Social media is a great way to interact with anyone and stay in touch with friends and family. Everyone sees the positive things that it brings to us, but there are even more negative outcomes to social media than there are positives.

Being on some sort of social media actually isolates us from our real-life environment. You can be at home all day sitting on social media instead of interacting with your friends face-to-face. Social media is key to isolation by separating you from being with your friends, and then making you wonder more about what their life is involved in rather than your own. 

Social media can make you feel more alone because you become more dependent on social media connections than real-life connections. Without physical connections, virtual relationships are not nearly the same as real-life connections. According to Psychology Today, “Connecting on social media creates more disconnection.”

Depression in kids and even adults have occurred due to social media. Fear of missing out is a big thing on social media that leads to hurt feelings and even broken friendships. Some people use social media as a way of cyberbullying by leaving people out or by making them feel ugly or bothered compared to others. 

Social media provides an easy way out by distracting us from getting anything done, including sleep. Sleep is important and being on social media close to bedtime tempts you to stay on your phone, which can reduce sleep quality and increase the risk of many other sleep disorders. 

Some people may not even recognize the ways social media affects them negatively because of the different distractions social media holds. Overall it actually has more negative effects than it does positive.