You’re happy today is the night of a concert you’ve been anxiously awaiting, you update your Facebook status or post to Twitter. You feel betrayed by a friend, you update your social account status. You are overwhelmed by a bad day at work…you update your status.
Facebook , Twitter and other social networks have become a near instant reflection of our emotions and mental state at any given time. While researchers have started conducting deep research into mental health and spotting trends across longer periods of time gathering data from people’s twitter feeds, for the average person like you and I, a status change can be a great indicator to assess overall mental / emotional state of ourselves and others we care about.
Reviewing a post or update can indicate happiness, excitement, depression, worry, stress, frustration, passion, fear and a whole lot more. However, it’s when you review a series of updates that you start seeing trends and this could indicate more than just a single emotion in time. For example, if you see a friend on Facebook post an angry or frustrated message, it may be a one off mood. Everybody is entitled to a bad day and it could be a spur of the moment outburst which they felt had to be shared online.
If on the other hand you observe the status updates are consistently indicating anger or frustration, this may be more than a reflection of their current mood and could be an issue. This is when you can actually get a feel for the overall state of mind. Trends of depression, anxiety or other negative moods over the longer term may need some intervention or understanding the underlying causes.
Social media updates have already been used to research psychological problems, track sociopathic behavior, suicidal tendencies and even prevent people acting on these moods before they actually do. Aside from the negative moods, it’s also a great way to introspect and determine what makes you happy, excited and thrilled. Have a look through your past status updates and you will notice the things that make you happy. Once you know what those are…do it some more!
Social media has become more than a communication medium among people. It’s also a mood indicator. A reflection of your inner self. A status update considered self-expression could me a message to yourself and others on what you feel.
Stress, anger – underlying cause – work related problems
Frustration & anger
Love & gratitude
Excited
