The Research

Comparison

One of the most commonly cited side effects of social media is a comparison of self. By constantly being exposed to overly-edited pictures of peers, family members, and celebrities that are only showing the highlights of their lives, it is only natural for a person to wonder if they are doing enough to keep up with the people they follow.

 

FOMO

A subcategory of the issue of comparison is a phenomenon referred to as FOMO, or the “fear of missing out.” In her article titled “How to Deal with FOMO in your Life,” Elizabeth Scott, Ph.D. (2021), discusses the origin of FOMO and how it affects our health. According to Scott (2021), FOMO “refers to the feeling or perception that others are having more fun, living better lives, or experiencing better things than you are. It involves a deep sense of envy and affects self-esteem.” It is often worsened by social media platforms that revolve around sharing pictures, such as Instagram and Facebook. Scott affirms that FOMO is not just the sense that there might be better things that you could be doing at this moment, but it is the feeling that you are missing out on something fundamentally important that others are experiencing right now” (Scott, 2021). Furthermore. because social media has become a platform for bragging and only showing the highlights of others’ lives, your sense of "normal" becomes skewed and you seem to be doing worse than your peers (Scott, 2021). 

 

Body Image Issues

Another main side effect that stems from the issue of comparison is body image issues. Heger (2020) reports that “social media can negatively affect body image because users are typically exposed to thin, fit, and ‘idealized’ body types and will often compare themselves to peers and celebrities.” Heger cites Neha Chaudhary, M.D., a child, and adolescent psychiatrist, who reports that “people end up creating unrealistic ideals for themselves based on what they see and feel distressed when they are not able to meet those ideas or self-expectations.”

Past research has found that the more time a user spends on social media, the more likely the user is to feel worse about themselves and their body. Aparicio-Martinez et al. (2018) found a correlation between time spent on social media and negative body image. They point out that this was especially true if participants were scrolling through appearance-related content, such as the account of a fitness instructor or model on Instagram.

Emanuele Ph.D. (2021), the senior director of the Mood Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute, reports that Photoshop and filters that alter or edit images can contribute to negative body image. She reports that “Photoshop and filters present people and things in the best light. It creates a distorted fantasy world and raises the bar on what people perceive is ‘the best’ way to be” (2021). According to a 2017 Harris Poll, almost two-thirds of Americans edit their photos before posting, which means that almost every photo that appears in a user’s feed is altered and looks different than what was originally captured (TRUEPIC, 2017).

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Two commonly used phrases that are used to describe social media accounts that encourage their followers to be fit and thin are “fitspiration” and “thinspiration,” also known as “fitspo” and “thinspo.” Hegar (2020) cites a 2017 study that surveyed college women in the United States and found that 10% of those women created social media posts about weight, body image, exercise, or dieting over a one-month period while 24.7% commented on their friends’ posts about this topic. Men are not excluded from developing body image issues as a result of social media. In 2020, a study cited by Hegar “analyzed 1,000 Instagram posts uploaded by male-identifying persons and evaluated responses — in the form of likes and comments” (Hegar, 2020). The majority of the posts depicted men showing off their muscles and lean body type, which received the highest number of likes and comments (Hegar, 2020). These findings infer that men may feel pressure to post pictures that objectify themselves in order to receive validation in the form of likes and comments by their followers and may be potentially harmful to their mental health (Hegar, 2020). 

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Social Media Addiction

The addictive properties of social media are what cause users to become distracted and unproductive. The following research is derived from a collection of scientific journal articles that discuss specifically what social media addiction is and why it is occurring (Adorjan et al., 2021; Brook, 2019;  Hawi et al., 2017; Illing, 2018; Lembke, 2021; McGinley, 2020; Mendoza, 2020; Tao Luo et al, 2021).

Hawi et al. (2017) define social media addiction as “the compulsive use of social media sites that manifests itself in behavioral addiction symptoms. The symptoms include salience, tolerance, conflict, withdrawal, relapse, and mood modification.” Social media addiction is a phenomenon that researchers have just started investigating. In fact, a 2014 review of social media addiction by Griffiths et al. (2014) concluded that its legitimacy is still up for debate despite the overwhelming evidence of symptoms experienced by users similar to that of an addict, such as negative consequences, preoccupation, and withdrawal (Hawi et al., 2017). However, over the last two years, there have been a number of whistleblowers that worked for prominent social media platforms that have revealed how social media perpetuates addiction in its users.

In 2020, Netflix released a documentary titled The Social Dilemma, where tech experts and former employees from Silicon Valley sound the alarm on the dangers of social media platforms, many of whom were integral to the early development of these companies (Netflix, 2020). The tech experts explain the many ways in which Big Tech uses social media in an attempt to manipulate and influence its users. The three biggest takeaways from the documentary are the following; our attention is the product, addiction is built into the design of social networking sites, and social media platforms are not a tool (McGinley, 2020).

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The Social Dilemma informs its viewers that social media companies try to capture as much of our attention as possible, “then selling that attention to the highest bidders” (McGinley, 2020). In other words, the platforms want their users to spend countless hours scrolling on their phones because social media users are not seen as a consumer of media but instead the product (Mendoza, 2020). In an interview with Vox, Tim Wu, Columbia Law School Professor and author of the book The Attention Merchant, “defines the ‘attention merchants’ as businesses whose model is selling access to people’s minds” (McGinley, 2020). Wu reports that “the attention industry needs people who are in a distracted state, or who are perpetually distractable, and thus open to advertising” (Illing, 2020). Wu quotes American philosopher and psychologist William James; “Your life experience is what you choose to pay attention to” (Illing, 2020). This poses the question, are social media users choosing to be captured and manipulated by social networking platforms, or are we out of control of our own lives?

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The Social Dilemma reveals that social media platforms purposely target the pleasure and reward centers of our brain in order to keep the audience hooked. Tristan Harris, a former Google design ethicist and one of the tech experts interviewed in the film, compares social media addiction to a Vegas slot machine. Harris reports that when we check our phones hoping for a notification, the act is similar to pulling the lever of a slot machine hoping we hit the jackpot (McGinley, 2020). In an article written by Dr. Mike Brooks for Psychology Today, Brooks reports that the “Vegas effect” is the reason why social media users have a difficult time resisting the urge to check their phones. Metaphorically speaking, social media users occasionally hit the “jackpot” when we check and there are notifications on our phone. Brooks reports that “the moment our smartphones buzz or chime, this dopamine reward system is activated (Brooks, 2019). While social media users may initially experience feelings of reward and instant gratification, that feeling eventually ceases and the user continues to check their social media accounts in hopes of reigniting that feeling.

 

While social media platforms are marketed to users as a tool for keeping in touch with family and friends, Harris claims that is untrue. Harris says a tool is something that is waiting patiently to be of use, and the handler uses said tail when they feel it is needed (The Social Dilemma, 2020). A hammer, for example, is not banging against the lid of a toolbox every couple of hours begging to be used, “manipulating us into using it. It waits. Its patient. Its a tool” (McGinley, 2020).  Social media, on the other hand, does exactly that. In The Social Dilemma (2020), Harris says that social media “has its own goals and it has its own way of pursuing them by using your psychology against you.” So the question remains, is social media something that needs to be fixed? Or are the effects of social media dependent on its use?

 

Abstinence is the Solution

The majority of researchers suggest that abstinence from consuming or posting on social media platforms is the only way to reduce its negative effects (Brown et al., 2020; Hastings, 2021; Youn, 2021). In her Wall Street Journal article, “Digital Addictions are Drowning us in Dopamine,” Dr. Anna Lembke (2021) argues that abstinence from social media resets the dopamine balance in a user’s brain and decreases levels of anxiety and depression.

 

Lembke (2021) reports that pleasure and pain are processed in the same parts of the brain, and the brain tries to keep them in balance. When dopamine is released, the brain adapts by reducing the number of dopamine receptors being stimulated and tipping toward the side of pain to maintain homeostasis (Lembke, 2021). However, when the brain has been overexposed to activities that stimulate dopamine receptors, pleasure is followed by feelings of hangover or comedown (Lembke, 2021). In other words, if the pattern of excessive screen time continues, the brain’s set point for pleasure changes (Lembke, 2021). Now, the social media user has to keep coming back to the screen, not to feel pleasure but to feel normal (Lembke, 2021). As soon as the user stops, they will feel the universal symptoms of withdrawal from any addictive substance; anxiety, irritability, insomnia, dysphoria, and mental preoccupation with using, otherwise known as craving (Lembke, 2021). In order to reverse dopamine imbalance and restore neutrality, one must abstain from the activity that overstimulates dopamine receptors (Lembke, 2021). 

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To expand upon Lembke’s (2021) discussion on social media addiction, she found that instructing her patients to abstain from all screens for a month helped reset the dopamine in their brains, which led to a decrease in depression and anxiety. Lembke (2021) cites an instance where a young man in his early 20s came to see her for debilitating anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. He was dropped out of college, lived with his parents, and played video games every day late into every night (Lembke, 2021). Rather than putting him on antidepressants, she instructed him to abstain from all screens, including video games, for a month (Lembke, 2021).

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After his period of complete abstinence, the young man reported that he felt better than he had in years, with less anxiety and depression, and was able to return to playing video games without experiencing negative effects (Lembke, 2021). That is, her patient was able to return to video games in a restricted way (Lembke, 2021). He avoided videogames that were too potent, the ones he could not stop playing once he started, and designated a laptop for gaming and a different laptop for school to keep classwork and gaming physically separated (Lembke, 2021). In addition, he committed to playing only with friends rather than strangers to strengthen his social connections; “human connection in itself is a potent and adaptive source of dopamine” (Lembke 2021). Despite the negative effects experienced by her patient, Lembke’s case study illustrates that users can return to social media platforms after a digital hiatus if they implement boundaries that encourage moderation. 

 

Positive Effects of Social Media

Despite how much negative press social media gets, there are benefits to using the platforms. The following research is derived from a collection of scientific journal articles that discuss specifically the positive effects of social media (Brailovskaia & Margraf, 2016; Fardouly et al., 2020; Fuller, 2017; Lucero, 2017; Miller et al, 2016; Perugini et al., 2020; Sujarwoto et al., 2019; Wang, 2016). 

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The onset of social media has allowed people to stay in touch with friends and family and even discover online communities where users feel included, validated, and heard. In her article titled “Safe spaces in online places: social media and LGBTQ youth,” Lucero (2017) concludes that “marginalized LGBTQ youth use social media as part of their everyday experiences in an attempt to safely navigate their lives through learning, participating, engaging, communicating and constructing identities in digital spaces.” Brailovskaia & Margraf (2016) found no differences between Facebook users and non-users in symptoms of depression and anxiety and showed that Facebook users reported more life satisfaction than non-users (Brailovskaia & Margraf, 2016). This study suggested that the lack of significant differences between users and non-users of Facebook on symptoms of depression and anxiety might be a result of users reporting more social support than non-users, which may make them more resilient to any negative effects of Facebook usage on aspects of mental health (Fardouly et al., 2020). Kristen Fuller M.D. (2017) comments on the connectivity social media platforms provide as she writes that “social media can bring people from different worlds together. The connectedness and friendship that sites such as Facebook provide can be life-changing, especially when your loved ones live far away.” In addition, Sujarwoto et al. (2019) report that “several studies have shown that Internet and social media use can improve people’s level of social support, self-esteem, sense of conformity with social norms, as well as their psychological and physical well-being.” While the social connectivity aspect of social media is undeniable, users have also found ways to monetize their posts and pursue their creative endeavors.

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The social media sphere not only provides an online space that fosters connection, but it has also become a source of revenue and advertising for creators and businesses alike. In the HBO documentary Fake Famous (2021), veteran journalist Nick Bilton and his team explore the meaning of fame and influence in the digital age as they attempt to turn three Los Angeles-based individuals into “influencers” by growing their social media presence. The documentary highlights our obsession with likes, followers, and comments while also exposing the facade of the online world (Fake Famous, 2021). Although two of the three participants ended up opting out of the experiment, aspiring actress Dominique Druckman transformed from a starving artist into a full-time influencer who could land more acting roles due to her online fame (Fake Famous, 2021). This documentary demonstrates what can happen to a user when social media is used as an asset rather than passively.

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