Why your social media obsession could legit be RUINING your life

While we all know scrolling through Facebook for hours on end isn’t exactly good for you, there is nothing like a good study to highlight just how bad for your health that very pastime can actually be.

A recent study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine has shown that social media is not only a massive waste of time and energy, it also makes you feel bad about your career, financial situation and free time.

According to Forbes, the results suggest that people who spend more than an hour a day on social media are more likely to be depressed than those who don’t.

The report states that “exposure to highly idealized representations of peers on social media elicits feelings of envy and the distorted belief that others lead happier, more successful lives” which is actually totally understandable when we spend so much time reading “#goals” under people’s perfectly filtered holiday pics.

Additionally, the lead author of the study explained that time spent online can have a negative impact on an individual’s sense of body image and can also increase the likelihood that they could develop an eating disorder.

Jaime Sidani said: “We’ve long known that exposure to traditional forms of media, such as fashion magazines, is associated with the development of disordered eating and body-image concerns.”

“Social media combines many of the visual aspects of traditional media with the opportunity for social media users to interact and propagate stereotypes that can lead to eating and body image concerns.”

 

If there was ever a study to promote digital detoxing, we think this is it.