The Impact of Social Media on Students' Mental Health

The impact of social media on students’ mental health is multifaceted. It has both positive and negative effects on students. On the one hand, it builds up a social network, connection, and awareness, on the other hand, social media is detrimental as students meet with cyber-bullying, filtered reality, and harassment among other things.

The impact of social media on students is a debatable topic as it includes both pros and cons of the same.

Positive Impact of Social Media on Students’ Mental Health

Let us count the ways social media casts a positive impact on students. The following points can be noted in this regard:

• Building Connections: This can be said to be the biggest boon of social media. It offers connectivity across the globe. The students make acquaintances and friends across the globe. This fosters a cross-cultural connection and relationship-building.
• Networking: One of the most important benefits of social media on students is that it aids in networking. The students can build great networks with their peers, alumni, and professionals.
  This can help the students connect with a vast number of committees which can be academic or social.
• Critical Thinking: Social media is such a powerful platform that the news channels also rely on them to a large extent. The students connect with a piece of news posted on social media and express their thoughts and opinions on it. This induces critical thinking in the students.
• Learning: Social media is a great way to learn new things. There are various coaching centres offering educational assistance to the students. The students can use these platforms to learn new things.

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Negative Impact of Social Media on Students’ Mental Health

It would not be entirely wrong to state that social media has immense negative impacts on a student's mind. There are many ways in which social media casts negative impact on the students. A few crucial points in this context have been discussed below

• Cyberbullying: Cyberbullying counts as the most horrifying impact of social media on students’ mental health. Cyberbullying can leave a lasting impact on the student, causing him/her to slip into depression and anxiety. One of the major effects of cyberbullying is an attempt to suicide.
• Distraction: Social media is the most prevalent cause of distraction in the academic life of students. It impacts the attention span of the students to a great extent and consequently affects their studies.
  Scrolling through social media before sleeping also impacts the sleep pattern in a very negative way.
• Addiction: This is one of the biggest negative impacts of social media on students' mental health. This does not allow them to effectively implement the skills of time management.
  Social media has a big role to play in making the students sloth. The students would rather prefer to sit down with the phone and scroll through the pages.
• Filtered Reality: What social media, at most times, shows us is not the complete reality. In fact, it would be more appropriate to say that we see a filtered reality through social media.
  There is a stark difference between what is shown on social media and what the reality is. This creates a false image of reality in the minds of the students. 
  They either try to bring their living standard to what they see in social media, or compare their state to what they see in social media. This most often leads to anxiety and depression.
• Body Image: The standards of body and beauty as shown on social media have set an unrealistic standard for beauty on the minds of the students. What is shown through edits and filters, is taken to be the reality.
  This creates dissatisfaction arising from body image issues. This negatively impacts the mental health of the students.

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Mitigating the Negative Impact of Social Media on Students’ Mental Health

While social media has more negative effects on the mental health of the students than positive, proper channelisation of what is seen on the screen can help mitigate the negative effects to a great extent.

Shared below are a few ways in which the negative effects of social media can be mitigated or minimized.

• Setting a time limit for scrolling through social media sites must be set for the entire day. This will help the students manage their time better, while they spend a fixed amount of time scrolling their phone.
• Being selective and classy in choosing the accounts to follow will go a long way in minimizing the harmful impact of social media on students’ mental health.
  Following people and accounts who spread positivity will in fact help the students and instill confidence in them.
• The students must share what they come across on social media with their parents. This will help the parents set the boundaries for their children and help them see the difference between the good and the bad on social media.
• In case of any kind of harassment or cyberbullying that a student faces or witnesses someone facing the same, it must be immediately reported to their parents. This will lessen the anxiety to a great extent.
• The students can be enrolled into classes that teach digital well-being. They will learn the techniques for handling the negative impacts of social media.
• Stressing on offline connections rather than online connections is a great way of fostering good relationships. Socializing in the community rather than on social media will help the students perceive the difference between reality and filtered reality.

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