The side effects of social media: It affects mental health too, say celebs such as Zeeshan Ayyub and Adah Sharma

Celebs feel that though social media has it’s advantages, the negative elements and the pressure to always get it right does affect one’s mental health too. Here’s what they say.

Of late, there’s been a lot of talk about social media toxicity that affects one’s mental well being. In fact, many Bollywood celebs, such as Sonakshi Sinha, Aayush Sharma and Saqib Saleem have quit Twitter owing to this negativity. The one aspect which needs be drawn attention to is also how all these things — trolling, threats, pressure to say the right thing, post the right picture — can get to someone emotionally, too.

Actor Zeeshan Ayyub agrees that social media is a major problem, even if it has its advantages. “Just that when it comes to actors, it gets amplified. How many likes you’re getting on your posts or pictures, how famous are you? Ajeeb sa ek competitition baar baar banane mein lage rehte hain. There’s definitely lot of negativity, and people also become dependent on a good message to feel better when they’re low. So, social media isn’t a good place for our mental health. I’ve have seen people go into depression when they don’t get likes or followers,” he opines. 

Given the current pandemic, everyone is going through a tough time both physically and mentally. And therefore, actor Bidita Bag feels most people have extreme opinions and there’s no common ground where anyone talks logic.

“Everybody is emotionally frustrated. I took a month off from all forms of social media, and came back only a couple of days back. These days, I also don’t give out my opinion, because I’ve understood my opinion isn’t going to change the world,” she adds.

Being an actor, people feel the pressure grows manifold, and so does the risk of attracting negative elements. Adah Sharma explains, “I guess when one takes up a profession where you’re constantly judged and seek validation from others, you’ve to train your mind to be strong. Be confident about yourself and the person you choose to be, and this negativity will not affect you as much. I’m one of the fortunate people who has more positivity than negativity though.” 

Among many others, Barkha Sengupta believes that social media isn’t one the greatest thing that has happened to the current generation. She elaborates, “It has given a voice to people who don’t really know what they’re talking about, they’re not empathetic enough. Just because we’re actors, doesn’t mean we’re public property. They’ll also say things about people related to me. I’m an actor, but my whole family, at times, gets involved in this. That’s not nice. There’s no controlling it, I ignore it, some people fight back and argue, but I don’t think it’d get you anywhere.”

Ayyub, like Bag, also went on social media detox to refresh his mind. And he still makes sure that he doesn’t spend too much time on any of the platforms.

“The negative part of it used to affect me a lot in the beginning, especially the language people would use. Now, even though I don’t get affected consciously, unconsciously it must affect some. In the lockdown, I went off it for 10 days. After that, I keep a balance, and don’t keep scrolling up and down,” tells us the 37-year-old.