It seems safe to say that people have intense feelings about social media - feelings that have deepened in their intensity as social media platforms have become increasingly pervasive (and invasive) in our daily lives. On the positive side, social media offers opportunities for connection, has demonstrated its usefulness in reducing stigma around mental health issues such as depression and suicide, and offers a lifeline of connection to folks in the midst of natural and manmade disasters. On the negative side, social media use is connected to increased risk for depression, anxiety, and feelings of isolation, and may contribute to eating disorder prevalence in adolescent girls. 

Let’s check out how social media impacts us mentally and emotionally, and identify some strategies for curbing problematic levels of use. 

Your Brain on Social Media

Dopamine Deluge
What do FaceBook and slot machines have in common? Intermittent reinforcement, which is getting a positive outcome following a specific behavior, but without any predictable pattern of reward. Reinforcement acts on our reward system, by dosing out dopamine when we engage in a behavior that gets us a desired outcome. When we aren’t sure if we’re going to get the reward, we continue the behavior longer as we chase the dopamine spike of reward. 

The same reward system that makes gambling so enticing keeps us scrolling on social media. The vast majority of content we see may not elicit an urge to engage, but we stay on the site because we’ve seen just enough cute cat pictures or upsetting political posts to keep us glued to our screens. In this way, our reward seeking brains respond to emotional intensity, regardless of whether the stimulus is positive or negative. 

Whenever there is heavy reward pathway activation there is the possibility of addiction. Addiction can be defined as engaging in a behavior despite specific harmful consequences. In the case of social media, the costs of overuse may not be as immediately apparent as the consequences for chemical addictions. While social media addiction is not a separately recognized disorder by most medical communities, it falls under a broad category of behavioral addictions that includes shopping and sex addictions due to the possibility for negatively impacting quality of life.  

Predicting negative outcomes
It may be appealing to draw a direct causal link between media use and mental health concerns, but the specific impact of digital and social media use on mental wellness is complicated. One model for media use outcomes suggests that cognitive factors, emotional style, and excitability inform whether social media use will lead to increased distress. Rather than being equally bad for everyone, certain psychological variables may predict problems or make someone more predisposed to using social media in damaging ways. Folks who have experienced trauma, who are predisposed to depression, anxiety, or other mental illnesses, and those who are experiencing high levels of stress are most vulnerable to the negative effects of social media. 

While individual characteristics may have significant bearing on how we use social media and how we feel after we do, social media platform design contributes significantly to negative outcomes. Social media platforms that deal in “ikes, views, clicks, etc., have designed artificial intelligence systems that “learn” what will keep individuals more engaged. Unfortunately, human brains are designed to focus on the negative, so we can decide if incoming information suggests we are in danger or safe. We actually pay more attention to stimuli that activate the “danger” alarm for our nervous systems. In social media terms, this means content that activates negative emotion - fear, anger, or disgust - is more likely to get and hold our attention than pleasant content. Add the algorithmic design to the mix, and each pause, like, or click we give to something unpleasant, the more the system “learns” to send us more of the same, conditioning our brains to expect negativity. 

Finding Balance
To improve your relationship with digital and social media use, here are some possible options.

1. Track your use - We tend to underestimate the amount of time we give to media, so tracking how much time you actually spend on various platforms can help to motivate making a change. There are apps available to track screen time generally, or you could try an old fashioned pen and paper tracker. Keep tabs on your use for a week to establish a baseline. You might also compare the amount of time spent using media versus other activities. When we recognize how much time goes to mindless scrolling, and see the direct impact on time spent on people and experiences we value, it becomes easier to make changes. 
2. Have “dark” time each day - It’s incredibly easy to stay connected constantly. Our phones, tablets, and even houses may be constantly beeping and blinking at us to get our attention. Pick a time of day when you can disengage from all digital media, even if it’s only for 30 minutes to an hour. Consider signing off at least one hour before bed (which will also improve your sleep, by the way), and engaging in a quiet activity such as reading, meditating, or a bedtime routine. Turning off push notifications can also help us be more thoughtful, rather than reflexive, with our social media use.
3. Take a social media vacation - Taking longer breaks from social media can help us stay connected to our non-virtual lives, and re-orient to life beyond the screen. For this to be effective, planning and commitment are key. Mark your calendar, tell your friends how to get in touch with you outside of social media, and if need be, delete apps from your devices. At a minimum, you’ll want to make it difficult to access social media apps by putting icons in a folder (possibly marked “DO NOT OPEN - YOU PROMISED!”). Consider what you’ll do with your reclaimed time in advance - plan time with friends, time in nature, or activities that you generally put off for later because you don’t have enough time in the day. 
4. Browse, don’t compare - One study found that people who engage in social comparison as they interact on social media have increased negative emotions compared to those who browse. We can begin noticing comparison by becoming aware of judgment words such as better, worse, more, and less; even noticing how often we are labeling something as “good” or “bad” can help us pause before we go deeper down the rabbit hole of comparison. 
5. Curate your content - There’s no fool-proof way to make social media a place where you only experience pleasant images and messages, but we can be intentional about reducing our engagement with content that elicits negative emotion. Rather than try to eliminate everything you don’t want to see, start by focusing on the type of content that makes you feel good, empowered, and accepted. Consider the values-based words that give you a feeling of warmth or openness - words like kindness, friendship, or adventure. As you look through accounts you follow, ask yourself if they give you a connection to those values. If they don’t, let them go. 

As a therapist, I find that most people, myself included, go to social media because we want to be a part of something and to feel seen and accepted. These incredibly natural urges to seek out community and connection largely go unmet when social media is our primary resource. The more my clients use social media, the more isolated they feel and the more they see themselves purely in comparison to (rather than in connection with) other people. I encourage you to explore your relationship with social media, and if it isn’t delivering on the promise of connection and emotional wellness, maybe it’s time to see other people (literally). 

How does social media use support or create problems for you in your life? Let us know in the comments!

Written for Fitness Blender by Candice CM, PhD
Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Supervisor

References

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