{"id":35923,"date":"2022-10-28T15:27:56","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T11:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=35923"},"modified":"2022-10-28T15:27:56","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T11:27:56","slug":"social-media-use-and-poor-wellbeing-feed-into-each-other-in-a-vicious-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/social-media-use-and-poor-wellbeing-feed-into-each-other-in-a-vicious-cycle\/","title":{"rendered":"Social media use and poor wellbeing feed into each other in a vicious cycle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span><\/h4>\n

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How you feel and how you use social media both affect each other \u2013 but one impacts the other more.<\/span><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/span>Mindless scrolling can be damaging to your wellbeing. Pic – Watsons Health Hub<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We often hear about the negative impacts of social media on our wellbeing, but we don\u2019t usually think of it the other way round \u2013 whereby how we feel may impact how we use social media.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a recent study, my colleagues and I investigated the relationship between social media use and wellbeing in more than 7,000 adults across four years, using survey responses from the longitudinal New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study.<\/span><\/p>\n

We found social media use and wellbeing impact each other. Poorer wellbeing \u2013 specifically higher psychological distress and lower life satisfaction \u2013 predicted higher social media use one year later, and higher social media use predicted poorer wellbeing one year later.<\/span><\/p>\n

A vicious cycle<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Interestingly, wellbeing impacted social media use more than the other way round.<\/span><\/p>\n

Going from having \u201cno distress\u201d to being distressed \u201csome of the time\u201d, or \u201csome of the time\u201d to \u201cmost of the time\u201d, was associated with an extra 27 minutes of daily social media use one year later. These findings were the same for men and women across all age groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

This suggests people who have poor wellbeing might be turning to social media more, perhaps as a coping mechanism \u2013 but this doesn\u2019t seem to be helping. Unfortunately, and paradoxically, turning to social media may worsen the very feelings and symptoms someone is hoping to escape.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our study found higher social media use results in poorer wellbeing, which in turn increases social media use, exacerbating the existing negative feelings, and so on. This creates a vicious cycle in which people seem to get trapped.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you think this might describe your relationship with social media, there are some strategies you can use to try to get out of this vicious cycle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reflect on how and why you use social media<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Social media aren\u2019t inherently bad, but how and why we use them is really important \u2013 even more than how much time we spend on social media. For example, using social media to interact with others or for entertainment has been linked to improved wellbeing, whereas engaging in comparisons on social media can be detrimental to wellbeing.<\/span><\/p>\n

So chat to your friends and watch funny dog videos to your heart\u2019s content, but just watch out for those comparisons.<\/span><\/p>\n

What we look at online is important too. One experimental study found just ten minutes of exposure to \u201cfitspiration\u201d images (such as slim\/toned people posing in exercise clothing or engaging in fitness) led to significantly poorer mood and body image in women than exposure to travel images.<\/span><\/p>\n

And mindless scrolling can also be harmful. Research suggests this passive use of social media is more damaging to wellbeing than active use (such as talking or interacting with friends).<\/span><\/p>\n

So be mindful about how and why you use social media, and how it makes you feel! If most of your use falls under the \u201charmful\u201d category, that\u2019s a sign to change or cut down your use, or even take a break. One 2015 experiment with more than 1,000 participants found taking a break from Facebook for just one week increased life satisfaction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let social media displace other activities<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Life is all about balance, so make sure you\u2019re still doing important activities away from your phone that support your wellbeing. Research suggests time spent outdoors, on hobbies or crafts, and engaging in physical activity can help improve your wellbeing.<\/span><\/p>\n

So put your phone down and organise a picnic with friends, join a new class, or find an enjoyable way to move your body.<\/span><\/p>\n

Address your poor wellbeing<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

According to our findings, it may be useful to think of your own habitual social media use as a symptom of how you\u2019re feeling. If your use suggests you aren\u2019t in a good place, perhaps you need to identify and address what\u2019s getting you down.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first, very crucial step is getting help. A great place to start is talking to a health professional such as your general practitioner or a therapist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hannah Jarman<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Research Fellow, Deakin University<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 28 October 2022<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How you feel and how you use social media both affect each other \u2013 but one impacts the other more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":35924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[17847,35332,35330,35331,11126],"class_list":["post-35923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellness","tag-mental-health","tag-social-media-and-society","tag-social-media-habits","tag-social-media-use","tag-wellness"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/C-Social-media-use-poor.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8QzSF-9lp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}