What Science Says About Social Media And How It Affects Your Holistic Health

Social Media Can Cause Chronic Inflammation

If you find it hard to get quality sleep at night, you’ve been feeling swollen or you’ve noticed that you’ve packed on some extra pounds (more on that in a bit), your joints feel stiff or you’re in a bit of a funky mood — you could be dealing with a bit of bodily inflammation and yes, social media could have something to do with it.

How in the world could that be? Well, the thing about inflammation is low levels of physical activity, disrupted sleep patterns and high levels of stress are all things that can trigger it in your system and when you’re engaging in social media for hours on end on a daily basis, that can lead to all of these things.

The (main) reason why this should be cause for concern is because untreated/chronic inflammation can lead to autoimmune disease, heart disease, asthma, type 2 diabetes and depression — which is just one of the reasons why using social media should be approached with moderation.

Social Media Can Lower Your Self-Esteem

Semi-recently, while reading an article on how filters are out here damaging people’s self-esteem, I knew that this had to go on the list. As far as filters go, it helps to create an image that isn’t real and that can cause people to feel like the “original” them isn’t good enough.

Beyond filters, though, constantly comparing yourself to how other people look (even if they too are “enhancing” their genuine selves), feeling pressured to “level up” based on whatever beauty trends are happening at the time and allowing social media to determine how you should think, feel and act — it’s all enough to make even the strongest person crack, if they aren’t careful.

I mean, the title of the following article alone should amplify this particular point: “Millions of teenagers worry about body image and identify social media as a key cause – new survey by the Mental Health Foundation.” Enough said on this point, right?

Social Media Can Cause You to Gain Weight

Although this one might seem a bit obvious, let’s still break it down a bit. Unless you are scrolling through your social media accounts while you’re on the treadmill or taking a walk through your neighborhood, sitting on the coach or lying in bed and checking out your Instagram and TikTok encourages a sedentary lifestyle which can absolutely result in you packing on a few pounds.

In fact, there are studies which say that adolescents who are on social media more than two hours a day participate in more nighttime eating and end up not getting enough rest (which raises stress levels which also results in weight gain). Another study reveals that, for every hour that people use social media, they increase their chances of gaining weight by eight percent.

And still another fairly popular study cites that frequent use of social media increases your chances of weight gain by almost 50 percent (compared to those who don’t use social media much at all). When you get a chance, check out “Obesity, Second to Smoking as the Most Preventable Cause of US Deaths, Needs New Approaches.” It’s worth taking seriously.

Social Media Can Amplify Narcissistic Tendencies

One of my favorite pieces of advice/wisdom from King Solomon is “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; A stranger, and not your own lips.” (Proverbs 27:2 — NKJV) Now think about what he said and how often you hear people brag about themselves on social media (if I see one more post about women talking about having “pretty privilege”…whew that sounds arrogant as literal hell). Now y’all, factoring this in alone, how could it not make all of the sense in the world that social media is definitely doing its part in creating more and more narcissists by the day?

If you don’t believe me, check out articles like “The Brutal Truth About Selfies, Narcissism, and Low Self-Esteem,” “Selfies the 'perfect tool' for narcissists, says U of A resea​rcher,” “Social Media Narcissism: Are the Apps Creating Narcissists?” and “The relationship between social media use and narcissism” — and then, before pushing back on all of this intel, remember that some telling traits of a narcissist include arrogance, entitlement and the excessive need for attention and admiration. Chile…CHILE.​

Social Media Can Jack Up Your Skeletal System

Now here’s one that you might’ve never seen coming: Did you know that ​too much time on social media can jack up your skeletal system? Although, on the surface, that might sound odd, think about the positions that you are in when you’re scrolling — slouching, lying in all kinds of weird positions…doing all kinds of stuff that is (potentially) wreaking pure havoc on your posture. Not to mention the joint discomfort that your hands and wrists may end up going through due to all of the button pushing that you are doing nonstop.

And here’s what you’ve got to watch when it comes to messing with your posture —​ it can increase your chances of experiencing a neck, shoulder or back injury, it can cause incontinence (straight up) or it can result in you having bouts of heartburn…and that’s just for starters. So, definitely make sure that when you are going through your social media accounts that you are sitting upright as much as possible.

6. Social Media Can Trigger Anxiety

Did you know that the average American checks their phone a whopping 144 times each and every day? And a lot of that, no doubt, consists of checking notifications — including the ones that are connected to their social media accounts. A flag about this is the fact, perhaps without noticing, it can cause you to become addicted to using your phone, in part, because you will cultivate a FOMO — Fear Of Missing Out — mindset…and that is rarely ever good.

Whether that “missing out” is tied to wanting what others have, being addicted to knowing what is happening before everyone else does and being just plain damn nosey, something that FOMO tends to do is create feelings of anxiety and anxiety can lead to health-related issues like headaches, panic attacks, depression, fatigue, abdominal discomfort, stress, breathing issues and a weakened immune system.

Social Media Can Wreck Your Sleep Patterns

If you’re someone who makes at least one bathroom run in the middle of the night, do yourself a favor and resist the temptation to look at your phone before heading back to bed. For one thing, be real — it’s pretty hard to spend less than 10 minutes on your social media accounts once you get on them (and there really is no telling what you might see that could trigger, frustrate or over-preoccupy you) and secondly — chile, that blue light that comes from your phone screens?

Science has proven that it can wreck your rest by hijacking the melatonin levels that your body naturally produces so that you can sleep soundly. In fact, if you really take your shut eye seriously, logging off of your phone 30-60 minutes before turning in is most ideal.

Social Media Can Tank Your Sex Life

Hmph. There’s no telling how many clients I’ve said, “If you’ve got time for social media, you absolutely have time for sex” to — I’m not wavering on that fact either. I say this be​cause, like I stated in the intro (and in other articles on the site), if you can spend 2.5 hours a day on social media on a daily basis, you absolutely can make the time to get some action in with your partner for (at least) 30 minutes, 1-2 days a week. ​

And lawd, not to mention the fact that research reveals that too much social media use (and phone use, in general, really) can lead to things like erectile dysfunction and a lower libido in men and a more challenging time getting aroused or having an orgasm in women. Is Instagram worth all of that? I think not.

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An author by the name of Simon Mainwaring once said, “Social media has become the crack cocaine of the digital world.” Perhaps, however, if you are intentional about how much time you spend on it (and why), that doesn’t have to be the case for you.

Social media isn’t bad. Too much of it is.

For the sake of your mind, body and spirit, never lose sight of that.

Log off sometimes. Science says that it’s more than worth it to do so.

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