Do you believe social media in general causes more damage or improvement to people’s mental health?

[Anonymous]

Of course not everyone’s experience is identical but if you had to take a guess in general across the large population do you think social media is more likely to cause harm or improvement to people’s mental health.

Updates

1 y

It’s not the creator of the internet or the creator of certain social media fault some people decide to be a jerk online to others but if these social media sites were never invented then these certain keyboards warriors wouldn’t get the opportunity to be a jerk online to others.
Keyboard warriors usually lack the courage to say what they write offline.
I don’t believe having feelings is a choice. It is a normal and natural thing for a human to have feelings. Being a jerk to others is a choice.

Updates

1 y

Yes, some people get depressed, unhappy, attempt suicide etc because they were cyber bullied online.
I can agree suicide is a choice but I still hold the belief having feelings isn’t a choice. If a person is repeatedly told things like they are ugly or gross of course it’s going to hurt their feelings.
It’s best if these people being harassed online just delete or deactivated their accounts though. It’s easy to live without social media

[MisterWack]

Social media in general does more negative than positive however when on an individual level, there are some people who wouldn’t be alive without social media & take great pride and joy in sharing their happiness / journey / lifestyle to the world.

If you feel sad, bad, awful, doomy and gloomy also stressed out & angry when you log onto social media… Ask yourself why? And come up with a solution. Could be as simple to log in less, others more complex like blocking certain users / leaving spaces / limiting viewing celebrity posts or something to that effect. Talk to people you look up to as role models in your real life community for guidance. Maybe after not using social media as much, you begin to feel happier & healthier then you log off forever and leave it all behind.

Do what makes you happy.

[DryGermanGuy]

With all things in the equation, massively more damage than benefit.

[thegreenyogi]

I'd say more damage and this isn't just the case with people who already have mental health issues. I consider most social media apps or platforms as quite negative environments for anyone. And it's the reason why I stepped away from said platforms and GAG and YouTube are the only ones I use because I started to notice that my mood and positivity was overall being really affected by the whole scrolling and watching stories of people I used to follow.

[thegreenyogi]

Thanks!

[PeachyPie93]

I think it is more damaging I'm pretty sure they did a study and it proved social media is bad for most people.

[Lliam]

It depends on the social media. Some of it is for retards, for sure. Some of it is misinformation and disinformation. But it's also the only place where important information that the government and mainstream media want banned can be shared with the public. It's the only place where honest, independent journalists and experts in certain fields have a platform to share information that is counter to the official propaganda.

I would say that corporate media is far more dangerous to people's mental health because it is in the business of creating the illusion of consensus and phony authoritativeness in pushing carefully crafted propaganda. It pushes narratives that are designed to create confusion, fear and divisiveness so that people can be more easily controlled by the shadow powers that be.

[Unit1]

Correct. Social media has been a cancer from the get go and is a privacy nightmare.

I can proudly say, that i never signed up for any, save temporarily for linkedin in order to find a job ( without writing too much about my private self) but then deleted it after i saw it got me to nowhere.

Social media and not respecting your privacy is the digital equivalent of smoking cigarettes.

[goaded]

This is social media.

[Unit1]

@goaded
This is a Q&A site. Different.
It's like how Stackoverflow isn't social media

[bolverk]

It would depend on the individual and how they use 'social media', if they use it to stay in contact with family around the globe it usually improves mental health.

But if the individual is one who believes that everything they see/read on 'social media' as the 'truth' without looking for collaboration from other sources, then it would probably cause them damage.

[Anonymous]

Other than being able to connect with high profile people in a semi safe way it's all trash. Those same exposures high profile people have is opening themselves up to abuse on some level or other. Does the good outweigh the bad for them? They'd be healthier without it too.

[Blueeyes81]

I view it as a cancer. There is good that comes from it but I think people and society would be better off without it. Makes people unhappy, envious, FOMO, insecure, conspiracy theorists, and shallow. Pick anyone of those and I can find a friend, coworker, or family member who suffers from one or more of those all because of social media.

[BCA6010]

Damage for sure, if talking strictly mental health.

The only benefit of social media is making it easier to stay in touch with distant friends and family.

[AnonAndrew]

Definitely causes more harm. The research is very clear on this - it's not even up for debate any more.

[BCRanger10]

Social media itself is neutral. The problem is with who is using it and how. And why.

[Flower7]

I see no possible ways that it could improve mental health.

[genericname85]

i don't know of a single case where someones mental health got better as a result of using social media xD

[Unit1]

Ditto

[Crazzyyworld]

Social media is full of advertisements. How can it be healthy? People advertise themselves end up getting a sponcer to advertise snake bars, computers stuff to sell.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

I don't believe in blaming social media for ish.

It's a nice cop out just to blame others and social media for personal lack of accountability.

[GlowUpGirly5]

Social media cannot CAUSE you to have mental issues. You cannot blame social media for mental and emotional issues you already had.

[Staximus]

Social media has had more of a negative impact on society than a positive one

[Anonymous]

Damage.

The Greatest Generation is the most strongest generation mentally. And they didn't have all this technology and social media.

Gen Z grew up with technology and social media and they are crybabies.

[beefcakebradybatson]

Yes, because it's largely run by people who use it to further the divide among various populations.

[Notherndude84]

Overall I think the more we use social media the more unhappy we become.

[Anonymous]

It can if you don't realize it's not real. 90% of social media is people putting on a show for the world.

[Anonymous]

I think social networks usually do more damage.

[Cassandra2003]

Yes especially if you think you take it personally.

[Anonymous]

What good does anyone get from social media? NOTHING!

[Unit1]

Few of them reassess that and quit it. Like quitting smoking it seems.

[NicholasRedone]

Is that the late John McCain? 👀 🗣️ 🥽 🛟

[NicholasRedone]

The GAG image looked like a light blue man balding 60s

[SleepingHazard]

Overall I would say it does more damage.

[Kingofkings1992]

It’s obviously damaging

[missindiana93]

More damage

[Mrtcn01]

it causes demage

[noohair]

More damage...

[foxsquirrell]

damage

[Anonymous]

Yes.