The tremendous growth of social media platforms over the last decade has changed human interaction. We as a global population are now connected more than ever thanks to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Even though social media platforms bring about numerous benefits, over-reliance on them can cause a detrimental effect on your mental health. That's why the use of social media as a medium of communication needs to be examined carefully.

Here are three ways social media could be impacting your mental health negatively without even realizing it.

1. Sleep

Having enough sleep is paramount if you're to keep your health in check. Unfortunately, many people spend most of their time on social media soon before going to bed, making it harder to fall asleep.

Feelings of anxiety or envy from what you see on social media just before hitting the hay keep your brain on high alert, preventing you from sleeping.

If this is not enough, the light from smartphones suppresses the formation of melatonin, a hormone that makes it easy to doze off. This in turn interferes with your sleep cycle.

To improve the quality of your sleep, keep your phone away about 40 minutes to an hour before going to bed.

This will give you ample time to relax enough to sleep.

2. Fear of Missing Out

Viewing it from a different perspective, social media platforms may affect your mental wellbeing negatively by encouraging irrational expectations.

Even though there is nothing wrong with sharing photos on Instagram or get a link preview on Facebook, social media can lead to poor self-image and self-esteem.

This is mostly the case with the manipulation of images on photo-sharing platforms.

The ease of manipulating images leads to unrealistic expectations on how people ought to look and behave. When you fail to meet these expectations, the impact on self-esteem can be damaging to the extent you dread the way you look.

After all, no one likes to miss out on what their peers are doing.

3. Mental Health Issues

Not only do social media platforms lead to low self-esteem and unhappiness, but they can also cause mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.

This is, of course, if you do not limit the time you spend online.

Immersing yourself too deep in other people's affairs can end up affecting your life negatively. Most people who compare themselves to friends who are doing worse or better can develop depression.

Of course, this does not happen overnight but when you feel anxious from time to time, it will not take long before you realize you're concerning yourself with the feelings of strangers yet they do not know who you are.

The Bottom Line

While you do not have to give up on social media platforms for good, it is always better to take breaks during your daily routine the moment it starts to bog you down. Any slight change you make is going to do wonders for your mental health.

If things seem to be getting out of hand, do not hesitate to get professional help for your mental health.