Is Social Media Stressing You Out?

Social Media May Be Stressing You Out: Here are 5 Tips to Retrain Your Mind

The use of social media and technology certainly can be stressing you out!  It has only been a little more than the last decade since the launch of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Along with that came the iPhone, iPad, Pinterest, and Instagram.  Since then social media and technology stress and technology have grown by leaps and bounds.

Survey findings suggest that more than eight in ten Americans are addicted to their gadgets.  On a typical day 86 percent of us say we constantly check emails, texts, and social media accounts.

“Constant Checkers” equates to Forty-Three Percent of Americans

For constant checkers, stress runs higher than for those who do not engage with technology as much. On a 10-point scale, where 1 is “little or no stress” and 10 is “a great deal of stress,” the average reported overall stress level of constant checkers is 5.3.

How many times are you distracted during the day?

Are you heavily addicted to social media? How many times a day do you check your devices? Do you think it is 10, 25, 50 times?   Now, take that number and multiply it by 25. That’s how many minutes of concentration you’re losing.  It takes an average of about 25 minutes (23 minutes and 15seconds) to return to the original task after interruption.  Gloria Mark, who studies digital distraction at the University of California, Irvine says “Our research has shown that attention distraction can lead to higher stress, a bad mood, and lower productivity.” According to Mark, in the New York Times.

Social Media Stressing for Teens

Snapchat, Instagram, and YouTube, according to Pew Institute are the most popular online platforms among teens in 2018.  Until recently, Facebook had dominated social use, but it is no longer the most popular online platform.  Today, around half (51%) ages 13 to 17 say they use Facebook.  This is lower now than those who use YouTube, Instagram, or Snapchat.

There are mixed views on the effect of social media on people their age.  Many say it helps them to connect with others, some admit concerns about bullying.  Approximately (45%) believe social media has neither a positive nor negative effect on people their age.  Some of the respondents emphasize how social media has made it easier to communicate with family and friends and to connect with new people.

Teens describe their internet use as Near-constant.

A majority of both boys and girls play video games, but gaming is nearly universal for boys. There is a whopping 90% who say they play video games of any kind (computer, game console, or cellphone) per day.  Roughly 97% of boys say they play video games in some form. What kind of world is our youth facing?  Some 45% of teens say they use the internet “almost constantly.  Another 44% say they go online several times a day, equating to nine in ten teens that go online multiple times per day.

Addiction to Social Media

In Epoch Times, Silicon Valley software designer Tristan Harris described in her trade lingo, “behavior design.” In plain words, it is the practice of designing apps and devices that get you to click and scroll more.  Harris also states that there are now advocacy groups that “appeal to product designers to create software that doesn’t exploit our psychological vulnerabilities.”

Take a Social Reprieve

Here is a Five basic starting point to

1. Turn off social media notifications so you are not interrupted to immediately check your device.
2. Have unplugged designated times during the day.
3. Don’t allow cellphones at the dinner table.
4. Make a personal commitment to driving cell phone-free, by putting it on silent so you are not tempted to answer it.
5. Do not bring your device into your bedroom, charge it in another room.

Take Back Control

There is a consequence of practicing addictive social media.  It is that we’re overstimulated, over-wound, and ultimately unproductive and unfulfilled.  We need to reprogram our minds to get our social habits in control.  We should schedule designated time allotments to check email and social sites.

I conclude that you must experience a more peaceful and abundant life with less stress from all our technology.  Whether we want to admit it or not, this all has an impact on our daily life and health consequences. Let’s start now to purposely develop healthier habits for our own sanity. Would you try it today!

I am Shirley Noah, an internationally known stress expert and entrepreneur. I would love to connect further with you to help you improve your health and wellbeing.  If you are interested in learning more about a worry journal, please take a look at my popular 8 days, FREE E-course, Worry Journal.

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