Most of us check our social media before we have had our morning coffee and Ouma rusks. However, experts believe “technology addiction” is a real and detrimental phenomenon, symptomatic of a psychological and emotional void in members of society.
Meet 23-year-old May Nel of Mbombela. She ticks all the boxes of a “typical social-media user”: she has a profile on more than one platform, often updates her status and uploads photos regularly.
In the past, whenever Nel was upset or angry, she would take to social media to vent her feelings, like thousands of users do. Not only did she often find herself in trouble because of her posts, but she realised how often she escaped reality by reading hundreds of posts and humorous memes which suited her mood.
“In May I decided to deactivate my Facebook account because I read somewhere that our generation will soon be diagnosed with narcissism and depression because of all the self-praising behaviour they receive on social media.
Also, according to that study, social-media users often rate their own popularity based on the number of friends they have or how many likes they receive on an update. I realised I was one of those people and it gave me a fright. I was basing my self-image on how others saw me.
“I was never alone. Whenever I was I would hop onto social media, whether it be Facebook, WhatsApp, BuzzFeed or Instagram.”
After four months she reactivated the account. This time, it was only to keep in contact with loved ones and to play games online. “People nowadays don’t know how to be alone. I had to remove myself from social media for my emotional well-being and to deal with my problems in a mature way. It was a great decision and I could immediately feel the difference in my level of overall happiness.”
According to Dr Jacob van Zyl, a local psychologist, an addiction to technology can be a symptom of a psychological or emotional void which the person seeks to gratify with external factors.
“Addiction can be defined as a strong and harmful physical or psychological need for any habit-forming substance – like drugs – or even an action – like surfing social-media sites – which causes a habit to form in one’s conscious and unconscious minds and without which the person cannot function. An addiction to social media is caused by such a pattern in which people look for satisfaction by using social media.”
One of the ways in which social media hooks its users, is by offering a peek into the lives of others, and thus an escape from the life of one’s own.
“The fact that the individual scours other personal profiles is already a sign of loneliness, a lack of sense and meaning of life or depression. It is a telltale, a yearning for fulfilment – whether it be emotional, interpersonal, social or even spiritual.
“There is an apparent emptiness, or perhaps there was an emptiness at some stage in which the person sought fulfilment through social media and thereby developed the addiction which got carried over into their presence.”
According to him, browsing others’ profiles has two main negative effects, namely upward and downward comparisons.
“Downward comparison means the person looks at other people’s pictures and is thankful that their own life is better than the other person’s. With upward comparing, the person looks at the profiles and becomes envious because their own life is not that interesting or glamorous.”
By looking at the profiles of others, a person can also get a false idea of how another’s life really is. “In many cases, the pictures on social media do not represent reality,” Van Zyl added. “They are basically comparing themselves to a false and unreachable ideal.”
When asked how this addiction could affect depression, Van Zyl answered that the effect is a two-way street.
“Addiction can lead to depression and depression can also lead to addiction.
“If the void cannot be instantly filled, there is a yearning and neither endorphins, the ‘happy’ hormones, nor adrenalin are not released in the body. Hormones like dopamine and serotonin are usually released with the satisfaction of a need. So, addiction is in fact biological.” However, it is not as if social media is any cure for loneliness. “On the contrary,” said Van Zyl. “Loneliness often leads to an addiction to social media. On the other side of the coin, the its overuse often leads to social isolation, which in turn intensifies depression.”
Social-media addiction is no stranger to the Lowveld. Van Zyl has had to treat a number of patients for the ailment. “The social-media recurring pattern has taken over their lives, which leads to a decrease in real, personal contact, social withdrawal and isolation usually associated with depression and a lack of social etiquette, meaning they can hardly sit through a real conversation without having to look at their phones. For this, an increase in personal contact and a period without their phones are a start to treating the addiction.”
Thereafter, the patient has to undergo cognitive restructuring to break the solidified patterns. “Ego-strengthening and hypnotherapy will be needed to break the habit and the patient will have to undergo a test in which he or she will have to face 10 real-life scenarios, ranging from easy to difficult, to see their social response. They will actually have to be weaned from social media and learn how to cope without it.”
Van Zyl acknowledges that social media has its benefits, like having an avalanche of information at one’s fingertips and
re-establishing a connection with people with whom one has lost contact. However, like all good things, people tend to abuse it.
“In my opinion, the scale with which people use social media today, causes it to have a more negative underlying effect which overshadows the positive.”
