Point at Issue: Is it Time to Cut Out Social Media?

SEAN GLADWELL

You know the pandemic has gotten to you when you are getting sick of looking at your phone. Mindless scrolling and refreshing are things we continuously do. We take gym classes, have meetings, go on dates, all without leaving our homes. As we all eagerly await getting our vaccines, we need to remain online to stay safe. Our amount of time is increasing, and it is taking a toll on our health. Being online presents a dilemma; do we increase our time online to remain social or take a sanity break but miss out on social interactions.

Spending too much time on social media is unhealthy; we knew this before the pandemic. As we look at the edited version of people's lives, we compare ourselves to them. "Spending too long on social networking sites could be adversely affecting your mood. In fact, chronic users are more likely to report poor mental health, including symptoms of anxiety and depression," explained Ben Stegner. 

Many professionals recommend that you only spend half an hour a day on all social networks. Moderation is not something that we are practicing. Not many people only spend 30 minutes on all platforms; most of us could not even do this for one. In the United States, "people spend 2 hours and 3 minutes on social media each day," wrote Digital Marketing reporter, Gary Henderson. People on average spend a lot of time interacting with their phones, "a whopping 2,617 times each day. The number rises to 5,427 when it comes to heavy mobile users."

As we previously said, the way we communicate is minimal, and with the anxieties of the pandemic, the economy, and our lack of human interactions, we are all teetering. We are experiencing information overload, and many question if it is time for a break from social media as a whole. “When experiencing anxiety, we should seek to slow down our nervous system rather than bombard it with more information via social media,” wrote freelance writer and editor, Zoey Larsen. While it is essential to remain relevant and have a social footprint, what would happen if we closed the screen?

For many of us, this means breaking the habit, which is hard when it is the only way to speak to your friends and coworkers. A recent Harvard study suggested that "as long as we are mindful users, routine use may not in itself be a problem. Indeed, it could be beneficial." Being able to connect to people during this pandemic socially is vital to our well-being. 

Going online can "provide individuals with a platform that overcomes barriers of distance and time, allowing them to connect and reconnect with others and thereby expand and strengthen their in-person networks and interactions." The internet is not just used to connect to people, and it is also our lifeline to information.

Remaining informed right now is incredibly important, and social media is a great way to get all that data. We learn about the latest World Health Organization mandates, what strains of the pandemic are now prevalent, when we can get the vaccine, and where we can go to get COVID tasted. If we did not subscribe to social media, it would be challenging to keep up with the continually changing status of what is going on and how to keep safe.

The information you get online might not always be reliable. When you scroll through Facebook and Twitter, you view a blend of content and confuse entertainment for news. It is easy to go to your social feed and consume your updates and news at once, but this is dangerous because you may unwittingly believe that "fake news," is in fact, real news. 

"There is no visual distinction on Facebook between something from the New York Times and something from a random blog. They all have the same color scheme, same font," said George Pearson, a senior lecturer and research associate in communications at The Ohio State University in a recent study. Pearson concluded that people share what they genuinely believe is news, which is why fake news is shared so frequently.

There are right and wrong ways to get news from your social media; believing everything you see on social media to be true is wrong. Validating the information sources and making sure that the information you are receiving is correct is the right way. “There is a lot of information and a lot of emotional content that the brain processes when engaging with social media,” reported Zoey Larsen. So when we are mindlessly scrolling through our feeds it could be “more emotionally taxing than you realize.”

You can receive large amounts of information in brief periods on social media. Overloads cause a lot of emotions and feelings that may not be healthy. The daily flip through your social feeds, dating profiles, and other networks can be an emotional rollercoaster. You start out feeling good about yourself and then come across posts that chip at your core. It is hard to remain positive with the negativity in the news that comes across from all angles.

“Social media is no longer that peaceful, playful raft we can lie on. It’s rapid-fire in its succession of anger and bad news,” said Peter Turco, LCSW-R, a psychotherapist practicing in New York City. Right now we are so desperate for human interaction and we are looking to connect in a time of major isolation.

If you were to take a break, how do you go about doing so? Everyone from ordinary people to celebrities has taken a hiatus from posting and generally come back refreshed from the experiences. Bella Hadid said she took a small break from social media to improve her mental health. Now that she's returned, Bella said she's tapping into her spirituality and has a "closer relationship" with herself.

With the pandemic, it is hard to go out and do things in-person that would allow you to meet people. Social media is now, for some, the only place where people can socialize. It is where people go to find other people who share the same interests. It isn't the ideal way to meet people, but meeting without making eye contact is suitable for those who suffer from social anxieties.

There are a lot of dating and online apps that will help you expand your circle of friends. Bumble BFF, Friender, Hey! Vina and Meetup, are all great applications to meet and connect with new friends with similar interests. It would help if you used these apps to a point but get away from your computer to interact person-to-person when it is safe.

Online dating is also a popular way to interact and try to meet your ideal person. "Forty-eight percent of 18- to 29-year-olds say they have ever used a dating site or app," cited a survey on Pew research. Even though it is online, it does come with problems that users contend with, like fake profiles, misleading photos, or just downright dull conversations. Plus, you don't always have an inbox overflowing with messages and matches. 

For both men and women rejection through low match rates or ghosting negatively impact your self-esteem and start to chip away at you mentally, and you don't even realize it. It is hard to connect with someone online the same way that you would in person. "Although there are many real people on dating apps looking for what you are, that doesn't mean they are going to see you as a real person until you meet them face to face," said Maria Land, a therapist in Washington, D.C. "You have to remind yourself of that: If you're not even totally real, why feel rejected?"

So what are we supposed to do right now to talk to friends and stay connected? The best option is to limit your time and try to use social media more healthily. Plan your day on what you want to do in addition to social media so that you do not have to fill in time with scrolling. While you do not have to cut yourself totally, you can start by turning off notifications or setting time limits. A break will give you more time to prioritize doing other things that make you happier instead.

One study garners that you can have significant improvement in well-being by just spending approximately 30 minutes per day on all your feeds. It is up to you to decide how long you want to be away for social media or what apps you want not to be involved in. Of course, everyone is different, and no solution is the same, but to put it simply, if you are spending too much time on social media and it's making you miserable, give yourself a break. You can always sign back in.