A recent study has revealed that people who are apprehensive of direct one-to-one conversation are using different social media platforms to express themselves.
Eva Buechel, a professor at the University of South Carolina, has commented that negative emotions push people to reach others to control their emotions and move in the direction of well-being. However, for most people expressing themselves face-to-face, sharing their emotions can be daunting.
The online social network supports voluntary responses
Microblogging is quite popular in social media networks which allows the users to share short messages. Microblogging about emotions allows the users to reach out for help while ensuring that unwanted communication is not imposed on anyone. Social media networks make the responses voluntary and no one is forced to reply.
Socially apprehensive people hugely use microblogging
Socially apprehensive people prefer to share their views on micro-blogging and social media platforms play a huge role for them to channel their emotions. Even though relying highly on social media is dangerous, moderate use will ensure that the negative emotions are buffered properly. Additionally, introverts also use social media networking and even blogging for expressing themselves to avoid one-to-one conversation with other people. Also, there is a massive group of people who prefer to express themselves in writing instead of expressing themselves vocally.
Why is it important to express one’s emotions?
Diseases like hypertension, cancer, diabetes, and different autoimmune diseases have one thing in common: stress, which mostly comes from unexpressed emotions. Doctors have revealed that most of the patients have admitted having unresolved emotions for years, and sometimes, since childhood. Suppressing emotions, no matter whether it is positive or negative, can negatively impact health.
Therefore, it becomes vital to express oneself. Sharing emotions on a regular basis can help the patient feel good and further improve their well-being. Studies have also indicated that generally, after sharing emotions on social media networks, a user receives emotional and social support. Sharing WhatsApp Status and statuses on other platforms allows the person to reach the other users indirectly.
Can Emotional distress result in physical symptoms?
When suppressed for long, emotional distress can, in fact, manifest into physical symptoms. Even though researches have not proved a direct link between negative emotions and diseases like cancer and flu, research titled “Consequences of Repression of Emotion: Physical Health, Mental Health and General Well Being” has revealed that repressing emotions can decrease the functioning of the immune system which makes a person more prone to different illnesses.
Physical symptoms of emotional distress include muscle pain and tension, digestive problem, nausea, appetite change, sleep problem, and fatigue, resulting in high blood pressure, digestive problems, and cardiovascular disease.
Do people have all sorts of emotions on social media platforms?
A study carried out by the Department of Communication, Cornell University, has indicated that emotional and intense content like Love Status and less positive content are shared less in the visible communication. Most people prefer to share the most intense emotions over direct messages. This may be because while sharing the statuses and posts, people are worried about their self-presentational concerns. The emotional content that one experiences after sharing their posts on different social media networks depend on their overall satisfaction.
Reports have suggested that most people feel better after sharing positive emotions instead of negative ones. One receives the most amount of gratification after they receive more likes and comments. Further, it has been noticed the overall amount of satisfaction is directly dependent on the number of comments. When sharing responses in the posts published, both the quantity and quality of the likes and comments affect the overall satisfaction level of the publisher.
Sharing emotions via the social media platform helps the users to manage their emotional experiences. Even though expressing oneself is healthy, one should try to remain detached from the number of likes and comments, as it has the power to affect the publisher both in positive and negative ways. Because both the quality and quantity of the replies matter, one must try to be involved in providing valuable responses when encountered in a situation where someone is seeking emotional support online.
Sharing emotions is a fundamental part of human existence and one should feel to both seek and provide emotional help.
