Being Connected On Social Media Can Make You Depressed!

You write posts on Facebook. You upload photos to Instagram. You retweet celebrities you follow on Twitter. So far, so normal, right?

Perhaps not. Using at least seven social media platforms makes you more than three times likelier to be at risk of developing depression and anxiety, compared with someone who uses no more than two platforms. That’s what a 2016 study by the Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health at the University of Pittsburgh in the US found.

Should you be worried? Yes, because we’re among the most active social media consumers in the world. A 2016 report by global agency We Are Social found that Singapore had a social media penetration rate of 58 per cent.

Social media intensifies #fomo

Think social media is all about making connections and keeping in touch with them? It can actually make a person feel left out – a main factor in depression, says Joel Yang, psychologist and founder of Mind What Matters.

“Thanks to Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram, you always know what your friends, family and colleagues are up to. That constant connection compounds your feelings of ‘fomo’, which is short for a fear of missing out”, says Joel.

It doesn’t help that everyone’s newsfeeds are a highlight reel of all the great stuff happening in their lives. Drawing comparisons between your life and all that online perfection could make you feel isolated and unhappy.