Breaking Point: “Quarter Life Of Crisis”
Written by Andi Bazaar, Gryffen Seth | March 3, 2023
The negative impact of social media on mental health is compounded by the fact that many young people are using it as their primary source of social interaction, they are not developing the social skills needed to form deep and meaningful relationships in real life.
“The impact of social media on children’s mental health is significant, it impacts many aspects not only of their growth and development but also their happiness."
WHAT WILL THE LONG-TERM IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA BE ON SOCIETY?
It is still TBD, but early indications are that many of us are struggling and may need each other more than ever to help build the human connections that make us happier and healthier.
WHAT IMPACT IS SOCIAL MEDIA HAVING ON YOUR MENTAL HEALTH?
Human connection is the single largest preventative action we can take to avoid depression. It's not just the emotional impact of social media, but the time it takes away from connecting with others face-to-face.
- Social media can be very helpful when keeping in touch with loved ones! However, continually using it also has the potential to negatively impact your mental health. Limiting the use of social media in your day to day can help improve your mental health.
- Social media can is a big part of our lives and a very big impact on mental health so remember take a break if it is getting to much.
Today, I want to talk about the importance of taking breaks throughout the day to help reduce stress and improve your mental and physical health.
Whether you're working from home or in the office, it's important to take short breaks throughout the day to stretch your legs get some fresh air or just take a few deep breaths.
These small breaks can help you feel more relaxed, focused and productive also can even help reduce the risk of burnout.
One of my favourite ways to take a break during the workday is to practice some simple yoga poses or stretches, not only does it help me stretch out my muscles but it also helps me clear my mind and refocus.
Another great way to take a wellness break is to go for a short walk outside, getting some fresh air and sunshine can do wonders for your mood and energy levels.
Don't forget the power of a simple breathing exercise to help calm your mind and reduce stress. Try taking a few deep breaths, holding for a few seconds and exhaling slowly.
Remember, taking care of your physical and mental health should always be a priority. Take breaks throughout the day, prioritize self-care and make time for activities that bring you joy and relaxation.
SOCIAL MEDIA IS A MAJOR CAUSE OF THE MENTAL ILLNESS EPIDEMIC IN TEEN GIRLS. HERE’S THE EVIDENCE
- Social media is causing a mental health epidemic, young people are experiencing record levels of anxiety and depression and social media is a major contributor to this trend.
- The constant stimulation and comparison that social media provides is making us more anxious, depressed, and socially isolated. Social media companies are designed to keep us hooked and engaged and they do this by creating addictive experiences.
- The negative impact of social media on mental health is compounded by the fact that many young people are using it as their primary source of social interaction, they are not developing the social skills needed to form deep and meaningful relationships in real life.
- The solution to this problem is not to simply ban social media, we need to find a way to use it in a way that is healthy and positive. This means setting limits on our usage, being mindful of the content we consume and prioritizing real-life interactions.
- Schools, parents and clinicians all have a role to play in helping young people navigate social media in a healthy way. We need to teach young people the skills they need to use social media responsibly, while also providing them with alternative ways to connect with others.
- Ultimately, we need to recognize that social media is a double-edged sword. While it has the power to connect us and bring us together, it also has the power to harm our mental health and wellbeing.
- By being mindful and intentional about our social media use, we can harness its power for good while avoiding its negative effects.
This is excellent piece by Jon Haidt, the "After Babel Substack" is quickly becoming one of my favorites.
Beyond the eye-opening evidence, Haidt is simply a good writer. The information he lays out is done so in way that makes it incredibly easy to understand.
PIGGYBACKING OF THIS PIECE WITH SOME OF MY OWN THOUGHTS:
As I've gotten older, my view of social media has changed from "a personal digital diary" to "a free online education." — social media is a tool and like any tool, the value is determined by the user.
If you're using social media to boost (or reduce) the health of your ego, it's going to take a heavy impact on your mental health obviously but if you're using it to explore ideas and independently educate yourself it's an invaluable tool. it's all about how you use it.
Unfortunately, this realization didn't hit me until my early/mid 20's.
In the early days of my social media use, it was definitely about socialization not education. At the time, attaching your identity to your social media presence felt like the obvious use-case. Now, my presence on social media is largely about learning.
I still express my opinions; it’s still (in part) tied to my identity but I take the opinions of others on social media far less seriously once my personal use-case changed. Anyway, just a few extra thoughts after reading Haidt’s most recent piece. You should really check out his work also I strongly suggest you don’t group your identity, social media presence and financial wellbeing under one umbrella.
It's a recipe for depression.
After 13 years of Tory government, the NHS is in crisis and the police are officially picking up the pieces. New figures show some forces have seen a tripling of mental health 999 calls.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/21/mental-health-crises-police-england-and-wales
It is a damming indictment of Govt that they’ve abandoned the police to help people who should be getting mental health support.
People in mental health crisis deserve the right support and every community deserves a local, visible and reliable neighbourhood policing team
Labour will put mental health support in every community and guarantee mental health treatment within a month for all who need it and recruit 8,500 new mental health staff to treat a million additional patients a year by Labour’s first term in office.
It has been a month since I have been on Social Media. No Twitter, no Instagram, no FB (is there anyone there anyway?) etc. Also did not watch any OTT and the effect has been quite profound for me. Here are my learnings:
This started because I was in Spain visiting family and in places without cell phone, Wi-Fi, etc. Unplugging completely suddenly started having marked impacts on the way I felt, as I started to feel different in a good way I started reading on what is happening to me.
This lead me to books on social media addiction, dopamine, digital minimalism, brain chemistry, being mindful on consuming digital media, etc. Here is the essence of my thoughts and readings.
The greatest epidemic of 21st century is dopamine addiction caused by cell phones. We are hooked to games, social media and updates on our phones. We are not paying attention to work that matters and being emotionally unavailable to people around us.
We are becoming bad parents, unattentive spouses, zombie children, poor bosses and inefficient employees. We are all living in a constant state of always craving for simulation. It is making us unproductive, stressed, unhappy, worried and empty.
Twitter, Whatsapp, Trading, Shopping, Insta-Reels and YouTube Shorts. We are always looking to get high on new experiences with instant gratification to get high, when was the last time we read a book cover to cover or watched a movie with Zero break?
Why do we keep checking the phone to see if there is a new message on Whatsapp or a new update on social media?
When has anything important come to us in that thing in the last ten years anyway?
No one knows how serious this issue is, we are directly messing with neurotransmitters on an unprecedented scale. It is scary to think about the long-term effects of this and what would this have done to our brains when we are in our 60s or 70s.
Why am I saying this as a person who runs a trading platform? Because if Whatsapp, Twitter etc are addiction, trading is addiction on steroids with a V8 engine and nitro boosters which gets me to wonder should a trading platform build in measure to prevent addiction
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc built empires by getting people hooked making living zombies out of people who cannot lift their heads from their phones.
- What if we attempt the reverse?
- Make trading platforms that actually look out for the well being of traders?
Conversations about mental health of traders is long overdue, products for traders focusing on mental health is also long overdue. Sensibull is planning to take steps in this direction, majority of my future tweets will be in this direction.
PS: "Did I come back to social media to ask people to quit social media?"
People really need to spread positivity on social media. We need more of positive comments, feedback, opinions, advice, etc spreading around. Stricter actions need to be taken and cyber laws need to be enforced against all kinds of social media harassment.
Random accounts with no real pictures shouldn't have the courage to demean or degrade anyone whenever they wish to, that makes no sense l really. Such cowards don't understand or don't analyse even once what effect it might have on the person being shamed.
Some cyber regulatory bodies ought to be there, checking on such accounts that continously keep shaming various people on different social media. Their accounts must be suspended indefinitely, there should be zero tolerance for social media negativity.
One wonders how their brains function, how they muster courage to hate on random people for no good reason but just for the mere sake of it. This thing really needs to be sorted, social media negativity and random people shaming random people.
- I just wonder what provokes such brutal negativity, is it their childhood issues?
- Faulty parenting by their parents?
- Their own adulting issues like random insecurities, envy, over-judgmental-ness or being disgustingly nasty just for the sake of it?
Such anonymous accounts who're there to exclusively spread hatred, negativity and to shame people must be reported by as many people as possible to free social media of such termites in order to promote positivity and a sound mental health around the world.
The victims of social media negativity must not die in fear or shame. Rather, they ought to call their abusers out each time. Sometimes individually, sometimes collectively but action certainly needs to be taken, each time trend hashtags do whatever you must but do speak out.
DO YOU FEEL STUCK IN LIFE?
This simple 3-step framework will help you break through mental barriers and achieve anything you want in life, when it comes to achieving goals, most people complicate the process and because we live in a culture of instant gratification anything that requires patience is usually ignored.
If you’re wise enough to follow this simple advice, you can crush any goal you hold in your mind.
WRITE DOWN YOUR GOAL
Take 30 minutes and write down your goal in vivid detail, describe exactly what your life will look like once you achieve your goal.
- be specific
- be creative
- be intentional
If you don’t have a target, how will you know when you hit it?
DEVELOP MICRO-GOALS
Break your big goal into a series of mini-goals, pursue each mini-goal until completion.
- take action
- stay consistent
- develop positive habits
Every time you reach a mini-goal, celebrate a mini-victory.
KEEP A POSITIVE MINDSET
Understand that nothing in life worth having comes easy, everything requires effort.
- focus on the outcome
- stay committed to success
- reframe failure as a learning opportunity
Whenever you hit a roadblock treat it as a learning opportunity, whatever you want in life can be attained by:
- setting clear goals
- taking daily action
- staying positive
The only thing standing in your way is your ego, cultivate self-discipline, remain patient in the face of adversity and you’ll become unstoppable.
