Avatar diagnosis: 9 questions about how social networks affect health
Smartphones, tablets and laptops have become an integral part of our life - and with them social networks, without which work and personal communication now seems unthinkable. What do we know about social networks? Almost everything, if we talk about their use for life, work and creativity (even our editorial cat has instagram). Enough, if we bear in mind the interface and hidden features. And almost nothing, if we talk about prospects, it is still difficult to say how the future social networks will look like and how they affect our physical and mental health. Scientists are concerned about the most diverse facets of online communication, and the amount of research has accumulated already considerable. We collected the answers to the main questions about social networks and health in one piece.
Do social networks make us stupid?
Some believe that a person whose life has become isolated on social networks loses not only a connection with reality, but also a sharp mind. A team from the University of Texas, with the help of eight hundred volunteers, decided to look into the matter. It turned out that smartphones and the truth is not the best way affect our cognitive abilities, but there are a few but.
First, the discussion in the study was about the use of smartphones, and not about social networks. Secondly, the deterioration of the test results was recorded only for those participants who showed signs of dependence on the device (see below). Thirdly, this happened only when the smartphone lay directly in front of the person. Simply put, in social networks - as, indeed, in smartphones - there is nothing terrible for the intellect, if only someone does not spend all his time with them.
Is there a dependency on social networks?
Theoretically, of course, this is possible. While some scientists argue whether Facebook’s dependence on Facebook can be considered a separate type of addiction, and not a subtype of Internet addiction (spoiler: yes, but more research is needed), others say that it is dependence, and not just online activity, that can explain the connection between social networks and depression. In any case, everything is not so clear.
Speaking about dependence on social networks, it is important to understand that its comparison with alcohol and drug addiction is not justified. Here are the numbers that put everything in its place: technology, like other forms of entertainment, really provokes the release of dopamine, so this figure is 50-100% higher than the norm. But cocaine increases its level by 350%, and methamphetamine by an impressive 1200%. In any case, while WHO has not added network addiction to its International Classification of Diseases, as it happened with computer games, it’s too early to make strong statements.
Why is it so difficult to refuse them?
It cannot be denied that most of us are drawn to social networks with irresistible force. About why this is happening, back in 2012, scientists from Harvard University told. During a series of experiments, they found that the disclosure of information about themselves on the Internet activates the part of the brain associated with pleasure. And all would be nothing, but it was the same part of the reward system of the brain, which is activated in the process of sex and / or eating your favorite fast food.
In addition, studies have shown that the active use of social networks increases a person’s social capital, so that he automatically feels better. Coupled with the data that communication in social networks is associated with a sense of general well-being and increased self-esteem, this explains why we so easily “sit down” on news feeds, likes and reposts.
Does it make sense to restrict children in social networks?
According to a survey conducted in Silicon Valley in 2017, most parents, although they believe in the power and importance of technology, prefer to raise their children without gadgets, limiting their time on the web. Among the "low-tech" parents belonged even Steve Jobs - like Tim Cook, the current CEO of Apple, who in January 2018 said that he would not allow his nephew to register on social networks.
This is not only a matter of “suicidal” games, which supposedly inadequately affect the fragile childish psyche (besides, new studies show that social networks and suicides are no more connected than “potatoes and suicides”). However, modern psychologists are concerned that the replacement of real communication with virtual depressing effect on the emotional state of children and adolescents, provoking a "disaster epidemic" among young people. Scientists from the University of San Diego found that children who spend more than five hours a day on the Web are much less happy than those who devote to the Internet no more than an hour a day.
What can tell account on the social network?
In fact, about more things than it seems. During the study, published in 2014, it was found that there is a feedback between the public display of feelings on Facebook and self-esteem: the more often a person speaks, how happy he is in current relationships and how lucky he is, the less confident he is. On the other hand, a similar study in 2012 says that people who put photos with a partner on their avatar are generally more satisfied with the relationship than those who post a solo photo.
Scientists from Harvard and Vermont also found that instagram profile analysis can reveal user depression. The study used a special program that focused on several obvious markers: more frequent placement of photos, more people in the pictures and a darker color scheme. It sounds too simple - but the program managed to correctly identify people with depression in 70% of cases. In addition, there is evidence that people who use more happy smileys when posting and posting on social networks are more likely to be more optimistic and sincere in life.
Who needs digital detox and why?
Recently, the idea of abandoning social networks - at least for a weekend - has become incredibly popular. In 2010, scientists from the University of Maryland conducted surveys among students to find out how important smartphones and social networks are to them. So it turned out that most of them felt bad when they had to spend more than a day without a phone and the Internet, preferring exactly the smartphone time spent with a loved one, if you had to choose one or the other.
On the other hand, many experts believe that digital detox and media dictionaries are a story from a series of activated carbonated lemonades, which, of course, do not harm, but also not to help. So attention here should be focused not on how much time a person spends on the Web, but rather on what he does there.
How are social networks and dysmorphophobia?
Social networks are regularly suspected of catalyzing bodily dysmorphophobia - dissatisfaction with one's own body and even hatred towards it, coupled with the search for contrived deficiencies, eating disorders and other mental difficulties. The essence of the claims comes down to the fact that the photos on instagram form a distorted body image, so that one's own one gradually begins to seem “somehow different” to a person.
Plastic surgeons are increasingly saying that social networks are provoking more operations. Today, patients come to them not with photos of celebrities, as before, but with snapcate filters, which makes it possible to speak of a new type of dysmorphophobia. On the other hand, bodipositive does its job: social networks become a platform through which people whose appearance was not represented in the media space before, tell the whole world about themselves - and then appear in advertising campaigns, go to the podium and by their own example prove that body worthy of respect.
How do social networks affect health?
Have you ever wondered what happens to our body when it slows down the Internet? It turns out nothing good. This conclusion was made by Swedish scientists, who found that slow video loading causes stress of the same strength as watching a horror movie or solving a complex mathematical problem. By itself, the slow Internet by 40% increases the heart rate and significantly increases the pressure. An assessment of the physical and mental health of active Facebook users, already conducted by Californian scientists, showed that the more likes users put, the worse their health was, and the more often they updated the page, the more likely they were diagnosed with mental disorders.
But what happens to the lives of people who do not sit on social networks and minimally use gadgets? A little research on the topic allowed us to say that such people spend more time with friends, get relevant information from them and, as a rule, begin to feel better. And yet we must not forget that communication affects our health as much as physical exercise - and the reality is that today it is provided by social networks, giving amazing opportunities to overcome isolation.
Why do we check the pages of the former in social networks?
This seems to be done by everyone — sometimes deliberately, and sometimes, as it were, casually appearing on the page of the one-who-cannot-be called. Some consider it a form of masochism, others see nothing terrible - and both points of view, of course, have a right to exist. But still: why do people do it?
No, not at all because they dream of reuniting with an ex-partner. Psychologists think that it is the natural and often subconscious desire of every person to improve their self-esteem. Former partners, especially if the relationship was long, become a part of us, so sometimes we want to return to this part, which, although it remains in the past, is still available on the Internet. The second likely reason for such behavior (which, however, does not exclude the first) may be that a regular return back - if the separation was painful - allows us to accept the situation, let it go and move on.
Photo: Rawpixel.com - stock.adobe.com (1, 2, 3)
