Social Media Seriously Harms Your Mental Health...

In present day and age, social media is a regular and daily part of our lives. It allows us to be connected to anyone from any place around the world. But it’s not always a good thing. Social media has many dangerous and scary downsides that can affect people and their mental health in a very negative way. This includes cyber bullying, cyber stalking, peer pressure and anonymity. In this post, I’m going to talk about how all these topics can relate to each other and how they can affect a person’s mental health.

Cyber bullying is a form of bullying a person that occurs over the internet. Some experts say that this is the worst form of bullying most people may not realise that the victim is being made to feel insecure. Some examples of cyber bullying include hacking personal information, sending hateful or threatening messages, and pressuring people into doing something that they do not want to partake in. Among 14 to 16-year-olds, reported cyber bullying has doubled in the last year from 18% to 36%. However, teenagers between 17 to 19 have experienced the highest prevalence of online bullying with a whopping 43%.

Cyber stalking is when someone stalks your locations and other personal information through your social media accounts. This can be done over the snapchat map and locations on Instagram posts. Therefore you should always make sure your locations are turned off in the options menu. Cyber stalking can also take form in account hacking or identity theft. You can avoid both by not putting any personal details online and having unique passwords for separate accounts. Stalking over the internet can make the victims feel insecure in every location they visit, as they are not aware who could be watching and when they could decide to make themselves known. One study conducted by the Australian Government has indicated that 5% of people overall are cyber stalked. It was also found that it was more likely to be a victim of cyber stalking in younger years, with age 6 being the highest for females and 9 for males.

Peer pressure is most commonly spoken about as something that happens at a party of when you’re out with a group of friends. It is when you are pressured into doing something you are not comfortable with in fear of not conforming with the “it” group. This definition also applies to online encounters where people may be blackmailing or guilt-tripping their victims to do things they don’t want to. The biggest example of this is sexting. Statistics say that 15% of teenagers have sent a sext, while 27% have received one, and 12% have forwarded a sext without permission. A study conducted in January found that two-thirds of teenage girls are being asked, or coerced into, sending sexually explicit messages or images via text.
The biggest problem I find with the internet is the ability to hide your identity. It is scary that people can create anonymous accounts to commit terrible acts and not be held accountable for their actions. This goes hand in hand with cyber bullying, cyber stalking and peer pressure. The modern internet makes it so easy to make someone’s life hell and I believe more people need to be aware that none of it is okay. If you are a victim, know a victim, or think you may be a bully you can call kids helpline on 1800 55 1800. 

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