How Social Media Addiction Affects Your Mental Health.

Nnaemeka Ikerionwu. Photo Credit: CFR Magazine

Written by Nnaemeka Ikerionwu 

An insidious force has crept into our lives over the last 10 years. It is made worse by the fact that it is rarely questioned & has rapidly become a deeply entrenched institution in our everyday lives.

The mere suggestion of taking it away would be met with outrage — you would not only be taking away one of our main activities, but a large part of our individual identity by doing so.

Social media, positively touted as “connecting the world” by its proponents, such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, has created a crisis in modern society. I use the word crisis very deliberately here.

According to recent statistics, an average 15–60 year old Nigerian spends over 2 hours per day on social media. Most people spend 4 hours a day on social media — young people spend 9 hours. 87 percent of people wake up and go to sleep with their smartphones. Just the presence of a smart phone reduces cognitive functionality, even when it’s off. Our average attention span is now 8 seconds. The more you use social media, the less happy you are.

In contrast, however, no digital marketer, communication executive or brand manager will vehemently oppose social media because it plays significant positive roles in creating awareness, building brands, boosting reputation and sales, among others.

The success stories of many multinationals in some departments could be attributed to the role of social media. These communication tools have, however, been bastardized in many ways than one.

Personally, sites like Facebook has helped in promoting cfrmagazine.com but as a 29-year-old, I can confidently say that my generation is both blessed and cursed by social media.

On the surface, sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others are useful tools that allow us to stay in touch with those that we love regardless of physical restrictions like distance and time.

If you’re having a great time at home, you can show your friends through an Instagram or Facebook post! Do you wonder what your old high school friends are up to these days? Hop on Facebook and give their profile a look.

In a world of Social Media, we so often think that our life needs to top the charts every day. Our relationships have to be perfect, our children need to be hilarious yet disciplined, and our vacations need to be incredible.

Social media shows barely 2% of people’s lives, others are purely fake. Everyone posts when they are on vacation, very happy with professionally edited photos. No one posts the fights, the heartaches and the inner struggles. However, we have socially morphed social media into being something else.

The mind-blowing global statistics of social media users, for me, does not really matter much; instead, I am particularly concerned about the level of addiction that seems to be on the rise

An addiction is defined as being reliant upon and compulsively drawn to something. Does our relationship with social media not take this form? Taking it away would be like taking away alcohol from an alcoholic.

Roger McNamee, an early investor in Google & Facebook, states with disdain that: “Facebook and Google assert with merit that they are giving users what they want…The same can be said about tobacco companies and drug dealers.” Roger also said that Dopamine, a neurotransmitter in our body that, when released, causes you to feel happy, is the very same addictive chemical released when we smoke or drink.

If we knew all of the implications of social media before it became a cultural norm, would we have allowed the likes of Facebook & Instagram to actively manipulate the minds of our young people?

Behavioural Design:

The targeting of Dopamine-release is very deliberate. Social media giants employ behavioural psychology & an army of all-too-adept designers to employ mechanisms to encourage addiction.

The issue with social media is that we often use it when we are in a negative mindset, when bored, lonely or upset. According to Nir Eyal, an Israeli-born-American writer and behavioral psychologist, these sensations ‘prompt an almost instantaneous and often mindless action to quell the negative sensation’.

Rather than dealing with the root cause of the sensation, however, social media provides an instant hit of happiness (dopamine) & allows us to distract ourselves. This is tragic, as it has bred a generation unable to address real emotional issues. If we feel lonely, we no longer confide in a trusted friend, but open Facebook up to see whether anyone has messaged us or liked a recent post.

This does not mean that you should just give up. You can take back control by implementing preventative measures, as Nir Eyal & many others do. You can see the threat, acknowledge it & work out how best to avoid it.

Taking back control of Social Media

1. Raise awareness:
To really see the issue, you have to observe society’s addiction to social media in action. The next time you are on a public bus or walking down the street, do not get your phone out for 15 minutes & just observe how people interact with their devices (try not to stare or look creepy). See how quickly they switch task, see how they just distract themselves with it whenever boredom strikes. (A tip: listen to music or a podcast when doing this to resist the temptation of reaching for your phone out of boredom).

2. Browser blocker;
On your work or home computer, download a plugin that blocks your newsfeed from appearing or put parental control to ban Facebook, for example. This will stop you unthinkingly opening up Facebook when bored or in need of a break. For Chrome users, download “News Feed Eradicator”

3. Turn off all notifications;
Go to your phone settings and turn off all notifications. If you think this sounds extreme, then it is not. If someone needs to reach you because of an emergency, they will call you, not send you a WhatsApp. After two weeks, gauge how much more productive & relaxed you are.

Note: I have put all three of these solutions into action, but turning off notifications has been the most powerful. Implement any of the above solutions for at least two weeks. Although research has said it takes 66 days to make a habit 95% automated (source), but two weeks will give you a sense of the emotional changes felt from changing your habits.

Conclusion;
Social media is here to stay. We may see a gradual shift to more ethical product design, but it won’t happen soon, with social media giants hopelessly dependent on capturing our attention. Public pressure groups are non-existent & government seem to have no appetite to fight back. Maybe more worryingly, they don’t even seem to be aware that there is a problem.

If social media addiction mirrors actual addiction — which it does — and if we ourselves admit we use it too much — which we do — and if these platforms are designed to be addictive — which they are — then we need to understand what we’re up against.
After reading this, even if you don’t choose to quit, I hope you keep the danger of social media in mind.

As social media usage increases year-on-year, when is it time for you to take back control and say, ‘enough’?

Nnaemeka Ikerionwu is the editor and publisher of CFR Magazine. (cfrmagazine@gmail.com)