A look at the effects of today’s social outlets
You’ve probably noticed it for yourself, you walk into the cafeteria with your tray and the place is glowing with screens. You work at the library, and your neighbours’ monitors are displaying the prominent blue and white colours of Facebook. Here’s the question, how many times have you asked yourself, “I wonder how many emails he’s sent? I wonder how many pictures of her friends she’s been staring at?” Rarely does this question come up: “I wonder how this has been affecting them everyday.”
The problem with living our life through screens is the attraction to digital media itself, and its implications on the growing problem of mental health concerns. This has become a greater issue for the university demographic. With a greater emphasis on student mental health, a new call system has been created within the past few years to help suffering students reach out. Good2Talk, a recently established call-line, and partner with KidsHelpPhone, has been made to aid distressed students seek help through a 24-hour call-line. This call-line, with a great amount of attention, receives over 1,000 student callers monthly.
…aid distressed students seek help through a 24-hour call-line.
How does this tie into digital media for students everyday? First is the mass of information we consume. We are exposed to more information than any previous era, because any screen we have is a vast outlet for keeping connected and informed.
“But evolution hasn’t kept pace with the information revolution,” Jonathan Gatehouse states. In his 2014 MacLean’s article, Gatehouse not only writes on the stress of digital media, but on the aggravation of coping with multitasking and daily distractions. One important factor Gatehouse notes is the stress induced with clutter in our lives, and how this can be linked with the stress hormone cortisol.
There is a valid reason to recognize why digital media is a culprit in weighing university students down. In the article “Your Facebook can undermine your mental health,” Travis Lupick writes that the style of being a passive participant on Facebook leads to more gazes on other people’s posts and photos that can ultimately result in a negative effect on your wellbeing. Facebook researcher Hanna Kranosova has found several elements of the social networking site to lead to excessive social comparison. First is the fact that users have access to information never had before. This information is mainly positive, and the information coming from users is similar to the users consuming it. These properties are what attract so many Facebook users, and so many problems. Anderssen of the Globe and Mail has found notable research regarding trends ranging from eating disorders to depression in teenage girls obsessed with Facebook.
…female undergraduate students spend approximately 10 hours on their phones per day.
It also seems that ‘app’ developers and software companies are finding ways to get more attention. The fact that we stare at our phones more today has been a growing concern for recent research. The term “text effect” has been coined to refer the early wear and tear on the spine that results from constantly bending the neck to gaze at a phone. This does not just become a matter of spinal health either; in younger generations, bad posture can severely limit one’s lung capacity, and has been linked to headaches, neurological issues, depression, and heart disease. This is a continuous concern, especially after a noted study by Baylor University in Texas published surveyed results stating that, on average, female undergraduates students spend approximately 10 hours on their phones per day.
It is known that depression, anxiety and stress patterns are all linked. The problem with being constantly distracted and seduced by digital technology is the unawareness of how your body is engaged to it. Anderssen has noted that research on individuals constantly checking emails has been linked to increased heartbeat and blood pressure. She even cites research done by Stanford that suggests that people take shorter breathes, and even hold their breaths entirely, while doing simple web searches.
Students should always consider more awareness when socializing and interacting online because more evidence supports healthier patterns. Like the cliché says, everything in moderation is the key.