The Pros and Cons of Social Media

Over the past two decades, social media has become a key part of most of our lives. It is how we stay connected, how we keep ourselves entertained in our downtime, and for many, it is how they connect with their spouse or significant other. Many a modern family has begun because two people connected on an app.

As with many things, there are pitfalls to watch out for with social media, but there are also potential benefits. The avid scrollers who see no issue at all with their social media usage might want to consider a few things that would improve their online experience and mental health. Those who enlist blanket bans on all apps might be “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” with their approach.

Here are five pros and five cons of social media consumption, and the things we can do to get the most out of the apps.

The Pros of Social Media

Connectedness
We live in a busy age. It’s one of the jokes of adulthood that as you get older, you have to digitally schedule dates to meet and catch up with friends. Jokes aside, many of us are deeply lonely and disconnected. In a national survey done in 2023, 27% of the adult population in the United States admitted to feeling “very or fairly lonely”.

Platforms like Facebook and chat apps like Signal, Discord, and WhatsApp were originally developed to help people find their friends and family and stay connected with them. Many of these platforms have evolved beyond this primary function, but social media remains a tool for important connections. Social media is not the cure for loneliness, but it can facilitate important connections when we most need them.
Decompressing During Downtime
Most social media apps these days are focusing on platforming entertainment. Usage of TikTok spiked in 2020 when people were locked indoors, and many were dealing with crippling anxiety over the state of the world. TikTok provided a welcome escape from the fearful uncertainty of the world.

While there is a tendency to become absorbed in the appeal of brain-draining entertainment, it can be healthy to indulge in it occasionally. A short time each day when we can disengage from the onslaught of information, opinions, and pressures, and enjoy some light-hearted, funny, or uplifting content can do us good.
A Creative Outlet
Social media is often a place for showing off, and it can be inspiring or uplifting to witness. Creatives have platforms to share their art and love of art, creating small pockets of communities, some with niche but wholesome interests. Finding a way to celebrate whichever type of creativity resonates most with us is healthy and positive.

The Cons of Social Media

Time Saps
Most social media apps are designed for users to scroll through endlessly. There is no end to the content they offer, and most no longer have a chronological timeline. This means that, as we scroll, we are feeding dopamine hits to our brain without an awareness of how deep we have scrolled, or how much time we have spent on the app.

Constant scrolling not only wastes time but can negatively affect mental and even physical health. When we spend countless hours looking at screens late into the night, we risk our eyesight and take in large amounts of blue light.

This light affects the circadian rhythm in our nervous system and can elevate anxiety and cause insomnia. In extreme cases, the endless scrolling of apps begins to affect intimacy in relationships, particularly when we turn to our devices before spending time with our loved ones in person.
Rage Bait And Doom-Scrolling
Most social media platforms are engineered to get engagement from their users, and to keep people using their apps for as long as possible. This means that the algorithms that deliver content to our feeds simply want us to react to posts. Additionally, millions of users have discovered how to monetize their posts and will purposely post provocative content that draws clicks and comments from viewers. This is called “rage bait.”

It can be entertaining to engage with posts that make us mad. There is a sense of power that comes from opposing or publicly denouncing something we disagree with on social media, but it has negative long-term effects on our mental health.

For example, if we are scrolling before bed and come across a rage bait post, or we go on a doom-scrolling deep-dive on a news topic, we are spending our last few hours of the day feeling angry or depressed. This has a cumulative effect and we can become strangely addicted to the emotions we get from certain posts, even if they are unhelpful emotions like anger or depression.
Comparison: The Thief Of Joy
One of the most common downsides of social media is that we inevitably compare our lives, talents, or bodies with the ones we see celebrated online. Most of us know that social media is fake; it is an edited, often photoshopped, highlights reel posted simply to get affirmation or attention. Despite this, most of us end up falling into the trap of comparing ourselves with the people we see online, especially if they are friends, acquaintances, or peers.

A bit of comparison can be beneficial, and so can competition. If something inspires us toward healthy change, then it is helpful. I personally find inspiration for competition when viewing volleyball clips that I want to try out with my Spokane volleyball community. Sadly, that is not always the case with social media comparison. We all tend to chase the illusion of happiness, success, and health over the real thing, and that is detrimental to mental health.

Ways We Can Improve Our Social Media Experience

Ultimately, the internet is simply a tool for people to use. It is what you make of it. However, it can be difficult to control our response to online content or its effects on our lives. There are a few steps that we can take to ensure that we get the best out of social media and leave out the rest.
Learn To Scroll On
Almost every social media app is fed by an algorithm. This means that the app is logging every response you make and what type of content you are reacting to. It does this so that it can serve up more of the same content that will get you interacting and spending time using the app.

Every “like” and every comment – even the negative ones – will cause you to see more of the same content, even if it is rage-baiting. Learn to scroll on and away from posts that would ordinarily garner a response. It might be hard to do, but it will save your sanity
Tune Your Feeds
Most apps give you the option to tune your feeds, ensuring that you only see certain types of content. How you tune your feed differs from app to app but learning how to say “Don’t show me this type of content” will vastly improve your enjoyment of it. If in doubt, google “how to tune my [insert app name] feed”. This is a good option if you have found that your enjoyment of an app has diminished, but you’d like to continue using it.

While some apps have taken the ability to ‘dislike’ away others such as YouTube still allow you to do so. Disliking videos allows you to tune your feed to videos which will increase both your enjoyment, and decrease negative messages and imagery impacting your mental and emotional states.
Limit your usage
This one might go without saying, but setting time limits for certain apps is a healthy way to find discipline with social media usage. Some people fall into a binge-purge cycle with social media, where they regularly become frustrated with apps and delete their profiles. A few weeks later they restart their accounts and the cycle begins again.Social media can help us tighten up our self-discipline. For example, a rule we might make for ourselves is to activate a sleep setting on our devices at least two hours before bedtime, limiting our use of apps. We could say that we won’t scroll any apps over meals or when we are with other people.

Another couple of options you have at your disposal are creating app timers or utilizing apps that disrupt your usage of other apps. Even small disruptions in the scrolling cycle can disengage our minds and dopamine loops to allow us more agency over our behaviors.

Apple and Android devices have these options built into their settings for us to activate and can be a great tool for parents as well! Third-party applications are also available for use if you still find it difficult to control your social media usage. These typically have some financial commitment such as a monthly payment.

Next Steps

Social media is a tool that can impact our mental health negatively or positively. There are benefits we can enjoy from social media, like using it for connection, creativity, or decompressing. There are also pitfalls such as addiction, its negative impact on our self-esteem, and the experience of unhelpful or negative emotions.

It is possible to take control of our social media usage and tweak our experiences. We can do this by being more mindful of how we interact online and limiting our usage.

If you are dealing with social media addiction, loneliness, depression, or any of the things mentioned in this article, you might benefit from speaking with a counselor. We would love the opportunity to connect you with someone to help you by listening and developing a strategy for coping or healing. Reach out to us today.