Social Media Vice and Virtue
It is clear smart phones are linked to worsening mental health, this has been highlighted in the research and discourse surrounding the impact on young people. Perhaps you remember the film about Facebook and its creation ‘The Social Network’, the idea that these platforms were designed to increase a sense of social connection is perhaps a naive interpretation. In fact in an Instant Message exchange between Mark Zuckerberg and a college friend in 2004 (as reported by business insider) he states that the Havard students who shared their personal information via Facebook, which he subsequently had access to, were “dumb f***s”.
Over time we have come to understand that they have many uses, yes people may stay in touch via these platforms but there are many ways that this could be achieved without the more nefarious elements. Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube are major sources of advertising revenues, our data is mined and sold on. Perhaps more worryingly is how the algorithms influences and directs what we see and subsequently what we think and how we feel. There are many examples of this well documented phenomena.
The New York Times podcast ‘The Rabbit Hole’ hosted by Kevin Roose is a great in depth exploration of the dangers of radicalisation as a result of the You Tube algorithm, this is well worth a listen. Another controversial example of social medias’ wider impact can be seen in the Cambridge Analytica scandal which related to the misuse of data harvesting. This led to questions relating to their sway over the US 2016 presidential election and the UK Brexit referendum.
‘Privacy, Data Harvesting, and You (Promise and Perils of Technology)" by Jeri Freedman explore these themes well, as she shines a light on the ethics of data harvesting the impact on our privacy and the normalisation of what could be seen as tantamount to digital stalking. If we imagined someone following us around for a day and making notes on our movements, purchases and perhaps even passing queries we would be frightened perhaps we might even call the police.
As a therapist working in private practice with adults I increasingly see the negative impact of Social media. My clients report anxieties born of doom scrolling, hours passing by, without being fully conscious of what they are consuming skipping through hundreds of images, often feeling a growing sense of dis-ease as they cannot remember what even provoked the emergent feelings of inadequacy and sadness. They explain that they come away feeling that their lives do not live up to what they see on these apps. Announcement culture and the need to share publicly our achievements plays a part in this. Whether that be scans that announce new pregnancies, with little awareness of how his may impact a friend who recently experienced the terrible anguish of a missed miscarriage and the trauma of a scan where the fetus that should have been is not; or the pictures of seemingly perfect bodies or lifestyles implying wealth and success. In our mature brains we may know these are vignettes they aren't the whole picture they are caricatures, they reflect in general what we want the world to see.
Our brains are not really designed to consume this much content at this pace, it is bamboozling what the mind experiences the body does too and we can't keep track of what we are ingesting.
Helping people engage in a conscious way with how they are using these ubiquitous platforms, setting healthier parameters understanding what role they play in your life for better or for worse is part of increasing our individual agency. If we are seeking increased connection to community, in a post industrial society, how can we achieve this in a meaningful way? I am not saying the internet or apps are devoid of this, I am just asking is it enough for you? Do you want more embodied social interactions? Do we want to feel more seen and held in mind by our friends and family and loved ones?
