MENTAL HEALTH IN THE DIGITAL ERA

INTRODUCTION:

In today’s rapidly growing digital world, we all are witnessing increased cases of mental health issues caused by several reasons such as excessive social media usage, exposure to longer screen time, addiction to digital applications, prone to cyberbullying and assistance to overloaded information and misinformation. We will cover the cases which include the severe impact of Player Under Battle Ground (PUBG), the role of WhatsApp and Instagram in spreading misleading information, exposure of youth to cyber-crimes through dating apps etc. In this article, we will cover the challenges caused to mental health due to various causes of the digital era and we will deal with the solutions required to tackle this issue.  

CHALLENGES IN THE DIGITAL ERA:

Some of the challenges of the digital era are  

1. High Social Media Engagement: It is a tool for fast communication and establishing speedy connections across the globe but it has various drawbacks as well. Exposure to social media gives a ride to its users across the charming and idealistic lives of others through their edited posts making the viewer feel depressed and unsatisfied with his/her own life. It also provides adult content which makes its users prone to develop sexually oriented crimes and sexual addiction. The reel life of social media influencers impacts the common people to run behind likes, views, comments, and subscriptions which leads to mental pressure for them on failure met with suicidal attempts. Users engaged in reels and shorts develops short-tempered minds and quick anger issues along with the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) effect.
2. Digital Apps Addiction: In this digital era people are struggling with the new disease of addiction to digital applications such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn etc… which leads to mental distress, irritation, anxiety, frustration, and anger issues. Cases of PUBG (Player Under Battle Ground) showcase the evil side of addiction to digital games in which many youths killed their family members out of addiction for playing or continuing the game while being asked for a pause and it also caused an increase in suicide rates.
3. Prone to Cybercrimes: In this digital era it is no surprise that we all are exposed to cyber crimes in various forms such as clicking on links received through messages or receiving links through emails, fraud calls asking for received OTPs, Romantics Dating Scams through various dating apps by sharing personal information out of love with the stranger believing their account information as true, Honey Trap usually in cases of trapping higher officials used by enemy nations and so on. 
4. Long Screen Time: Due to long screen time on devices in this era of digital era people suffer from mental breakdowns, stress, anxiety, depression, mental trauma, suicidal tendencies, frustration, irritation, mental breakdown and so many different kinds of problems. The study shows that in adults aged 18 – 25, excessive screen time causes thinning of the cerebral cortex, the brain’s outermost layer responsible for processing memory and cognitive functions, such as decision-making and problem-solving. Another study found that adults who watched television for five hours or more per day had an increased risk of developing brain-related diseases like dementia, stroke, or parkinson’s. This study found that excessive screen time can hinder sleep, especially when looking at screens late at night. Light from the screen can delay melatonin release from the brain’s pineal gland, impacting the body’s natural circadian rhythm and causing difficulty sleeping. Grey matter is brain tissue essential for daily human functioning and is responsible for everything from movement to memory to emotions. Grey matter volume naturally decreases as we age, so along with reducing screen time, engaging in activities that maintain our grey matter volume and promote brain health, such as exercise and movement, restorative sleep, social engagement, and stress management, is crucial. 

SOLUTIONS TO TACKLE THIS ISSUE:

Some of the solutions are as follows:

1. Work-Life Management: To resolve a mental health issue one should demarcate the time for his work, family and himself which will help to reach at peace and build self-confidence of satisfaction with proper distribution of time and work among one’s requirements. 
2. Set Screen Time Limit: If we set our time limit for each app on our devices and for using our digital device for a particular time it will help us restrain our issues like anxiety, anger, frustration, irritation etc…
3. Natural Connection: When we connect to Mother Nature and perform Meditation, Yoga and Exercise it will help us at a great level to cope with our mental issues and to build strong mental stability. Even going out for a ride or walk instead of giving free time to devices will also help us refresh at a high pace with mental freshness. 
4. Social Engagement: For some people engaging with friends, family, and loved ones instead of investing free time in digital devices for the purpose of time pass or entertainment also helps to solve this mental health issue by giving us a feeling of happiness in connecting with our people. 
5. Filter Information on the Internet: If one is coming across any the information on internet then he/she should filter the recommendation panel as per their requirement and try to connect with positive news on the internet instead of going through negative ones which leads to mental distress.

CONCLUSION:

With all these methods mentioned above, we can solve the issue of mental health because the mind is one of the most important organs of our body which helps us to live a healthy life. Mental satisfaction, peace and happiness will lead us to give all of the same to our people, family and loved ones as a part of the good life. 

1. https://longevity.stanford.edu/lifestyle/2024/05/30/what-excessive-screen-time-does-to-the-adult-brain/