Social media on anxiety, relationships, and well-being

How much does twitter or facebook effect you? You will probably say not a whole lot. But, it does. The difference is, what you see as normal everyday occurrences and speaking with your friends about it is trivial. At this point in technology it is. But at a psychological level. People crave the 'likes' and people crave the 'rts' 'favs' or Trophies on twitter. Tumblr means you want more hits and visitors. I write this blog, this is a form of social media, I do care about views. Because I write this to help other people.

However, the darkness that can come about from Social Media is paramount. Search any racial slur on twitter or google with tumblr added. You will see your everyday average person spewing venom towards everyone that is not their race. Why? Because anonymity makes it easy to do some. It makes it easy to ruin people's day by trolling them. It effects everyone individually. But, the larger picture is. People are just as racist as they were 20 years ago. Now they can spew it without regard for consequence. I personally have a problem with this. I have people who I thought were friends use these avenues to attack another race. It ruins friendships. Family members fight over little trivial spiteful vague posts and don't talk for years.

It can affect how a relationship is founded. I have 2500+ followers, very few of them I know even the littlest detail. But if you post something that strays too far, they can put you on blast. Make you feel like garbage.

Facebook ruins long distance relationships. Sure it is nice to be able to talk to a loved one, or a close friend who lives far away. But, assuming you have some friends close to you. You can connect on facebook, set up meetings. Rekindle friendships, old relationships and if it goes far enough, become intimate and emotionally attached. Facebook is a terrible terrible social media outlet for people who are married or engaged. Because it raises a lot of doubt. It brings about trust issues. People need to step back. People need to realize that 'innocent' conversation has the ability to become a tool to hurt. A tool to make someone depressed.

I don't know if anyone has done studies. But I have the slight feeling that infidelity has risen by a huge margin since Social Media has taken stride (AIM, AOL, MSN, MySpace)

Social media is a slippery slope, I keep it light. I find humor and learn from other people. It is what I look for. However, it is the perspective that really matters for people.

The question at hand is, what exactly do you get from Social Media? How much does it effect you? Positively or negatively?

Too many lives have been lost because social media has been used to harm or depress people, cyber bullying makes it too easy to prey on the 'weak'. 

Regards,
Devon