Social media is a great way to connect with others and an amazing creative outlet. But what are the real life effects of social media?
From 2018 to 2019, it was reported that 90 per cent of Candadians from the ages of 15-34 use social media regularly. Leaving Canadian youth between the ages of 15-19 most affected.
47 per cent of Canadian youth reported losing sleep and 23 per cent reported feeling anxious and/or depressed.
It is no secret that the younger social media users are the ones to be most affected due to external pressures from their peers or mutuals and the attempt to keep up with their online persona.
Our very own multimedia reporter, Jy Penarroyo went around X University’s campus and asked students how social media affected their mental health. Here’s what she found:
So what is the answer? In 2019, Instagram started hiding likes in an effort to improve the mental and emotional health of users across the platform. This year, Lush quit social media altogether in response to the effects social media has on mental health.
What can you do? How can you better or prevent the effect social media personally has on you? Contrary to popular belief, the answer is not facemasks and green tea.
If you are wondering about how and where to start with your social media detox, follow the tips we found listed below:
Follow mental health & wellness accounts: There are many great mental health and wellness accounts on instagram. Our top three are: @howmental, @sitwithwhit and @themindgeek.
