Advancement in the telecommunication sector, and the increment of the number of mobile phone industry manufacturers, has made it easy for most people to access the internet from wherever they maybe. For instance, approximately 98% of the American population owns a smart phone and is therefore, able to use the internet. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and WhatsApp have the most number of users. Through these platforms, people are able to share their ideas on how particular things should or can be done. Also, they can share their daily challenges in their work places, at home, at school or at college. This to some extent, may be good, as it can help some people learn how to lead a good life. However, to some other people, some messages may be sensitive, causing them to get stressed. Stress also can be due to threatening messages, which are either sent by unknown people threatening, either to expose personal and confidential information, or to kill you or your family member. In this discussion therefore, we shall focus on how social media has increased the stress levels amongst its users despite its importance to them.
On a daily basis, each and every person, no matter the age or the level of education, face stressful situations. What however, matters and differs amongst these people, is how they get to deal with such stressful situations ( Allen, Kennedy, Cryan, Dinan & Clarke, 2014) . Social media, despite its goodness, has been seen to be the main reason why many people are becoming stressed nowadays. The level of stress being higher in women than men. To begin with, through social media, some people can share a rumor which may not be necessarily true about a particular religion or ethnic group. Such messages, especial if they are talking ill about that particular group, may make persons from that specific group to feel rejected and neglected, and that can lead to increased stress levels on their part ( Maxwell, 2016). For instance, when the president elect of the United States of America said during his campaigns that he is going to send away all illegal immigrants out of American Soil, some people exaggerated his message, sharing it across social media platforms and insinuating that he would send off all people of African descent out of America. Such messages become stressful to the concerned people, in this case the Africans who have been living in America for a long time. The message may not be true, but once it is widely shared and spread on social media platforms, it tends to seem as though it is indeed true.
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Due to the social media, relationships have collapsed because of the messages or the photos that earlier, were shared. With the social media, people in a relationship can constantly monitor what their better halves are sharing or posting on social media. This is a very stressful situation, as one has to be extremely conscious of what they share, because it can lead to the termination of their relationship ( Samaha & Hawi, 2016). Due to this, some people have taken an advantage of blackmailing others just because they might know of certain secrets and confidential information that they think if known by other parties, could most likely collapse their relationship. For instance, a close friend with whom one shares his or her secrets may turn against them, threatening that if they do not receive certain favors, they will expose these secrets on social media. In like such cases, one gets stressed and has to do what they are asked to do because if they fail to give in and the secret is shared on social media, it can cause very serious problems including breakups and or even the loss of jobs (Allen et al, 2016).
The sharing of personal problems with friends via the social media may cause an increase in stress levels. Women more than men know much about their closest friends and family. Even though they may be far apart, they can share the ongoing in their lives through the social media, and some situations or problems facing either of the conversing parties may equally have a negative impact on the other person, making them stressed ( Samaha & Hawi, 2016). For example, if one becomes aware that their friends or family members are suffering from a serious condition like Cancer, they become stressed and consequently, may get to suffer from increased stress levels, gradually with the number of times they share and talk about the condition in question. Also, while browsing, individuals can come across messages shared by others on how they lost their family members or close friends, for one reason or the other. This may lead to an increase in stress levels, as one may not be able to withstand the fact that soon, they may also lose their dear friends or family members, for reasons close to the ones already cited.
When searching for a job, immediately after one has applied for a position in a given company, some companies go online and take a look at his/ her previous posts, including the kind of pictures that must have been shared online. This has become a stressful challenge for some people, especially those who have been sharing negative messages through their social media platforms ( Samaha & Hawi, 2016) . For example, if one had previously shared an inciting, disrespectful message on social media, telling of how bad their former boss at their former work station had been before they either got fired, or had their contracts fail to be renewed; this may make them to not get employed, as no employer will wish to also be abused on social media, borrowing from the job seekers social media History. In such like a scenario, the job seeking fellow may get stressed, given that they are not able to secure a job just because of a post that they shared in the past. Most likely, that would not have happened if there were no social media platforms.
Also, the social media has been a key leading cause of stress amongst continuing school children, especially the ones who have knowledge of how to operate a smart phone and access the internet. Cases of cyber bullying have been on the rise in the recent past, with over a thousand cases being reported per day of children being harassed on social media. In such like situations, the affected students or children become stressed and are not able to concentrate on their school work, making them fail in their exams (Lee et al, 2014). For example, if a child whilst using the social media, receives a threatening message in indication, probably, that their parents will be killed if they do not accept to do whatever it is that they are being asked to do; could be drug trafficking. This automatically makes those children to become stressed, imagining that their parents may be killed unless they comply. Respectful to this, these children are likely to become depressed, which usually leads to their poor performance in schools.
While using the social media, children may copy some traits which are against what their parents and the society teaches them. This becomes a stressful situation to both parents and to members in the society, who might have had high hopes on the success of the children in question (Lee et al, 2014). For example, a child may learn to use hard drugs through the influence of friends whom they chat with on social media, or even, may be recruited to some criminal groups through the social media. Once this happens, the parents or the guardians get stressed, not knowing that their children learnt all of those undesirable behaviors through the use of the social media. This most likely would not have happened if there was no such thing as social media platforms.
Stress among the youths can also increase owing to their use of the social media, especially if they are from poor backgrounds and their fellow friends are from rich families. The photos shared by their friends could receive high numbers of likes than their pictures, maybe because of the differences in their dress codes. This makes them develop negative attitudes towards themselves, and they may end up getting depressed for thinking that they are unworthy, and that that is the reason why the pictures or the posts they share receive very little or close to likes as compared to their friends from rich families ( Lee, Chang, Lin & Cheng, 2014). In these cases, the levels of stress of the affected party may increase and if one is not careful enough, they could become liars or thieves just to make sure that they favorably compare with their fellow friends. For example, one may opt to lie that they too are from rich family. On the contrary, the maintenance of these lies becomes stressful, for it requires extra care and regard to physical appearances. This greatly contributes to an increment of stress levels among the youths.
Also, the continuous use of the social media is addictive. If one gets addicted to the use of the social media, they will tend to spend inordinately long periods of time disconnected from real world connections, preferring instead, to forge virtual interactions. Such people may easily get stressed if their mobile phones, laptops or computers get lost or damaged. If for instance they are not able to afford the internet, they may risk stealing from others just to be able to access the internet. The addicted fellows develop stress and easily get depressed as they have to always remain active and come up with something new that may get more people to like their posts ( Ostovar, Allahyar, Aminpoor, Moafian, Nor & Griffiths, 2016).
Stress levels, especially amongst women, may increase with the continued use of the social media. This is true especially if they are not married and are searching for a potential husband, but are not able to. Stress levels increase more when they read of posts from their friends who have either gotten married and are living happily, or who are in successful relationships, quite unlike them who are single (Samaha & Hawi, 2016). This causes an increase in the levels of stress, as the ladies in question may face the challenges of self-denial, which might persist, causing the development of depression. This would not have been the case if these ladies had not been using social media or if alternatively, there were no social media platforms at all. They would not have been living under the pressures of either getting into relationships or of getting married just because their fellow friends are in successful relationships and further because, they are happily sharing their experiences on such social media platforms as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp.
The social media, reportedly also, is contributing to the increase of stress levels amongst people, especially with the increase of online fraud. Many people across the world have fallen into the trap of fraudsters who have either conned them of their moneys, giving them fake promises that are never fulfilled. For instance, if a person is searching for a job, he or she may get a social media advert indicating a vacancy in a specific company. If s/he were to call or send a message indicating their interest, It is likely that they would be advised to send application fees for the jobs in question which in fact, are non-existent. Imagining their loss of money, the affected parties may get unnecessarily worked up and stressed. Therefore, the social media has provided fraudsters with the leeway to frustrate unsuspecting social media users ( Lee,Son & Kim, 2016).
Also, the overuse of social media has made some people to become overweight due to the lack of constant mobility on their part. People spend long hours behind their browsers, totally immobile, and this deprives them of the exercise that comes with physical immobility. This has made some people to become overweight, in the process, developing conditions that have a close association to overweightness like diabetes and heart problems. These conditions become stressful in their lives and in the lives of their family members. Such stresses can be avoided if one uses social media moderately, by all means avoiding addiction ( Reinecke, Aufenanger, Beutel, Dreier, Quiring, Stark & Müller, 2016).
Lastly, most people spend hours on end chatting with distant relations, forgetting to create time for those who are close to them. In such situations, the loved ones of the afflicted parties will tend to feel left out of their lives, and this might cause them to feel stressed. Also, the afflicted person may fail to lead a happy life, as s/he accumulates lots of other people’s problems, but from a virtual point of view. Having to continuously listen to the problems of people with whom one has no close relationships may be a contributor both to the development and to the increase of stress levels ( Park, Kee & Valenzuela, 2009) .
As has been discussed above, it is evident that the social media, despite the fact that it is has helpfully connected people at a more globalized level, is also a reason as to why many people are becoming depressed. We have seen that it can be a cause for marital breakups, resulting to stressful situations not only to the couple involved, but also to their children and to their closest relatives. Also, it may cause a person to experience an increase in his/her stress levels, as he or she gets to hear and read about a wide range of problems that their fellow humans are facing, even though they might not be in a position to help in any way. With respect to children, we have seen that social media use increases the risk of them getting bullied or harassed by unknown people, causing them to become stressed which negatively affects their performance in school. Also, cases of addiction due to the overuse of the social media might predispose the concerned person to the contraction of lifestyle diseases, which usually, are a stressful experience. It is therefore, very important that all social media users learn to use it in a moderate manner, avoiding posts and messages that could result in an increase in stress levels on their part. If possible, one could even unfriend or block those people whom they think are posting irritating messages that cause them to get stressed.
References
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