How Social Media is Literally Making Teens Mentally and Socially ill
Teenagers are getting admitted into mental health clinics with a variety of increasingly common psychiatric disorders like depression, self-harm, and borderline personality disorders
Social media addiction is a three steps process:Step 1
It creates habituation. Uses the most sophisticated algorithm which triggers behavior to create dependency
Social media addiction is a three steps process:Step 2
Once addicted, Teenager’s psychological immune system begins to respond negatively. It leads to depression, hopelessness and a sense of emptiness
Social media addiction is a three steps process:Step 3
Once weakened and addicted, Teenagers are now susceptible to any number of manipulations; these include further addiction, ideological brainwashing and, identity shaping
Digital social contagion can also lead to ideological extremism also, spike in gender dysphoria. Like BPD, gender dysphoria is a real psychological phenomenon
Instead of genuine mental illness, many of teenagers are simply attempting to find a tribe or community to belong to via their online explorations caused by digital social forces
We need to better understand these powerful shaping effects of social media to help young people in order to navigate the rough and turbulent seas of today’s social-media world
Dr Musharraf Husain a seasoned Healthcare Profession and has written numerus articles.