One of the new age epidemics has been the obsession with going viral. Nowadays, people do whatever they can to go viral and become famous. Nearly all social media users have tried to do whatever it takes to go viral. After that, this provides them with a high level of exposure, resulting in increased brand visibility.

However, what they don't realize is that this has a negative mental impact on the brain, leading to questions about whether going viral on social media is a good thing. In this article, we will discuss why going viral isn't a good social media strategy and its negative impact.

Why the Obsession With Going Viral?

When your content on social media goes viral, it means that it spreads quickly to reach thousands, or even millions of social media users. That means when your video or other content goes viral, you can turn into an overnight internet sensation and gain thousands of followers, leading to brand deals and even monetization opportunities. 

After a video goes viral, it can reach an unlimited number of people, even on platforms where it has not been posted. For instance, you can see your viral TikTok videos getting shared on Twitter or Facebook. 

With the social media marketplace becoming increasingly crowded, it can be discouraging to garner only a few thousand views. However, you need to understand that when your content doesn't go viral, it doesn't mean it is worth less than other content that goes viral.

The number of views required for your content to be considered viral varies from one platform to another. For instance, having 100,000 views on TikTok can be regarded as relatively successful, whereas that may not be considered a success on YouTube. Another key factor to consider in virality is the number of likes.

At times, your video can have a high number of views with very few likes. That cannot be considered a viral video as the audience isn't showing interest in it. The engagement rate is also a factor that affects the virality of content, as the number of shares and comments stimulates the algorithm to continue showing the video on people’s feeds. Another key factor that affects the virality of content is the immediacy of responses, meaning that views, comments, and likes should be received within a few hours or days, rather than over several months. 

How Content Virality Affects Our Brains

When your content goes viral, you get a high number of likes, shares, comments, and bookmarks. When you receive notification prompts, the reward system of the brain is activated, resulting in the release of dopamine. To keep the feel-good feeling going, we keep on checking in the same way we are addicted to gambling.

Social media platforms understand our desire for dopamine, and that is why their algorithm uses a reward-based system. They keep sending notifications to make us keep checking our social media platforms. That's why going viral affects your brain. Once the content starts to gain traction, you become obsessed with checking your notifications and the comments. Every hour, you should check the number of views the video has garnered. It gets worse when you get a like or share from a celebrity you admire, and this drives your excitement to a whole new level. 

While going viral can be thrilling, these notifications can be harmful because of their exceedingly distracting nature. These notifications will often disrupt your work or school schedule. According to studies, people resort to working faster to compensate for the time they spend on social media. This usually results in time pressure, frustration, increased stress, and additional effort. According to research, these daily notifications can result in anxiety, depression, or even ADHD symptoms.

In most cases, the euphoria of going viral is seasonal and needs to be replenished. After the virality begins to end, you are likely to be annoyed by the notifications as they are nowhere near what they were at the beginning. You may start to feel sad that your celebrity status is dying out. This will make you even post a closely related video to see if you can replicate the success.

Impact of Going Viral on Our Self-Esteem

In addition to affecting our brains, going viral has a significant impact on our self-esteem. It can boost our self-esteem and impact it. By using social media, we expose our daily lives to constant comparison with those of others. When your content goes viral, you open yourself up to thousands of people, some of whom can be cruel to you.

While the likes, comments, and shares you get on a viral post can increase your self-esteem and leave you feeling better, they can also open you up to internet trolls, who can fill your comment section to bait you into an argument or cause an emotional reaction. Studies indicate that at least one in every five social media users has suffered from online harassment.

When you are bombarded with negative comments on your social media post, this can decrease your confidence level. In some instances, this has provoked suicidal thoughts in some people. At the very least, the negative comments on a viral video can leave you wanting to delete the video even if there are some nice ones.

How Going Viral Results in Social Media Burnout

Going viral may sound like a dream. After all, it will bring new followers, profile views, and even monetary gains, such as brand collaborations. However, it also comes with an opposing side that consists of:

• The pressure to respond fast and with the perfect response.
• The fear that you are losing momentum.
• Decision fatigue as a result of the new attention.

After a post has become a hit, you will turn in the product, and you will be tasked with providing the necessary support. Even when there is no hate in your viral post, you can still suffer from burnout if you are a solo human behind the scenes.

To avoid this burnout, you need to let go of the pressure to look perfect. You don't have to reply to every comment. Even when you feel there are important issues to respond to, you can leave the post and stop thinking about it every hour. Even if the algorithm expects a response every hour, people don't expect the same.

Final Thoughts

While going viral on TikTok and other social media platforms looks like a great thing, it also comes with some downsides. From the impact on our brains to low self-esteem and burnout, there are several negative impacts. Therefore, before you try to go viral with your next video, make sure you are aware of these negative impacts and take the necessary steps to protect yourself.