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Not every tip you read will be appropriate for every person. People with anxiety are different than people dealing with depression, are different that people dealing with Bipolar are different than people dealing with a myriad of other issues, and even within all people with anxiety, they are all individuals. There is no one-size-fits-all advice here, other than to open the lines of communication, and ask how you can be a good friend.
In the end, isn’t that what being a good friend to anyone is? Trying to understand how you can be helpful and supportive in their life? It’s no different here.
But, these are a good place to start.
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?
On one hand, I think we could eliminate a lot of the stigma around depression, anxiety, PTSD and ADHD if we understood them to be fairly common, and normal responses to abnormal events.
On the other though, I’m concerned that trying to explain away something that can be as debilitating as depression can be could lead to an increase in people not taking it seriously. Which could lead to people not getting help as needed for it, and being blamed for not just dealing with it, etc.
I also worry that if we define mental health conditions very strictly, we’ll be increasing the stigma of those with other disorders like bipolar, or schizophrenia.
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