Eat, sleep, check Facebook.

Managing our social media accounts has become second nature in our lives. It has made connecting with family and friends much easier. Although social media has enhanced some aspects of human connection, there is a downside to the very impersonal way we share information with online social circles.

The amount of time we spend on our social media accounts has not only hurt the way we interact with one another in real life, but it also can hurt us mentally.

Recent research points to evidence that social media usage is linked to psychological disruption. A University of Michigan study found that increased time spent on Facebook arouses depression and lowers self-esteem. These results were attributed to users constantly reading and seeing what others have been doing, which leads to users feeling comparatively inadequate.

Embarrassingly, even a new term has been coined to characterize this issue: ‘FOMO’ or “fear of missing out.” FOMO is characterized by feelings of inadequacy when someone sees friends highlighting fun aspects of their lives through social media.

Additionally, these websites make it easy for users to portray their lives the way they want others to see them – whether or not the presented image is accurate. We all know the person that is constantly on hikes, surrounded by people or in boat. Facebook is a way to let others know that your life is full of rich experiences. So it shouldn’t be a shocker that social media also causes and feeds narcissism.

According to researcher Elliot Panek, who helped conduct the aforementioned study, “(Facebook is) about curating your own image, how you are seen, and also checking on how others respond to this image.” Additionally, Oxford University professor Baroness Susan Greenfield concluded that social networking sites have created a self-obsessed new generation who have short attention spans and a need for validation, according to The Times of India.

Facebook isn’t the only site that causes mental distress. Pinterest is another website that, if overused, can cause harm. The pin board style site largely targeted at women allows users to manage events, interests and hobbies.

No one was stressed out about having tea candles floating in a mason jar until Pinterest became popular.

Users are drowned in a clutter of crafts, recipe ideas and DIY projects. Pinterest created a whole new set of worries for individuals in that it created a competition for originality. In a Today.com survey, 42 percent of mothers said they suffer from Pinterest stress, or “the worry that they’re not crafty or creative enough.” Pinterest has fueled inferiority complexes because most people don’t have the time to make their life that of a Disney princess.

So basically social media accounts make us depressed, narcissistic and anxious, and they lower our self-esteem. Since these sites aren’t going away, we have to make sure to take time to interact with real people and not be so obsessive about checking our accounts. We should utilize the phenomenon that is social media in moderation, lest we find ourselves fixating on problems that don’t even matter.

-Alyssa Reynolds is a senior communication major from Ferndale. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this Column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.