Mental health is critical at all stages of life, as the emotional, psychological, and social well-being of humans falls under it. Simply stated, it affects thoughts, perception, and motivation towards actions; it also determines how people deal with stress, interact with others, and make decisions (Odgers and Jensen 337). According to research, certain mental health disorders, such as schizophrenia, may run in families due to hereditary exposure (Orben et al. 637). The most frequent causes of mental illness, however, are linked to the environment in which individuals grow up, their perception, thinking, coping methods, and susceptibility to addictions. Considering the latter point, the purpose of the paper is to investigate the emotional and philosophical dimensions of social internet addiction. It emerges from the assumption that the addictive nature of social media networks can result in mental conditions.
Background
Over the past few decades, concerns about the correlation between the peculiarities of the modern lifestyle and mental health illness have developed. Although researchers mention excessive social media use by youngsters among the reasons for the growing rates of psychiatric problems in the same demographic, the mechanisms of the influence remain unclear (Berryman et al. 311). The primary step to exploring them is defining social media and identifying their role in human life. Notably, they are a form of electronic communication in which individuals build online forums to exchange information, viewpoints, personal messages, and other material. This type of personal interaction has been supported primarily by the increased Internet penetration worldwide.
Increased Access to Social Media
With the development of online technologies, social media platforms have gained users globally. As a result, it seems that humans are more interconnected than ever, whether they are live-tweeting wedding showers or creating Facebook pages for their animals. Around 73% of internet adults currently use certain social media sites (Auxier and Anderson 17). Some of the most common are Facebook, which recently was rebranded as Meta, YouTube video platform, Instagram, and TikTok. Such platforms have different user experiences that can affect the users differently. The younger those are, the more vulnerable they apparently are to emotional distress; hence a stronger attachment to the source of emotions, in the given case, the social media site.
Facebook as the Leading Social Network
Facebook doubtlessly is the dominant social media platform, for which reason the paper focuses on it. This resource is the market leader, with over 71% of internet adults as users, who are outstandingly active and engaged (McKibben and Logan-McKibben 7; Quinn 1351). Specifically, traffic monitoring systems show that more than a third of those who have Facebook accounts log in daily, and slightly above a quarter do that many times a day (Fu et al. 117). This constant consumption of social media may be a consequence of the growing popularity of such sites on mobile devices that have simplified and quickened surfing the Internet considerably.
The above trends justify the growing interest in Facebook’s impact on the psychological stability of its users. It is worth noting that, although anybody may create accounts on social media, teenagers are the most frequent visitors of such platforms. Thus, Reer et al. discovered that 84 percent of 18-29-year-olds use Facebook, which share is the biggest among various age groups (781). Additionally, they are the fastest rising category, judging by the increase from no more than 9% in 2004 (Reer et al. 781). Given the rising significance of social media in young community relationships, it is vital to understand how their usage may affect mental well-being.
Reasons for Using Social Media
As said above, although all age groups utilize social media, youngsters doubtlessly prevail, which actually is quite natural, considering the benefits. The recent neuropsychological study notably indicates that possessing an active account engages the brain’s intrinsic reward system, similar to intense main pleasures such as food and sex (Chou et al. 2417). More specifically, people use Facebook for two fundamental reasons: the desire for belonging and for self-presentation. A Facebook page of an individual contributes to his or her self-worth and sense of self-integrity. This effect can be so powerful that some show to alter the dopamine levels in the brain, as elaborated in the psychological concerns later in this paper (Chou et al. 2418). The need for socialization, meanwhile, is stronger in adolescents and youngsters than in older people, due to which the above proportion is actual.
Mental Health Disorders
Several investigations and speculations have described adverse effects of social media usage, such as increased melancholy, anxiety, obsessive behavior, loneliness, and narcissism. Scholars argue that the growing popularity of networking sites with young individuals raises worries about these potentially harmful consequences (Zhao and Zhang 273). One of the possible solutions is to control the access timeframe on social media platforms. The urgency of such an intervention could be justified with the insights that sociologists, psychologists, brain physiologists, and philosophers have put across in terms of the impact of unhealthy exposure to social media.