By Andres Garcia
Social media has become a major part of many people's daily lives, but its overconsumption harms society. We all like spending time on our phones; I mean, it can be addicting sometimes to turn off your brain and scroll.
Eventually, though hours pass by and the day is already over, you probably didn’t even start a bit of your homework or do anything productive. Spending all this time on social media can be dangerous for some and can negatively impact your mental health.
As we scroll through, we consume lots of information, some good and some bad. However, most of the time, people spend a lot of time consuming negative news; this is called doom scrolling.
The term “doom scrolling” started in the early days of 2020, when the world was locking down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since everyone was locked in their homes, most people used their phones for an unhealthy amount of time.
People would consume so much negative news about what was going on during that period of time especially because most of the news was about how bad the pandemic was getting. Therefore, during the pandemic, there was a rise in mental health problems.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, “If you’re prone to anxiety, depression or sadness, doom scrolling can be like stepping into quicksand. Dr Albers also says that. “It also can lead to insomnia, which can worsen these mental issues as well due to lack of sleep.” In one study, “70% of participants acknowledged checking social media from bed, and the more time they spent doing so, the more likely they were to have trouble falling asleep.”
Another issue that seems to be going on in our society is that our attention spans are getting worse due to the rippling effects of overconsumption during the pandemic and also the rise of fast-paced social media such as TikTok.
The rise of short-form content recently has made using social media more addictive than ever before. According to explodingtopics.com, “In 2019, the average user spent 27 minutes and 24 seconds on TikTok. As of 2024, that has more than doubled, reaching an estimated 58 minutes and 24 seconds.” To think that it increased that much is insane.
A recent UK study by King’s College London recently found that about “half of adults think their attention spans are getting shorter, and plenty of teachers say the same thing is happening with kids.” There also has been a rise in ADHD diagnoses in the U.S., according to Times.com.
With all these added issues, this can cause further mental health problems, which causes disruptions to our society all because of how unhealthy social media can be to us. However, there are ways to fix these issues and prevent them from becoming a bigger problem.
Self-discipline is one of the ways to combat the overuse of social media. I can’t lie; trying to stop yourself from scrolling through your feeds is difficult but not impossible.
Barbara Shinn-Cunningham, director of the Neuroscience Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, says, “She’s not convinced we’re losing the ability to focus.” Instead, she says, “We’re using devices in exactly the way tech companies want us to: constantly.”
It’s not changing how our brains operate but rather leveraging how our brains work so we can stay addicted to our phones.
The ways to get your focus back are different for each person. For some people with serious issues with focus, medication might be the best option. However, putting your phone in a different room instead of facing down can solve your problem and help you focus. To prevent doom scrolling you can try and take breaks from reading negative news and cleanse your feed by reading on positive stuff or just taking a break and spending time doing something productive.
Social media can be a fun way to keep in touch with others and just have a good laugh, but however like with everything, too much of something can be bad. We all deal with things, and the world can be a negative place. Processing all the bad news all day can deeply affect us; however, by taking breaks and having self-discipline, you can combat these issues. Also, talking to people in person and going outside can be helpful for your well-being and can help you develop a healthy relationship with social media.
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