Over the summer, Harvard researcher Laura Marciano interviewed 500 teenagers for a study looking at the relationship between technology and loneliness. The results were striking. Teenagers recruited with the help of Instagram influencers answered a questionnaire about their social interactions three times a day for several weeks. Each time, more than 50 percent said they had not spoken to anyone in the past hour, either in person or online. In other words, even though the teenagers were on vacation from school and spent a lot of time on social media apps, most of them weren’t socializing at all.
Young people today spend more time alone, form fewer close friendships, and feel more socially disconnected from their community than they did 20 years ago. One in two adults report experiencing loneliness, the physiological discomfort people suffer from social isolation. Scientists and psychologists are researching whether technology contributes to this. The proliferation of smartphones and social networking applications has forever changed the social norms around how we communicate. More personal interactions such as phone calls have been replaced by texting and chatting. When people broadcast their lives on TikTok and Instagram, they may not be representing themselves authentically.
The consensus among scientists is clear: while there is little evidence that technology directly makes people lonely (many healthy, social people use a lot of technology), there is a strong correlation between the two, meaning that those who they feel lonely, perhaps using technology in an unhealthy way. Correlation is rooted in three main behaviors:
One of the most comprehensive studies conducted so far on the topic of tech and loneliness, which Dr. Led by Marciano and colleagues, it was a review that pooled data from 30 studies published during the coronavirus pandemic that looked at tech use and adolescent mental health. Most studies have found that social media is linked to loneliness – specifically when people make unfavorable comparisons of themselves with others online.
Online and offline, people naturally compare themselves to others, a behavior psychologists call social comparison. Social comparisons can manifest themselves in many ways online. One way is to keep track of how many likes, comments and shares our posts get compared to our friends. You might also be comparing your body to that of a beauty or fitness influencer. For parents, this could be tracking their newborn’s development in comparison to that of other babies. When people feel they are behind others in life, it can be isolating.
Social comparisons are not always bad. In academic and workplace settings, for example, comparison with other high performers can motivate you to perform at a high level. So the solution is not simply to not compare ourselves with others online, says Chia-chen Yang, professor of educational psychology at Oklahoma State University. Dr. In 2018, Yang led a study that asked nearly 220 college freshmen about their likes and dislikes when using apps like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The study concluded that the interactions that caused the most anxiety were envy-inducing, judgmental comparisons in which people saw others as more popular, funnier, or more beautiful.
Social media made students feel more positive when they browsed posts from people who shared useful information online. For example, it could be a friend writing about receiving a scholarship or getting a great deal on a used car, which encourages you to make similar decisions. “You don’t have to see other people as enemies – you can see them as informants,” said Dr. Yang. “This kind of comparison is not harmful.” However, judgmental comparisons that trigger envy and “FOMO” (fear of missing out) may be more prominent on social media because these apps are designed to encourage people to compete and seek validation from their friends (i.e., likes and the shares) by posting only the most glamorous aspects of their lives.Dr Yang said she has met students who have deleted the their post if they didn’t get a certain number of likes because it hurt their self-esteem.
In response to concerns raised by activists and researchers about the harms of social comparisons, Meta built control mechanisms into its apps a few years ago, including an option to hide the number of likes and shares from posts. Reactions to hidden likes have been mixed, according to Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, in a blog post. “Hiding like numbers has been beneficial for some people and annoying for others, especially because people use like numbers to sense what’s trending or popular, so we’re giving them a choice,” Mosseri said. Instagram has also has a tool to “like” accounts so they appear at the top of the feed, which can be useful for focusing on the right people and accounts. But a little self-reflection can be a useful step after browsing social media posts, maybe it’s time to take a break for a few hours or days,” said Dr. Yang.
Dozens of studies have found that face-to-face digital communication—including texting, phone calls, and video calling—is associated with the most positive mental health effects, including reduced feelings of loneliness. But the overuse of texting, which years ago supplanted phone calls as the most common method of communication on phones, can contribute to loneliness when people don’t really connect with each other.
Dr. According to Marciano’s research, the vast majority of teens communicate primarily through text messages, and they also reported feeling connected to others when they were “on the same wavelength.” They also said that some text interactions – such as a friend taking a long time to reply to a message – fueled feelings of anxiety and loneliness. Also, very few teenagers — about 2 percent — used video calling, said Dr. Marciano. “How can we feel on a frequency with someone if we are not communicating properly?” asks Dr. Marciano.
Lonelier people may consider switching to richer forms of communication. Instead of sending a text message, a video call or at least a short voice message is recommended so that the friend can hear your voice. And make sure to take advantage of the tools in social apps to meet people in person. Over time, the tradition of wishing a happy birthday has been reduced from a phone call to a Facebook post, and now to a shortened emoticon sent in a message. “I cannot underline how powerful it is to be able to interact authentically with someone for a few moments, that is, to hear their voice and see their face,” said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Murthy, adding: “There are enormous benefits for all of us when we are able to interact with each other to appear.”
During the pandemic, researchers also investigated whether binge-watching – i.e. watching series for a long time – could be associated with loneliness. A scientific review of several studies concluded that adults who binge-watched the shows were prone to depression, anxiety, and some degree of loneliness. Dr. Marc Potenza, a Yale professor and addiction expert who worked on the review, said that while the binge-watching studies focused on streaming apps like Netflix, it’s important to note that other types of apps, including TikTok and Instagram Reels, engage in similar types of endless viewing. are encouraged.
Dr. According to Potenza, people with mental health issues may engage in binge-watching as a coping mechanism to deal with stress and other negative emotions. There are also obvious consequences for physical health that can damage mental health: sitting for too long, lack of sleep, and not connecting with others. “It takes a lot of time,” Dr. Potenza said. “They may procrastinate and not attend to other concerns, which can lead to more anxiety.”
This can be helped, for example, by turning off the function of Netflix to automatically play the next program. TikTok and Instagram Reels have screen time limiter tools in their settings that show reminders of how much time you’ve spent scrolling — though these tools can be ineffective because the reminders are easy to ignore. Deleting apps is also not from the devil. Spokespeople for Meta and TikTok highlighted that their app automatically sets screen time limits for teens.
The relationship between technology and loneliness is a moving target as technology and its users continue to evolve. Emily Weinstein, a social scientist who studies how teens use technology, said that as we begin to understand our relationship with apps and devices, younger people are finding other ways to worry online and new ways to combat loneliness. A teenager may feel anxious if their Instagram photo is commented with fewer fire emojis than another person’s photo, he said. And many are diving into chatbots using generative artificial intelligence to replace human companions, raising new concerns.
AA kids tell us things like, ‘This robot is really watching me. People are mean and judgmental, but AI tools aren’t,'” he said. “I wonder how this will play out in the future.” Dr. Murthy said that during his tour of college campuses last year, cafeterias were eerily quiet as students busily typed on their phones while eating he asked, “People don’t talk to each other anymore, so how can I make a connection?” – recalled Dr. Murthy. “What he meant was that when they walk in for a class and everyone takes their place, everyone presses their phones afterwards. Even a greeting can seem intrusive.”
Source: sg.hu
