Social media addiction — just more clickbait?
I‘A couple of minutes drifts into two hours and it’s now late’
SPOKE last week in Doctor’s Orders about alcohol and our drink culture. Alcohol is indeed by a wide mile the Irish drug of choice, and where most of our addictions lie. However, coming rapidly up from the rear is the new kid on the addiction block — social media.
Social media has many positives in terms of connectivity and keeping in touch with our pals (sometimes more in touch than you might actually want, as I’m not sure that any of us were worse off for not knowing what people were having for their dinner or, indeed, where their cat sleeps). But for a large number of people, it can be a double-edged sword.
Yes, there are good chats and sometimes important collective conversations, but equally, there is a downside that is sometimes darker.
Social media does indeed mirror many of the characteristics of an addiction. You go on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram or whatever your peer group’s favourite platform is — saying you’ll only be on it for a couple of minutes, just to check stuff and then you will study, put the kids to bed, sort out your work emails or talk to real people as opposed to virtual ones — and the couple of minutes drifts into two hours and it’s now late, the kids are running wild, you haven’t done a tap for your exams and your husband is no longer talking to you.
It can be a sink-hole for time, offering an often-mindless escapism in the same way that many addictions do.
You say you’re going to stop and stop now, but that pledge becomes “stop soon” or “stop at some stage” and for many people, stopping doesn’t seem to be a realistic possibility, even though they know it is coming between them and their job, kids, spouse or indeed mental wellbeing.
Because social media doesn’t always make us feel good. Social media — where people display, almost like a shop window, the best version of their lives — can leave many of us feeling inadequate, unpopular or, by virtue of comparison with other people (and comparison is almost always a route to unhappiness), less valuable than others.
And if you are young or in any way vulnerable, that can be magnified into a very big deal. Where the fact that your friend got a hundred more happy birthday wishes than you did, or someone’s post got more likes, comments or clicks or whatever nonsense endorsement it is, starts to make you feel a bit crap about yourself.
And that’s not even getting into the cruel nature of cyberbullying, where a herd mentality kicks in easily. When the tide of popularity turns against some unfortunate individual who has transgressed against the online powers-that-be and so ends up the subject of hate or ridicule or even just plain exclusion or isolation, this can induce horrendous anxiety and feelings of panic.
In fact, simply waiting on notifications can be a source of massive anxiety for people, causing them to constantly check their phones and often not be really present in their own lives.
If you are someone who recognises these things in yourself, then you should decide to take stock. Social media can be bad for you. If that’s the case with you, stepping away from it for a while can give you great peace.
Put your phone on silent or in another room. Stick the timer on it so you are forced to realise the passing of time. Or if it’s really upsetting you or damaging your relationships, delete the bloody apps.
Social media isn’t supposed to take from your life. If it is, do something about it. There is addiction support and therapy available.