Have you already seen Netflix’s documentary The Social Dilemma? It portrays a dystopian portrait of social media, arguing that Silicon Valley’s emerging technologies pose a real threat to humanity. The very smart and dominant Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok algorithms that have hooked us the most were founded during the last 10 years. According to global studies, the average adult spends two hours a day on social media, and the average American teenager spends up to nine hours a day – social media addiction affects nearly half a million people worldwide. But how bad is social media to our mental health?

According to the main protagonist of the film, Tristan Harris, a former Google design ethicist and founder of the Center for Humane Technology, this is a great danger to our mental well-being, which will only increase in the absence of any regulation of these companies.

Digital addiction

The Social Dilemma’s critical eye came at an interesting time in our lives, when we are more addicted to digital connectivity than ever. ‘Social media can damage our confidence, but it can also make us feel less alone and more connected,’ Tabitha Goldstaub, the author of ‘How To Talk to Robots: A Girls’ Guide To A Future Dominated By AI’ explains. Since so many people are forced to socially distance ourselves, social media has become our lifeline for staying in touch with loved ones. In the absence of physical interaction, we have learned new virtual languages ​​- messaging, memes, and emojis – to communicate with friends, family, and colleagues, which can only improve our overall mental health.

According to The Social Dilemma, one of the most troubling consequences of using social media is its negative impact on one’s body perception. Research into the relationship between social media and body perception is relatively similar, especially when it comes to consuming and interacting with content that is focused on appearance and promoting narrow social standards of beauty. In the film, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt highlights the close link between the negative mental health of adolescent girls and smartphone use.

Everything’s under control

‘Remember that you control how you use social media, how much time you spend on it, what you consume, and what you do,’ Craddock says. Developing media literacy, raising awareness of how we use social media and how it works, and targeting our channels to positive content are all strategies we can use to protect our mental well-being. ‘If you understand that everyone is using social media created specifically to induce us to take certain actions, then you can break the algorithms by actively seeking alternative sources of information, tracking people and brands that you do not usually follow,’ Goldstaub explains. ‘You have more power over algorithms than you think – don’t let this bubble define who you are.’

At the same time, you should be wary of intimidating clickable articles about the impact of social media on mental health (which you, ironically, probably read after someone shared them on social media). Because by creating panic and viewing social media solely as the root cause of mental illness, Dr. Marsden argues: ‘off the long list of root causes of mental illness, such as serious adverse events, violence, conflict, poverty, inequality, lack of opportunities and substance abuse’.