Just in one
second... 7236 tweets are
tweeted, 726 Instagram pictures are posted, 1126 Tumblr posts are posted, 124434
YouTube videos are being viewed, 2497154 emails are being sent, 54678
Google searches are being. We all know
the use of social media can have a massive impact on our social, emotional and
mental well-being. Social media impacts our self- esteem, our communication
with others and many more aspects of our mental health. But I wonder what physical
affects social media have on our bodies?
Ever wonder why you can't
sleep?
Do you use your phone
right before you go to bed, I know I do. 64% of people surveyed from the
Nelson area said that they use social
media right before
they go to bed. Social media stimulates the brain
keeping it active and wide awake. The bright colours from posts and
light from your phone can prevent your body from producing a hormone that is
produced naturally when it is dark. Melatonin
helps to relax your body and regulate sleep. Social media interrupts this
hormone release as it gives off bright colourful lights which
confuse your brain. The consequence of
this is not being able to go sleep quickly and easily.
Text Claw... is a term used to explain all finger
cramps and sore muscles that come from repetitive use of cell phones, specifically from continually liking posts of
Instagram, scrolling through hundreds of tweets and messaging people. Excessive
use of social media can lead to inflammation in the tendons which makes your
body more susceptible to develop tendonitis and carpal tunnel. Social media is a common
cause for cramps and pains in the hands and wrists because of the movement that
your hands are continuously doing. For an example, when you are scrolling through
Instagram your thumb is doing the same movements scrolling up and down and
double tapping to like pictures repetitively. This causes the
cramps and pains so many people experience.
Computer Vision Syndrome
is one of the most talked about syndromes caused by using social media.
Scrolling though social media for too long can cause eye strain, blurred vision, dizziness, and dry
eyes. The small text and bright colours on social media
platforms are linked to causing Computer Vision Syndrome.
20% of people surveyed from the Nelson
area said that they have experienced Computer Vision.
Phantom Vibration Syndrome is when someone thinks
their cell phone has vibrated when in
reality their phone didn’t. I have experienced this and
it normally leaves me confused and a little bit disappointed. A
professor from Indiana University found that 89% of students in her study had experienced Phantom
Vibration from their cell phones when their phones haven't really
vibrated. She also found that students who were more reliant on social
media became more anxious when they realized their phone didn’t vibrate. Surveys
done in the Nelson area found that 53% of people had experienced Phantom
Vibrations and that 70 % of those who had were teenagers. If
you have experienced Phantom
Vibration Syndrome a lot it probably means that you
are addicted to social media and using your phone.
Social Media and food. Using social media during meal times effects your health. One of the main
problems of social media is that quite often you see pictures of food all over your feed.
Seeing pictures of yummy food can make you have an appetite for food when u really don’t
need it. I have definitely have had cravings for food when I have seen pictures of food on Instagram. Yes that
picture of a gourmet pizza
from Stephano's with mouth
watering pepperoni, tender beef, tasty ham, cabanossi , crispy
bacon and stretchy mozzarella looks so amazingly
mouth drooling that I would
jump out of a plane for omg I want pizz...
excuse me but do I
really need it?... No. When
you use social media you are
probably too involved with whatever
you are looking at on social media to be able to tell when you're
full and up eating too much food or eating more
without realizing it.
People who use social media while eating are usually using their phone or
computer which is a major problem as these devices have
more than 400 times more bacteria than a bathroom does.
Eating whilst on social media has very similar effects of
eating while watching TV. Many studies show that eating in front of
the TV makes it a lot more likely to have obesity and cholesterol problems.
Looking at all these physical effects
led me to wonder how many more there
are out there. I wonder if overuse of cell phones and social media could mean that a person can become
more susceptible to getting bugs
and viruses that are
being passed round. You take your phone everywhere. Imagine all of the bacteria that
could be on your phone. 65 % of people surveyed from the Nelson
area say that they use their phone whilst on the toilet, they must be collecting so
many types of bacteria on their phones. Social
media and cell phones can have many different psychical effects
on our health and most of them are preventable by just not spending
so much time on social media and our phones.
Gabby Lovell
Sources
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