The topic of social media being good for people’s mental health is very interesting. First, I would like to start by saying social media can be both good and bad for people’s mental health. Even though most people may see social media as a negative, I have to disagree. In what ways are social media good for people’s mental health? Social media is good for people’s mental health when it comes to support. People all over the world have problems of their own that they are stressing about. Therefore, I believe if people are getting support from others on social media it can have a positive affect on them. An example that I automatically think of is when a person may be contemplating suicide. If they see someone on social media express themselves about suicide and how they over came it, it may ease their mind.
Moreover, even though I have mentioned that social media can be good for people’s mental health I have to speak on how it can affect people’s mental health. As we all know, cyberbullying is extremely common. I think cyberbullying is a terrible thing. Cyberbullying allows for someone who does not know anyone from a can of paint to make fun of them and embarrass them to the public. It can be done by people who know you as well. Cyberbullying causes many mental health issues and that is obvious. Cyberbullying leads to depression, dissociation, anger and more. Anyone can be a target of cyberbullying but most of the time, I see the less fortunate experiencing it the most. Some people don’t understand what cyberbullying is saying something that you see as unoffensive can be highly offensive to someone else. You can put someone in a very dark place mentally without even knowing or thinking anything of it and that is what bothers me.
Recommendations that I would make for the future in terms of controlling and monitoring social media development and use is for control give people a three-strike policy for trying to bring someone down on social media. The first strike can be a warning, the second strike can be restrictions such as not allowing someone to make posts for as long as needed. If someone commits a third offense they would be banned because I would assume, they do not take cyberbullying serious and social media is not the place for them to be if that is the case. As far as monitoring, I would recommend heavy monitoring.
Social media is used for people who are going through hard times. For example, there are many websites that are made to help people. You have websites for suicide prevention, sexual assault, physical assault and more. These can all improve a person’s mental health because it shows them that they are not in it alone and help is available. Social media can be improved by heavy monitoring for offensive things that are said with no repercussions.
