• blazera@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    When i hear about social media hurting mental health i remember my time through school, before social media was a thing. The amounts are anecdotal of course, but all the same issues were definitely present. Bullying and harassment, body image problems, relationship problems, rumors and gossip and classism and bigotry. Social media is just another form of human interaction, human interaction itself can get ugly.

    • iltoroargento@lemmy.sdf.org
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      5 months ago

      Social media use is related to classroom distractions, but I’d say it is it’s own can of worms that needs to be addressed.

      The issue is both with scope and amplification of persistent issues like those you mentioned as well as the detached nature of communication over these apps or just on the internet in general.

      Human interactions are definitely ugly and awkward at times, especially between kids as they try to make sense of their world. The increased amount/prevalence of these opportunities for communication through an algorithmic lens that perpetuates unrealistic societal expectations and is designed to keep the user constantly engaged both take a greater toll on mental health and distract people (adults included) from the task at hand or reality in general.