I realize that some of you might not recognize what FOMO means. Let me enlighten you a little, ” Fear Of Missing Out.” That’s it, the fear of missing out on what your coworkers are doing, family members, friends and even acquaintances. There has been an increase in FOMO and mental health issues do to an increase in our individual screen time on social media.
I struggled with this weeks topic for my Blog and Podcast. I literally just didn’t have a passion for anything to talk about. I realized how crazy that was as I sat down to write this Blog. I said to myself just look at the headlines in the news this week. I am writing you through a website, my podcast is downloaded through social media outlets and I advertise on social media platforms. Podcasters use social media as their main means of advertising and self-promotion. Congress this week interviewed the Whistleblower from Facebook and Instagram, Frances Haugen. I was mesmerized by her testimony and honestly thought she was very brave to be on national television talking about the harm of social media and platforms specifically Facebook and Instagram where she was employed at in the past.
As a mental health professional and a motivational speaker I realized how her words were so relevant to our mental health. Her main testimony was the detriment social media has on pediatrics and adolescents. I also realized that all of her comments could relate to any social media user. Social Media has a strange power over us and it’s almost mesmerizing. The more screen time we have the more we become hyperconnected to the information we are processing. Studies have shown that social media increases anxiety, depression, negative self-image and increased suicidal thoughts. I am a believer that social media platforms have a negative and positive feed loop. There are so many fun and positive aspects of social media. Sharing accomplishments, family pictures, pictures of your pets, vacations, birthday celebrations with others can be so exciting, fun and rewarding to share. A lot of positive information can be absorbed from social media as well as the disinformation. Social media is just very complicated and there still needs to be a lot of studies completed to see what the long term damage social media can have on individuals of all ages.
The testimony of Frances Haugen really got me thinking about how can we limit social media to improve our mental health. This is a struggle and a challenge to most who have screen time every day. Social Media platforms have algorithms that track what we view. Once there is a trend in what you view you will start to see more ads and information regarding what they have tracked you watching. If you read an article on depression intern you will see more ads about depression on your feed. The problem is that not all the information that is sent to you is accurate, it’s disinformation. Many people get sucked into the rabbit hole of disinformation and being inundated with more information of one topic like ways to hurt yourselves or others. I was not really aware of these algorithms but as I listened to her testimony I realized how much she was telling Congress was true.
Social Media users have to be smart, aware, knowledgeable, resistant to disinformation and the negative feedback and images we see on social media. My Podcast 56 talks more about this topic. How can we help todays children and adults with their social media addiction. Wide Open Spaces with Ilise will provide you with easy and concrete ways that you can become more social media savvy and utilize ways to decrease the negative effects that social media has on your life and mental health. Life has become so much harder with all of the social media platforms we are exposed to but we can utilize these platforms to our benefit, not detriment. Pop in your earbuds and listen to episode 56 of Wide Open Spaces with Ilise and feel your own personal control of your life.
POSITIVE THOUGHTS, CREATE POSITIVE ENERGY
GO OUT AND EXPLORE ALL OF THE WIDE OPEN SPACES IN YOUR WORLD
CIAO
Ilise
