I have made some videos on TikTok and YouTube about social media and mental health. I started by referring to a survey I conducted, the basic result of which demonstrated that people are aware of the following things: social media is addictive; they are addicted to it; they admit it causes problems; yet, they think they use social medial “about the right amount”. Sometimes we judge ourselves to harshly. Other times, we choose not to see the difficulties we make for ourselves. Internet addiction, as manifested by “doom scrolling”…“can impair our ability to focus, process information, and engage in meaningful thought.” (Psychology Today) Another serious issue caused by internet addiction is loneliness. A study of 16,496 subjects showed “showed a significant positive association between IA and loneliness. The results of our study are in line with other studies which showed that internet addiction is associated whit other mental health problems such as depression and anxiety (Wang et al., 2019). Studies also showed a linear association between internet addiction and loneliness, which indicates that individuals with a higher degree of internet addiction exhibited more loneliness than those with a low level of internet addiction (Yen et al., 2008).” (Full article) Internet addiction (hardly surprisingly) also is linked to insomnia. (Full article) The thrust of my argument–or maybe, admonition–is to really consider what you’re doing online. What apps are you really using to make your life better? What apps are you using to waste time? How much and how often are you doing this? There is a time for recreation…we all need diversion in our lives…but not all the time. It’s my strong feeling that most of use misuse our time on the internet. Make your use of the internet fall within the framework of the life you want to live. Don’t make sacrifices just to obtain more screen time. Treat your apps like a luxury, not a necessity. Few really are.
