3 ways social media can be harmful to your health

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Facebook has 1.2 billion global active users, and the average American spends almost eight hours a month on social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the like, according to Medical News Today.

Since the proliferation of various social media networks and avenues, its effects on mental health has been debated on. Social psychiatrist Ethan Cross of the University of Michigan told Medical News Today: "On the surface, Facebook provides an invaluable resource for fulfilling the basic human need for social connection. But rather than enhance well-being, we found that Facebook use predicts the opposite result—it undermines it."

Here are just some of the ways social media can negatively effect people's lives.

1. FOMO or fear of missing out

When we talk about FOMO, it's not only that gnawing feeling of not being good enough because of the social standards set by society that people love to brag about on social media. Whether it's getting engaged, getting married, announcing a pregnancy, giving birth, or taking a trip to Paris, there's always a green monster turning its head at you meaningfully, asking, "Why couldn't that person be you?"

Reader's Digest reports that two German universities did a study on social networking, wherein researchers found that 1 in 3 people surveyed felt either lonely, frustrated, or angry after spending some time on Facebook. They concluded that this was "often due to perceived inadequacies when comparing themselves to friends."

2. Self-esteem issues

Who could possibly forget that incredibly dumb internet challenge of putting your arm behind you to reach your belly button to see if you're "thin enough"? Children, teens, and women are barraged with too many images of what's "socially acceptable," and even celebrities have fought back against how the media portrays women.

There's also an added pressure to show your viewers or your online friends that you're having a fantastic life. According to USA Today, a survey of 23 college students showed that 20 of them believed that social media caused anxiety.

Columbia College Chicago student Shannon Smith said: "It adds a lot of pressure to be the perfect person because that’s how we can make ourselves look online."

Brandy Miller, another student from the same college, added: "[You] feel pressured to look like your having fun and post it online as if your having a great time and college is awesome, when in reality it might not be."

3. Increased consumption

According to Reader's Digest, viewing photos of food can increase your appetite, even after you've eaten, causing you to reach for a snack or something to nibble on. Additionally, social media makes you spend more. A study had been done to link high exposure to social media with lower self-control. With the ease of online shopping, it has never been so easy to purchase things virtually and have the items appear at your doorstep the following day.

Distinguished Professor of Communications and codirector of the Media Effects Research Laboratory at Penn State S. Shyam Sundar told Psychology Today: "The more you get connected to Facebook, the stronger you feel that the items you post—the pictures, for example—are part of your identity and the more likely you are going to view these as your virtual possessions."

The trick is to detach one's self through more meaningful activities. Jennifer White of the Huffington Post suggests exercise (no gym selfies, though!), reading, and spending time with your children, among other things.

White said it perfectly: "Happiness is not created through candid photographs or a new, cute top—not that I don't also love sharing these types of experiences on social media or find them completely invalid in general. Happiness is breathing into—not through—the life that we currently inhabit and finding joy there; finding a spark of something beautiful, even when feeling depleted, or moving forward, or changing courses, or staying the course."