In today’s society there is an increasing trend that social
media websites are causing anxiety among users. It’s normally to notice that
when people posting a cute photo on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or other social
media websites, they will keep on checking every few minutes or hour to see
whether their posts are been liked or shared. This phenomenon reflects that the social media actually makes people feel inadequate and creates
excess fear and pressure. Additionally, social anxiety that is a syndrome of
social media anxiety disorder will be gradually acquired when an individual
frequently using social media, and this in turn, will adversely affect one’s
mental health. While the most vulnerable group would be teenagers and young adults who are
usually not very self-disciplined and not always being capable to control
themselves.
Such phenomenon is especially prominent in the U.S. where
half of the adults and three-quarters of all teenagers are active SNS users (Hampton,
Goulet, Marlow, & Rainie, 2012), and it has been highlighted that after
alcoholism and depression, social anxiety disorder is the third largest
psychological disorder in the U.S. Today’s society is shifted to be technology
and internet dependent, people will be shocked if someone never use social
media at all, and a
recent study released by non-profit Anxiety UK,
indicated that people do feel anxious and uncomfortable if they are unable to
log in to their social networking accounts (Fitzgerald, B. 2012).
To minimize and address this negative impact of using social
media, one possible solution is that people should focus on limiting the time
of using social media and consciously unplug for extended days. If one is
getting no substantial return from using social sites like Facebook and Twitter
throughout the whole day, he should cut ties with social media websites
purposely for certain period of time, so as to limit the usage of social
networking sites. A
study conducted by the University of Bergen in Norway
released that
people who are more anxious and socially insecure are more likely to use the
social networking
site. (Andreassen, 2012) while another study, conducted by Dr. Rauch
found that social interaction on social media sites, may create a higher
adverse impact on face-to-face encounters for those already with high levels of
anxiety. These two studies reinforce the viewpoint that social media websites
do cause social media anxiety and may worsen the situation continuously. Currently, there are some applications and tools available to
assist people in controlling the time of using social media networks. For
instance, Rescue Time’s website is designed to control the time that users
would have spent on social media to be within 4 hours per week. This program is
also capable to ban certain websites, and track and log how many times one
spend on particular websites that he specified. Additionally, another useful
application is Facebook Limiter, which is created to disconnect users with
Facebook and YouTube. It is especially beneficial for parents who have children
with problem of social media anxiety, since with assistance of this software,
they are empowered to block Facebook entirely, restrict the time of using
Facebook or make it accessible only at a specific time in a day (Frence, A.
2012). Social media anxiety can be progressively treated if one can control
himself very well and unplug into the social media websites for extended days.
There is no denying that applications
designed to limit the time of using social media websites serve to assist
people to be better self-controlled and so as to achieve higher realization in
solving social media anxiety. However, this may not be effectively conducted,
as not everyone has the equal power to control and discipline themselves
routinely. Whether the social media
anxiety can be effectively solved or not is mainly depending on one’s awareness
and self-control capability. Therefore, education and cognitive methods can be
applied to address this problem through a more effective manner.
Cognitive
behavioral treatment (CBT), is used to guide people by understanding and being
aware of adverse consequences of adequately using social media websites and
knowing that emotions, like waves, are temporary and fluctuated. CBT permits
changes within addictive users’ brains, so that people can think and treat
social media differently and gradually release themselves from over
participation in social media sites. A recent study obtained results that forty-five percent of respondents felt uneasy and
worried when they were unable to log in to their online networking accounts,
while 60 percent of them reflected that they have to switch off their phones
and computers so as to ensure a full-fledged break form social media (Fitzgerald, 2012). This shows that people do feel anxious if they are not being on
social networking sites, leading to negative impact on their mental-health.
While, through fully carrying out cognitive behavioral therapy, people who have
similar social media anxiety issue are engaged in practical activities that are
normally anxiety-causing, and proceed in a flexible and scheduled way.
(Richards, T.). By continuous practicing and repeating, the anxious feeling
will be gradually reduced, better outcome obtained. CBT affects one’s brain
operating processes, making people feel, think and behave differently. People
can be
released from social media anxiety disorder by keeping on practicing and developing this method which treats people
mentally and cognitively, and this is the root that can lead to behavioral
control in using social media websites. Therefore cognitive strategies should be approached
so as to address the problem of social media anxiety effectively.
In conclusion,
social media is indeed creating anxiety among users with an increasing trend.
To effectively minimize this problem, people can conduct cognitive therapies,
strategies and concepts to train themselves to be more self-disciplined and
controlled in using social media websites.
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948)
References
Fitzgerald,
B. (2012, December 7). Social media is causing anxiety, study finds. The
Huffington Post. Retrieved March 4, 2015, from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/10/social-media-anxiety_n_1662224.html
Social
Media Anxiety Disorder. (2015, February 7). Retrieved March 5, 2015, from http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Social_Media_Anxiety_Disorder
Farfan
Jr., G. (2012, November 18). Running Head: SOCIAL ANXIETY IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL
NETWORKS Social Anxiety in the Age of Social Networks. Retrieved March 4, 2015,
from https://www.academia.edu/7234612/Running_Head_SOCIAL_ANXIETY_IN_THE_AGE_OF_SOCIAL_NETWORKS_Social_Anxiety_in_the_Age_of_Social_Networks
French,
A. (2012, April 3). Boost your productivity by blocking yourself! Retrieved
March 6, 2015, from http://www.sheknows.com/living/articles/955407/programs-that-limit-your-time-on-social-media
Richards,
T. (n.d.). Comprehensive Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy For Social Anxiety
Disorder. Retrieved March 6, 2015, from https://socialanxietyinstitute.org/comprehensive-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-social-anxiety-disorder
Whiteman, H. (2014, April 16). Social
media: How does it really affect our mental health and well-being? Retrieved
March 11, 2015, from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/275361.php
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