Social media harms mental health, say users

SOCIAL media has a negative impact on our mental health, a third of Irish people believe.

The study, by iReach Insight, reveals that one in four of us have taken a break from it in the last 12 months.

A further 34% have deleted social media applications from their phone, in the latest sign that attitudes to smartphones are changing.

And a staggering 42% believe greater restrictions should be put in place to regulate what can be posted on social media.

In a demonstration of its deliberately addictive nature, 69% admitted they would find it difficult to give up social media entirely, despite 32% believing it has a solely negative impact on mental health. That finding reflects the revelation that many tech giants now employ neuroscientists to find ways of making their products more addictive.

Notifications on social media, for example, originally appeared in blue: however the companies realised that making notifications red increases the amount of dopamine released by the brain. (Dopamine is the chemical released by our bodies when a person takes cocaine or smokes a cigarette).

Incredibly, just 7% of 18- to 34-year-olds think social media has a solely positive influence.

A spokeswoman for iReach said: ‘What we gather from this study is that people’s trust in social media is eroding due to privacy issues, fake news and trolls online. The results show that adults in Ireland are trying to cut down on social media usage as a third of young adults have deleted social media apps from their phone in the last 12 months.

‘People want a break from being connected, contactable and constantly being bombarded with negativity and fake news.

‘Nevertheless, usage still remains high across social media platforms, but unsurprisingly, 53% of those surveyed have adjusted their privacy settings in the last year showing that people are becoming more aware and cautious online.’

They found that instant messenger WhatsApp and video platform YouTube are the most used platforms after Facebook.

WhatsApp has a notably higher proportion of female users – 74% of those surveyed use it compared to 63% of males. Photography app Instagram is similarly gender split, with 41% of females active users compared to 24% of males.

Facebook remains the most popular social media site overall, with 73% of the 1,000 surveyed active users on the site. But younger people use it less than the older generation – just 25% of 18- to 34-yearolds consider it their preferred platform, compared to 47% of over-55s.

But highly publicised data breaches of platforms including Facebook have led 53% to adjust their privacy settings in the last 12 months.

Only 18% are satisfied with the current policies and content restrictions on social media.