Health & Fitness
Stresses of Social Media
Social media on its own does not make people more stressed, a study finds.
There has been talk that social media and technology usage increase people’s stress, but a new Pew Research study does not necessarily find that to be the case.
The study found that frequent users of social media were not more stressed than infrequent users. But, social media has been shown to have a way of making people more aware of tragedies, turmoil and stressful events and that can increase people’s stress, particularly in women.
“If the Internet and social platforms are necessary platforms for communication, and there is a cost to caring, we should be better prepared to handle incidental unexpected stressors,” says Scott Krakower, DO, psychiatrist at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks. “If we do feel emotions toward a particular event, it may be helpful to recognize them, and reflect on what is happening, before we immediately react.”
