My view

Social media have become one of the most important parts of our lives. Although they improve our lives in many possible ways, starting with communication, education and entertainment, there are also negative impacts on our both mental and physical health. Besides, they affect our productivity, time management and also our communication and social skills. ''It affects the ways individuals react to emotions, social cues or nonverbal cues, as it erases this important aspect of the basis of communication.'', '' it often elicits this normalized lessen social activity face to face interactions, as individuals will associate social media communication as effective communication and then in hand lessen the likelihood to have face to face interactions.'' (Lopane-Capella C., 2018)

As for the physical health, a lot of time using social media is spend in a sitting position. This might lead to back and neck problems, such as scoliosis or lordosis. Body muscles strength may also decrease. Another possible health issue might be obesity, as a phone or computer have become the major activity in preadolescent’s leisure time. On the other hand, there is plenty of exercise challenges and videos, which may encourage people to work out more and also to eat healthier.

Excessive and unreasonable use of social media affect our metal health negatively. As artists, famous figures and influencers share posts and pictures that are only positive. For example, they post only photos from luxurious vacations, restaurants, places or items they have purchased. This leads to audience thinking, that they do not have as good life as those influencers do. Other possible issue is body image. Influencers post pictures of their bodies on Instagram, using a lot of filters and effects. Sometimes they make themselves look thinner or more muscular in an unrealistic way. That may cause insecurities and low-self-esteem for their audience, mostly for adolescent girls. Furthermore, these girls might try to look like their idols by staying on unhealthy diets or body alterations. The most common consequences are mental disorders, such as depression, bulimia, anorexia and anxiety.

Because of social media, large amount of fatal consequences has happened. As a self-harm and suicides are being romanticized, teenagers commit suicides in order to be more ­‘cool’. In 2015, Blue Whale challenge appeared on the internet. It is a social network game that consist a series of tasks assigned to the players by administrators over a 50-day period, including self-harm tasks, in the final stage of the game, player is required to commit suicide. ''The challenge was alleged to have started in Russia, but reports of it soon spread to other countries: Ukraine, India and the United states''. (Adeane A., BBC, 2019). The first person affected by the challenge was Rina Palenkova, taking her own life. Numerous teenage suicides followed. The game was simply lead by child predators, taking advantage of mental instability in the time of an adolescence.

The best solution for these issues would be to avoid social media at all. As it is almost impossible in 21st. century, the best solution is to be aware and educated about this issue. Age restrictions and content limitations on the side of social media creators, and sensibility on the side of active posting users. Parental advisory is also necessary in order to prevent child from possible threats. Most importantly, people should value the actual life around them more than the internet one.

References:

Jacob C., Lopane-Capella C. (2018), How Social Media Affects Communication Skills? Retrieved from https://upjourney.com/how-social-media-affects-communication-skills

Adaene A. (2019), Blue Whale: What is the truth behind an online 'suicide challenge'? Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-46505722?fbclid=IwAR0RPkstrKbaCMXEbsSbUzOtmJLsmpMUVcu1N4W3rpzWFVej6x7HkyODPV8