Up until recently there have been few complaints about social media. Common belief is that social media is good, helpful, needed, the future of mankind, etc. Of late, questions are being asked. Simple ones. How often do you use social media? How often do you check your phone each day? Thirty, 40 or 50 times?
Take whatever number you came up with and double it, and you might be getting close. A small British study has reported that the average number of times young adults check their smart phones a day is 85. That is roughly double what they estimated. Phones were used for an average of five hours a day, about one-third of their waking hours. This raises the scary thought that people are using their phones much more than they realise. That suggests that they (we) are doing it automatically, without putting much thought into what we are doing, the first step on the way to addiction.
Most of the calls consist of short bursts of less than 30 seconds of activity, which seems to confirm again that what most people are doing with their phones, is non-thinking, habitual activity.
Research is now showing that the overuse of social media technology, and how overuse is defined is not yet clearly worked out, but clearly implies any use that interferes with daily life, is harmful. Overuse may impair the ability to pay attention or give us a tendency to become more superficial in our thinking processes and perhaps in our inter-personal affairs. It tends to worsen productivity and memory. "Just Google it."
We have West Indian Test cricketers walking around going "Who?", when mention is made of the 3 W's. Google it! It certainly dampens creative thinking, which requires periods of deep, individual, intense reflection and it increase stress levels, although the evidence here is not as strong and may reflect the way and time social media is used.
Social media does reduce sleep quality and, as we all know, leads to cognitive errors, like forgetting meetings and walking into people on the street and which are related to forgetfulness, inattention and a lack of awareness of one's surroundings.
The effects of social media on children have been much less studied but results are beginning to come in and serious concerns are now being expressed but, as in the case of adults, it's the amount of time being spent that seems to be the concern.
How much time do kids spend on social media? Teenagers in the USA spend a staggering nine hours a day according to a study from 2015. This includes watching TV, videos and movies, playing video games, reading, listening to music and checking social media sites with some 13-year-olds checking up to 100 times a day. Tweens (8 to 12) spend less, about six hours. Kids are spending at least as much time using electronic media as they sleep and more time than they spend at school or with their parents. Serious stuff.
What is it like in T&T today? No analysis yet but I am now accustomed to teens walking into my office, heads down, texting madly, completely oblivious to anyone, no "hi" or "morning, Doc," until the father, it's usually the father, snaps at them to put the damm thing down.
Thing is, social media is such an excellent source of information for children, as long as you teach them to adopt a sceptical attitude to whatever they see or read. They learn new things, exchange ideas and learn how to network. It can motivate children to get better at communication and expressing themselves in writing. It facilitates the development of technical expertise and practical understanding of technology. And of course, it helps children connect with family, extended or otherwise, the main use for it, I think, in my family.
Yet there are disadvantages. The connection with family is not real, it's artificial and subtle signs of annoyance or happiness or weariness or other emotions are easily missed. Above all the senses of smell and touch, those harbingers of sweet memory and warm flushes of emotion, are not unavailable. Too much social media can affect your child's ability to develop strong interpersonal relationships.
Other common, but disturbing effects that suggest that social media may not be in the best interests of children are:
Its vastness. This ensures that there is no control on the scope of information. Your child is mouldable, and the avalanche of information can overwhelm her. Some situations can lead to children bumping into obscene, harmful or graphic websites that may affect their thinking process.
Cyber bullying is another growing trend. Cyberbullying can have dangerous and potentially fatal effects. Reports of children committing suicide from cyberbullying are on the rise.
We can agree that social media has many positive facets, but "too much of a thing etc, etc..." Spending too much time can also affect your child negatively and may lead to social media addiction. Addiction can manifest itself as various mental symptoms such as anxiety and depression and may even affect your child's physical health. Backache, headaches, weight gain or weight loss, disturbances in sleep, carpal tunnel syndrome and vision problems like shortsightedness or blurred or strained vision have all been described among teens who "live' on their smart phones or tablets.
Like everything else children do, you have to keep tabs on them. If you find them becoming too moody or irritable or hyper in today's world, the first thing to do is to check how much time they are spending on that little phone thingee.
