Bailey Parnell discusses the harmful effects of social media in her Ted Talk.  She focuses on the most common 4 stressors of social media: the highlight real, social currency, fear of missing out (FOMO), and online harassment.  The highlight real explains that each person's social media page is a trophy case of our best moments, and can be detrimental as we tend to compare ourselves to everybody else.  Viewing everyone's best moments can generate stress as we feel we're aren't doing enough.  Bailey uses an example of seeing a friend post a picture of themselves on a lavish vacation.  We subconsciously start to think why aren't I going out more, why am I working 40 hour work weeks when I could be going out, having more fun.  The next stressor, social currency which explains that the pictures we post online are a transaction.  We post something expecting it to get likes, and the number of likes we get determines our self-worth.  Then, when the post doesn't get as much attention as you thought it would, you feel bad about yourself even if you were sharing something positive, to begin with.  The FOMO is social anxiety of the fear of missing out on potential connections.  Online harassment is one of the biggest contributors to poor mental health within social media.  Bailey discusses Anita Sarkeesian, a woman that committed suicide after she received harassment for sharing her feminist ideals.  There are several more ways in which social media is harmful to us.  Does online harassment increase suicide rates?

Items