IS VIRTUAL ENTERTAINMENT AWFUL FOR YOU? THE PROOF AND THE QUESTIONS

Abstract

Three billion people, around 40% of the world’s population, use online social media – and we’re spending an average of two hours every day sharing, liking, tweeting and updating on these platforms, according to some reports. That breaks down to around half a million tweets and Snapchat photos shared every minute. 

With social media playing such a big part in our lives, could we be sacrificing our mental health and well-being as well as our time? What does the evidence actually suggest?

• Facebook responds to mental well-being claims

• Is it time to rethink how we use social media?

Since social media is relatively new to us, conclusive findings are limited. The research that does exist mainly relies on self-reporting, which can often be flawed, and the majority of studies focus on Facebook. That said, this is a fast-growing area of research, and clues are beginning to emerge. It is also  reviewed the findings of some of the science so far as stress, depression, and many more reasons that will discuss in this article clearly.