The Impact Of Social Media On Mental Health

Social media creates wanting and seeing, and wanting will always wade its way into shaking up one’s mental health

Social Media is a tool to remove the wholeness of a human and put him/ her out to a 2D surface- it leaves wanting more, wanting less, wanting an excess, not wanting, creating more, carving crudely, craving crookedly, incising, curating and cutting. This wear and tear of a human to put them out for social consumption creates a rather externalized set of values and emotions we would not have known or felt, this want of the producer and greed of the consumer is what social media was designed to create and does a good job of. How do we get someone to see what we see, how do we configure social media to favour us, what will get us more likes, more comments, what will catch the watcher’s eyes, what will catch the reader’s mouth, what will leave a maverick awestruck, what will leave us bewitched, beguiled, how much is a human being willing to emerge for this, what will leave us controversial yet kind, what will get us more followers, what will get us more hype, what will get us close to the clandestine stature of ‘you’ve made it now you can relax in respite!’, what will win us this game, what will keep this place safe, easily turned to warfare and wings of political sides- this is all social media and how it makes human beings more and more and more and more and more oneself, yet a little different from one another in who we are. The larger subject of politics is a close cousin of social media, it does the same, it removes us temporarily to fit us back in, as ourselves, with an edge- but the human authority and dangers can be a lot more in a political arena, so social media is a good ground for simulation.

So now, getting into mental health, social media creates wanting and seeing- wanting will always wade its way into shaking up one’s mental health in some little way. Social Media is a videogame of sorts to get to somewhere, it's a simulation, what are we trying to get to, how are we trying to get there, do we have a plan, are we willing to risk it all, what are we willing to risk, how much will we give, to what extent, give up what, keep what, do what, burn what, bridge what, build what, what are we going to do to get to this next level, if there is one we’re trying to get to, once we’re in this game, we’ve just got to stay in it, how long will we sit, how will we play, are we ready enough to leave or just stay for staying sake, what’s our next step, is it learned or an impromptu number pulled out from thin air. 

Are we just going to give up this game, this simulation of reality, this video game that keeps life moving, gripping, pacing, holding, panting, feeling, fading, fawning, fondling… a human question is how will we survive this cathartic commotion? I hate to use the word cathartic here, but there is such an inherent catharsis in living just a little outside oneself, at the risk of one’s mental health, alongside a million other humans all on their edge, all living this game, day in, day out, digging.

Today, our colonized cities, our political correctness, our standards of woke and our safe, solid nuclear lives have stopped giving us this whole sense of gratification- social media can be a communal party, a rave without the panacea, you’ve just got to learn to live it/ live with it.

How does one survive this? This wild forest of humans in animal skin? It is where one’s inner strength, tact, agility and thinking helps. I believe the psychological impact of true society is what social media exaggerates and portrays. Mental Health is built by breakage and repair, I believe, a safe place to break it can be social media, a safe place to build it back can be social media!

Everything there is, it must break, what is important is how it redeems and repairs.