It’s difficult to picture a world without social media in today’s digital age. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok have become essential to our lives, connecting us with friends and family, sharing memories, and keeping us updated on the latest trends. Social media has become an integral part of our daily lives: we use these platforms to communicate with family and friends, accept invites to public events, and join online communities to meet people with similar interests.
Social media can be a great tool to improve mental health by promoting social connections and peer support. Online groups can also provide a platform to talk about health concerns, traumatic life events, or everyday challenges, which can reduce stigma and boost belonging and perceived emotional support. In addition, mutual connections, pleasant social contacts, and social media humour can also help to lessen stress. Since the early 2000s, social media has provided a new outlet for social experiences and expanding communication opportunities. The digital world is also a fantastic source of limitless information, particularly when used wisely, for example, research-based, marketing, motivational speaking, etc.
Needless to say, social media has a significant impact on our mental health; it requires mindful use, and the boundary between healthy and addictive use is becoming increasingly hazy. Social media addiction is an increasing worry in Australia (and worldwide), with statistics drawing a troubling picture of its influence on individuals and society. Let’s take a quick look at the social media landscape in Australia. Here is a glimpse of statistics in 2023 according to the Social Media Statistics for Australia. (Guzman, 2023)
It takes discipline not to let social media steal your time. Alexis Ohanian
The Growing Concern
YouTube – 17,500,000 Unique Australian Visitors per month (UAVs)
Facebook – 18,500,000 Monthly Active Australian Users
WhatsApp – 12,000,000 Active Australian Users
Instagram – 10,000,000 Monthly Active Australian Users
LinkedIn – 6,500,000 Monthly Active Australian Users
Snapchat – 6,400,000 Monthly Active Australian Users
WordPress.com – 6,100,000 Active Users
Twitter – 5,800,000 Monthly Active Australian Users
Tinder – 4,000,000 Australian users
Tumblr – 3,700,000 Monthly Users
Australia Social Media Usage Time Spent: 2 hours and 4 minutes
Number of Social Media Users in Australia: 21.30 million
Male Social Media Users: 45.8%
Female Social Media Users: 54.2%
“Facebook is the social media platform of choice, with 73.6% of Australian social media users spending roughly 17 hours and 48 minutes a month on it. Nearly 4.57 billion people worldwide have access to the internet, according to data published December 31, 2019, on the webpage (Korte, 2020).
As expected, the all-accessible digital world has a negative side effect. Social media, in particular, can lead to tremendous stress, pressure to compare oneself to others, and increased sadness, isolation and loneliness. It pains me to see how people, particularly young people, are drawn into the imaginary world of perfectionism. We are continually pressured to conform to what society thinks we should look and be like. It’s a never-ending scroll through airbrushed beauties, creating an unrealistic illusion of success and ‘happiness’. Before you know it, you’re lying in bed, wondering about your entire existence, feeling like you’re “just not cutting it,” feeling like a failure, and becoming increasingly dissatisfied, depressed and lonely. Social media is also a significant contributor to cyberbullying and contributes to various mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia, and insomnia.
Social media is an amazing tool, but face-to-face interaction makes a long-term impact. Felicia Day
Digital Use and Brain Development
According to recent research, people spend more than 2 hours daily on social media. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat have become increasingly popular among youth in 2022, and one-third think they spend too much time on these platforms. Evidence concludes that excessive use is predominantly associated with lower psychological well-being. Furthermore, the findings imply that the quality of social media use, rather than the amount, might affect whether the experience helps or degrades the user’s mental health and that excessive social media use can be detrimental to your mental health. (Guzman, 2023). Concerns have been raised about increased body image dissatisfaction, cyberbullying, and phubbing behaviours (“the practice of ignoring one’s companion or companions in order to pay attention to one’s phone or other mobile device”). It also has a negative impact on your emotions; excessive use causes loneliness, fear of missing out, and diminished well-being and life satisfaction. Users at risk of social media addiction frequently report symptoms of depression and low self-esteem.
The Effect of Screen Time on Our Brain Function
Indeed, there is growing concern about the consequences of digital media consumption on brain function, physical and mental health, education, social interaction, and politics. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued strict restrictions regarding children’s screen time in 2019. As stated in Assembly Bill 272, schools are now permitted to limit smartphone usage. These efforts were made in response to findings that intensive digital media use reduces working memory capacity, causes psychological difficulties ranging from sadness to anxiety and sleep disorders, and influences text comprehension while reading on screens (Korte, 2020). Research concludes that reading complex stories or interconnected facts in a printed book leads to better recall of the story, details, and connection between facts than reading the same text on screen. This may be because the majority of digital media users glance at and multitask from one item to the next—a behaviour that may diminish attention span and contribute to the fact that the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is greater than it was 10 years ago (Korte, 2020). Is it possible that multitasking with digital media contributes to or perhaps causes an increase in ADHD?
According to the ‘Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience,’ there are two arguments that support the theory that intensive digital media use is associated with working memory impairments: simply seeing a smartphone (not even using it) lowers working memory capacity and leads to decreased performance in cognitive tasks because part of the working memory resources are occupied by ignoring the phone. Numerous studies have drawn a strong connection between digital use or extensive screen time (for example, watching television, social media and playing video games etc.) and the symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Small, 2020). “A recent survey of adolescents without symptoms of ADHD at the start of the study indicated a significant association between more frequent use of digital media and symptoms of ADHD after 24 months of follow-up” (Small, 2020). The more frequently people use their cellphones in multitasking mode (moving between apps and platforms), the easier it is for them to respond to distractions and, as a result, perform worse in task-switching assessments than users who rarely multitask.
Digital media are not good or bad for our minds per se, but rather how we use digital media. Another question is whether heavy use of digital media affects the development of language-related processes (semantics and grammar). It is alarming since early significant screen usage in preschoolers may majorly affect language development. Parents should limit screen time for children aged 2 years or younger as the brain is particularly malleable. Children under the age of 2 should not be exposed to screen time at all. Excessive screen time may lead to poor emotional regulation, ineffective communication and poor social interaction due to a lack of face-to-face interaction. A study at the University of California, Los Angeles, concluded that pre-teens who had restricted media usage and had face-to-face interaction drastically enhanced their ability to recognise nonverbal, emotional and social cues.
“Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master. ” Christian Lous Lange, Historian
Understanding the adverse impact of unrestrained digital media use on the developing brain, emotions, communication, socialisation, and psychological well-being can be confronting and daunting to make changes in our lives and our families. Part 2 of this blog series explores using digital media wisely and provides tips for improving digital well-being.
References
Cherry, K. (2022, November 11). Fluid vs. Crystallized Intelligence. Retrieved from Very Well Mind: https://www.verywellmind.com/
Guzman, J. d. (2023, march 15). Social Media Statistics for Australia. Retrieved from Meltwater: https://www.meltwater.com/en/
Joshi, A. (2021, August ). Retrieved from Australian Institute of Family Studies: https://aifs.gov.au/resources/
Korte, M. (2020, June 22). The impact of the digital revolution. Retrieved from Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Small, G. W. (2020, June 22). Retrieved from Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
