Young people are using social media more, and their mental health is suffering:
Researchers at Iowa State University found a simple intervention could help. During a two-week experiment with 230 college students, half were asked to limit their social media usage to 30 minutes a day and received automated, daily reminders. They scored significantly lower for anxiety, depression, loneliness and fear of missing out at the end of the experiment compared to the control group.
They also scored higher for "positive affect," which the researchers describe as "the tendency to experience positive emotions described with words such as 'excited' and 'proud.'" Essentially, they had a brighter outlook on life.
"It surprised me to find that participants' well-being did not only improve in one dimension but in all of them. I was excited to learn that such a simple intervention of sending a daily reminder can motivate people to change their behavior and improve their social media habits." says Ella Faulhaber, a Ph.D. student in human-computer interaction and lead author of the paper.
[...] Many of the participants in the ISU study commented that the first few days of cutting back were challenging. But after the initial push, one student felt more productive and in tune with life. Others shared that they were getting better sleep or spending more time with people in person.
[...] "We live in an age of anxiety. Lots of indicators show that anxiety, depression, loneliness are all getting worse, and that can make us feel helpless. But there are things we can do to manage our mental health and well-being," says Gentile.
Paying more attention to how much time we spend on social media and setting measurable goals can help.
See also: Just 15 Minutes of Solitude can do Wonders for Your Mood and Your Mind
Journal Reference:
Faulhaber, M. E., Lee, J. E., & Gentile, D. A. (2023). The Effect of Self-Monitoring Limited Social Media Use on Psychological Well-Being. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 4(2: Summer 2023). https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000111
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I recently finished reading Breath, The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor and the information has been a revelation to me. I've always wondered how other people can be "in to" meditating and now, after learning the proper breathing techniques, it's become clear to me. Starting off each day with a brief meditation and breathing session works wonders for preparing my mental and physical state for the day. So I suppose it's no surprise research has found that spending just 15 minutes in reflective solitude really helps your mood and your mind:
Spending time alone can induce fear in a lot of people, which is understandable. At the same time, the difference between moments of solitude and loneliness is often misunderstood. As a psychologist, I study solitude – the time we spend alone, not interacting with other people. I started this research more than ten years ago and, up to that point, findings on young people's time alone had suggested they often experience low moods when alone.
On social media, television or in the music we listen to, we typically picture happiness as excitement, enthusiasm and energisation. From that perspective, solitude is often mistaken for loneliness. In psychology, researchers define loneliness as a distressed feeling that we experience when we don't have, or are unable to get, the kind of social connections or relationships we hope for. Solitude is different.
[...] What can we gain from solitude? In a series of experiments, I brought undergraduate students into a room to sit quietly with themselves. In some studies, I took away the students' backpacks and devices and asked them to sit with their thoughts; at other times, the students stayed in the room with books or their phones.
After just 15 minutes of solitude, I found that any strong emotions the participants might have been feeling, such as anxiety or excitement, dropped. I concluded that solitude has the capacity to bring down people's arousal levels, meaning it can be useful in situations where we feel frustrated, agitated or angry.
[...] To overcome our fear of solitude, we need to recognize its benefits and see it as a positive choice – not something that happens to us. While taking a solo trip might be a bit much for you right now, taking time out of your busy schedule for small doses of solitude might well be just what you need.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Ox0000 on Monday September 11 2023, @01:24PM (4 children)
Facebook is a global emotions control platform, dedicated to bringing you down while reminding you that you could buy things to feel better.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday September 11 2023, @07:46PM (3 children)
I thought a unified platform for global emissions control would be a good thing. No wait a sec. Anyhow, does soylentnews count as "social media", or is it considered something different?
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Tuesday September 12 2023, @08:28AM
Soylentnews isn't social media because I do it.
As an aside, organic food is healthy because I pay lots for it and it has the word "organic" in the name.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Tuesday September 12 2023, @10:47AM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Wednesday September 13 2023, @04:50PM
To be fair Soylent is more like "anti social media" (insert dash to taste) than anything else.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by VLM on Monday September 11 2023, @02:23PM (1 child)
I would imagine there's a sorting going on.
If legacy / propaganda outlet social media filters and pushes away everyone who's not mentally ill, the remaining people left will be more mentally ill than the general population, and hanging out together will push their subculture ever more extreme, pushing out even more normies. Its the narrowcasting effect where trying to appeal to the superfans and extremists pushes away the healthy normal majority until only a tiny subset of the real nutcases participate anymore. Look at legacy TV networks for an example, what a dumpster fire that statistically no one watches anymore.
Eventually, spaces that push out everyone who's not mentally ill will be entirely full of mental illness which is in opposition to post 60s era treatment ideals about mental illness. Better to integrate mentally ill people with the majority sane community than to build an asylum. Essentially what we have in 2023 is Tumblr, Reddit, Twitter, to a lesser extent Facebook, are 1800s era insane asylums.
On one hand, its cruel to the crazy people to lock em up and throw away the key using either what amounts to prisons in the 1800s or being chronically-online in the 2020s. On the other hand, it keeps the crazy people occupied and away from the sane people.
Some small subculture or fringe social media is not insane and can be quite stable. Consider your average crackhead vs the fictional (yet semi-realistic) Sherlock Holmes use of coke. Maybe only 1% of the population can use coke and be "productive" as a businessman or stockbroker or fictional UK detective, much like maybe 1% of the population can use social media without turning into scrollheads and escaping from reality into being chronically online.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 11 2023, @11:24PM
I was with you until this line:
> On the other hand, it keeps the crazy people occupied and away from the sane people.
Wrong! We're all mixed together on the highways and the crazy people occupied with their "devices" aren't paying attention to driving.
No phone in my car (unless it belongs to a passenger) or on my bicycle either.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday September 11 2023, @04:17PM (4 children)
If you stop wading in sewage, life looks less shitty.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Monday September 11 2023, @05:17PM (3 children)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by DadaDoofy on Monday September 11 2023, @06:07PM (2 children)
It's poetic justice a word has finally been found that can be used against any and all on the left in much the same way "racist" is used against any and all on the right. Are they mostly inaccurate generalizations? Sure they are, but it's been fun to see the hand-wringing over it by those who've been calling anyone who isn't far-left "racist" for years.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Monday September 11 2023, @07:55PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Tuesday September 12 2023, @10:59AM
Just because someone else is an idiot, doesn't mean you have to be as well.
Why ask?
My take on abusive use of labels is that they're really a signal that the person is at best unable to figure out when the label applies. Worst that the person is just doing some cheap demonization and doesn't care whether the label applies. You just said where you lie on that spectrum.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by progo on Monday September 11 2023, @07:00PM (5 children)
On ActivityPub-based federated social media:
Contrast this with Facebook and X where the messages are re-ordered and messages you would have wanted to see from your friends get shadowbanned and never appear unless you open your friend's profile. And ads forced in everywhere, sometimes pretending to be regular messages.
If I had that lack of control on my social media, and lack of discipline to unfollow people who don't make me happy, well damn I'd be a really depressed and defeated individual.
Don't use systems where you don't have enough control. And if you don't like how you feel even on the Fediverse, get out and see nature and interact with real people instead.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Tork on Tuesday September 12 2023, @01:28AM (4 children)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 12 2023, @11:01AM (3 children)
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 12 2023, @11:01AM (2 children)
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 12 2023, @11:02AM (1 child)
(Score: 3, Touché) by Tork on Tuesday September 12 2023, @04:08PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈