First off, this is incredibly sad. There’s no other way to react to this story.
Secondly, this also illustrates just what a problem the world currently has with addiction. There are far, far too many people self-medicating because they cannot get any other form of help, whether that is because of a lack of available resources, or the stigma attached to seeking help.We need to change that!
I think that second quote is really the key. We’ve seen studies that are reported as showing that kids who use social media get more depression and anxiety, but those studies do not address the question of whether there’s any proof that the causality is in that direction and not the other. In other words, do teens who use social media a lot develop depression, or do depressed teens use social media more. This study seems to indicate it’s the latter. As we continue with a lot of social distancing, and activities being canceled and in person gatherings are very limited, we know everyone will be relying more on social media to stay connected, so this is an important question, and I think what this study, and others, really shows us is that there are ways to use social media as a positive influence on our mental health, and a way to use it that will not be a positive influence on our mental health.
In the physical world, we have these same choices. Do we interact with people who are toxic? Do we spend all of our time comparing ourselves to others? Do we isolate? Or do we find out tribe, our group of supportive friends/family that can interact socially in ways that help our mental health?
We all make those same choices on social media, but the key difference here is that if we simply don’t choose, and make no effort to make conscious decisions about who we follow and interact with, social network algorithms will make the decision for us. Anyone already struggling with mental health is maybe more likely to not spent much time thinking about these things, and just let the app show them what it wants to show them, and that is not necessarily going to be good for our anxiety. Especially right now.
So, if you find yourself feeling more anxious, angry, irritated, etc. every time you hop on Twitter or Instagram, maybe instead of just being that way, spend some time thinking about who you follow, and what they are bringing in to your life?
For any of my social media using readers, can you share some of your favorite positive accounts that you interact with to HELP your mental health?
Now Accepting Submissions for the May 2014 Edition of the Blog Against Child Abuse tags: CA ChildAbuse In Central New York, a community rallies against sexual abuse: ‘Grieve for that child’ tags: CA ChildAbuse PTSD and Memories of Abuse tags: CA ChildAbuse A Lifelong Journey tags: CA ChildAbuse Male rape in America: A new study reveals that…
Since it’s been a number of years since I was seeing a therapist, and I was much less educated about any of this back then, it hasn’t occurred to me to be concerned about whether my therapist had, in fact, also been i therapy. So, my question is, would it bother you to know your…
What I find interesting about this study, is not just the results, but also the cultural factors that make it so hard to even get there in the first place. “The study, “Caring for Boys Affected by Sexual Violence,” is a four-country research in 2018 that involves the Philippines, Cambodia, India and Nepal. There were…
“You know how all the depression blogs and ads recommend ‘talking to someone’ and ‘reaching out’. Well, that’s the first thing I did. Admittedly, it took me a long time to get there. For months I suffered in silence thinking I was simply upset with life and not actually going through depression. But the more…
