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Melissa Burningham
15 May 2019
Brenda K. Wiederhold, in her editorial “Beyond Direct Benefits: Indirect Health Benefits
of Social Media Use”, describes a study done in 2013. Wiederhold stated that from the study,
health benefits can be seen in social media users with more followers (in this case, friends on
Facebook). Results show that users are apparently happier and are less stressed, have less
physical illnesses and greater psychological well-being. Wiederhold also wrote on another study,
the results of which claim that Social Networking Site (SNS) users felt happier about the
However, I don’t believe this is correct. Many studies have found that SNS users may
feel happier immediately after social networking, but this is only because of how it affects the
chemistry of the brain. When a person uses social media, dopamine floods the brain. Dopamine
is the chemical that “rewards” the brain for doing something good. When dopamine floods the
brain, the user feels very happy and satisfied. Yet after the person leaves social media, the brain
craves the dopamine that it once had, which makes the person feel worse about themselves. This
dopamine rush is why a user may feel happier about themselves immediately after using social
media.
Along with this, a person can not help but compare themselves to others. On social
media, most users only post about the best of their lives. A teenage girl can easily see everyone’s
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so-called ‘golden moments” and compare her life to what she sees online. She doesn’t see the
worst moments of everyone’s lives, the tests that they might have failed, the job interviews that
they might have been bombed. She just sees her classmates getting together and having fun
without her. The good moments shown create a barrier that some are unable to look past. This
barrier can make a user believe that they are the only person that has low moments.
From the chemistry in the brain, as well as with problems with comparing, I believe, and
studies have shown, that social media has detrimental health benefits. Wiederhold states that
users can feel better about themselves and feeling more satisfied with life. However, studies have
shown that often, users end up feeling worse about themselves, whether that be about body