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Through my studies at Damascus University and Yale School of Medicine and through my years of practicing psychiatry at Connecticut Behavioral Health Associates in New London and on humanitarian missions to war-torn parts of the Middle East, including my native Syria, I have delved into a wide range of cultures. I have witnessed and participated in some of the very best in human interpersonal interaction, but I’ve also seen some of the worst. And while the negative aspects of interaction over social media obviously do not usually hold the same life-and-death consequences as war, these platforms do feed on the same destructive emotions and a similar sense of crisis.
Social media platforms rely on people feeling negative emotions during time spent on the Internet. These emotions—envy, anger, irritation, and feeling bad about oneself in comparison to others—are the result of the images showing other people as happier, more successful, and more “together” than the user. The discomfort created by these negative feelings also becomes constant and pervasive.
With one crisis after another and no place which counters the generated negative feelings, the user feels compelled to keep searching and constantly update. This is a never-ending process; there is no real solution for the users. However, it serves the social media platforms in their user counts and overall number of hours spent on their sites. This means money for them.
Over time, any empty minute in a user’s life is spent on the Internet, playing games, checking in, checking on, and ending up in checking out of life. There is no time or space for imagination, daydreaming, thinking, or exploring your own mind or thoughts—and no time to engage with people, activities, play. Whether you live in New London, in a more isolated rural area, or in the middle of a bustling metropolis, there is a real danger of becoming a digital automaton whose thinking is done by the platform’s identified cohort (read: social contagion), and whose life is spent watching screens with little engagement outside of cyberspace.
This activates the primitive section of the brain where our survival response of “fight or flight” resides. The stress hormones of cortisol and adrenaline are secreted to put us in a state of high alert. By using triggering manipulations, this sense of crisis becomes constant and pervasive in the users.
ocial media platforms know how to hold your attention and keep you online for extended periods of time. In fact, they have it down to a
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Social Media: Designed for Anxiety and Discomfort
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Social media platforms rely on people feeling negative emotions during time spent on the Internet
As I’ve witnessed firsthand in patients at my New London practice, the constant anxiety and bad feelings about oneself intensify and increase the time spent on these platforms. In search of relief or something that will make them feel better, users are even more compelled to spend time searching for something, some site, some post that will ease their discomfort and make them feel better about themselves as well as more relaxed, less caught in crisis. Even though no solution is found, this online pursuit continues in the unexamined, perhaps unconscious, belief that the answer lies on the Internet.
The sense of crisis creates a need to feel some agency, some control, and so the user tries to get as much information as possible to stay “on top of it.” Participating in forums, making comments and dispensing “likes” also gives a sense of participation. The constant need to check and update also gives a sense of agency and control, as the person guards against being unaware or taken by surprise. All of these efforts keep the person hooked and their attention controlled by the social media platforms.
If you find yourself feeling compelled to sign in, surf, check and update, see what everyone is doing on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, then maybe it is time to
take action to liberate yourself and reclaim your attention. Embrace empty time to explore your own mind with its thoughts, feelings and desires; embrace the uncomfortable and bad feelings and examine them, as this offers you an opportunity to grow, and go out and explore this wonderful world of ours with all its diversity and possibilities. Free yourself from the bondage of social media.
For more information, visit our website at www.ctbehavioralhealthassociates.com or call our New London practice at (860) 437-6914.
By Dr. Bassam Awwa, MD
Connecticut Behavioral Health Associates
science. These sites are engineered to present a stream of stimulating pictures, images, and texts to monopolize your attention and elevate stress and feelings of crisis.
References
Coiera, Enrico. “Social Networks, social media, social diseases.” British Medical Journal 2013: 346:13007.
Collins, Boyd. “The Key to Digital Freedom: Learning to Deal with Discomfort.” Available upon request.
Higgins, Stefan. “Crisis Mode.” On web: reallifemag.com, November 2019.
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ocial media platforms know how to hold your attention and keep you online for
extended periods of time. In fact, they have it down to a science. These sites are engineered to present a stream of stimulating pictures, images, and texts to monopolize your attention and elevate stress and feelings of crisis.
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