social communication or even psychological support, you can get it from people from all over the world — via dating apps or social media.