Social Media has become a world phenomenon. People from all over participate in Instagram, Facebook, SnapChat, and plenty more. Most people see the good side of social media in that it can bring people together for the good, but there is always a dark side. The dark side of social media leads to depression, feelings that one is not good enough, and unhealthy sleep patterns.

Depression and Anxiety:

Social Media leads to depression and anxiety because most people who use social media are spending to much time, leading to an effect in one’s mood. Others become gain anxiety when they have a fear of missing out(FOMO). FOMO is a form of anxiety the someone gets when they are scared of missing out on a positive experience that someone else is enjoying. This is started by one’s social media engagement because it leads to one person seeing what other is doing and seeing that their activity is more fun, leading to FOMO.

Feeling that one is not good enough:

Social media, especially Instagram, is all about showing people everything that they are doing in their life by posting pictures, but most pictures are edited making people look skinnier and more perfect than they really are. Editing hides people’s flaws causes viewers of the post to feel that they are not as small in size and not as perfect. This leads to someone feeling that they are not good enough, so many go on diets, hurting themselves, and are self-conscious. Social media makes people feel bad even though they should not.

Unhealthy Sleep Patterns:

To much time on social media leads to a poor sleep cycle. A poor sleep cycle leads to depression and anxiety. Speaking from what I know, but most kids at my school do not go to bed until 2 am, not because of homework, but because they cannot get off of their phones. It is a major problem and it needs to stop.

Social media hides its dark side pretty well, but the dark side is horrendous and very serious. Social media has multiple bad effects and they are not going away anytime soon.