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Melissa Burningham

Mrs. Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 2010, Section 3

15 May 2019

Notebook 8: Social Media and Detrimental Health Effects

Brenda K. Wiederhold, in her editorial “Beyond Direct Benefits: Indirect Health Benefits

of Social Media Use”, describes a study done in 2013. Wiederhold stated that from the study,

health benefits can be seen in social media users with more followers (in this case, friends on

Facebook). Results show that users are apparently happier and are less stressed, have less

physical illnesses and greater psychological well-being. Wiederhold also wrote on another study,

the results of which claim that Social Networking Site (SNS) users felt happier about the

“companionship support, appraisal support, and life satisfaction.” in their lives.

However, I don’t believe this is correct. Many studies have found that SNS users may

feel happier immediately after social networking, but this is only because of how it affects the

chemistry of the brain. When a person uses social media, dopamine floods the brain. Dopamine

is the chemical that “rewards” the brain for doing something good. When dopamine floods the

brain, the user feels very happy and satisfied. Yet after the person leaves social media, the brain

craves the dopamine that it once had, which makes the person feel worse about themselves. This

dopamine rush is why a user may feel happier about themselves immediately after using social

media.

Along with this, a person can not help but compare themselves to others. On social

media, most users only post about the best of their lives. A teenage girl can easily see everyone’s
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so-called ‘golden moments” and compare her life to what she sees online. She doesn’t see the

worst moments of everyone’s lives, the tests that they might have failed, the job interviews that

they might have been bombed. She just sees her classmates getting together and having fun

without her. The good moments shown create a barrier that some are unable to look past. This

barrier can make a user believe that they are the only person that has low moments.

From the chemistry in the brain, as well as with problems with comparing, I believe, and

studies have shown, that social media has detrimental health benefits. Wiederhold states that

users can feel better about themselves and feeling more satisfied with life. However, studies have

shown that often, users end up feeling worse about themselves, whether that be about body

image, popularity, or other factors such as feeling lonely or depressed.