In the era of social media upsurge and global giants such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, one doctor decided to stand his ground and warn people about the dangers of social media.

According to Dr. Imran Rashid, a general practitioner who works at Aleris-Hamlet Private Hospitals in Denmark, “hundreds of millions of people are experiencing this new form of digital pollution.”

As the doctor claimed, social media is “toxic to the body and mind” and may result in people becoming more narrow-minded, depressed, or even addicted.

“Its effects can be just as toxic to the body and mind as contaminants elsewhere in the environment,” Rashid said.

In a piece to MailOnline, the doctor talked about the “contamination” on a deeper level and pointed out several reasons as to why social media is so dangerous.

Less physical approach and more digital engagement lead to a drop of oxytocin, “the cuddling hormone,” resulting in a lack of emotional relationships.

“When you aren’t touched by as many people as you were used to as a child, the hormonal stimulation you should feel will reduce,” he said.

The doctor also explained that too much time on social media causes stress and agitation and may result in sleep deprivation.

“We know that being on social media causes reduced ability to recover from stress, which is measurable with the body’s levels of stress hormone, cortisol.

“Studies have found that if you are reading a book rather than scrolling on social media, your cortisol levels decline faster.

“These cortisol spikes lead to an avalanche of issues including high blood pressure, increased heart rate, and anxiety,” he revealed.

As Rashid claims, addiction to social media also results in laziness and lack of empathy.

“When you are constantly overwhelmed with choices it gives you a mental overload.

“Your brain’s ability to keep on choosing declines slowly until “it gives up” and just goes for the basic, easy and habitual behavior,” the doctor said.

“One of the big issues is that eye-contact is a necessity to show and develop empathy.

“If too much of your social interaction becomes faceless, you could miss out on training the ability to detect social cues like body language, facial expressions and more.”

According to Dr. Rashid, a constant presence on social media can also reduce one’s self-esteem and make them believe that they should be or look like whoever they see online.

“Instagram will affect your self-esteem and Facebook makes you obsessed about other people’s opinion about you,” he claimed.

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