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Are we becoming less
social?
I understand that this
might be a strange question to ask in a time when almost everyone spends their
days constantly refreshing their twitter, instagram, snapchat, facebook (I
could go on) feeds.
A recent article by
The Times noted that we spend an average of 2-4 hours on our phones each day.
When you see the numbers written in front of you it’s INSANE. Of course my
initial reaction was denial “NO WAY do I spend 2 hours on my phone everyday!”
but once I actually thought about it, it (scarily) made sense.
I wake up and like the
majority of the people I know I immediately check Instagram to see what the
Americans have been doing whilst I’ve been asleep. Twitter is the next stop
where I read the ‘In case you missed it’ tweets and then I head straight to see
what’s trending (usually something to do with Trump or Brexit) to gather the information I need for the day before even
putting my feet on the cold bedroom floor.
Randomly throughout
the day I will refresh my instagram and twitter feeds and in the evening I
purge through both apps to devour everything that has been posted whilst I was
at work.
Scrolling through one
of the apps a few days ago I realised that I wasn’t really taking in anything
that I was seeing. It has become a habit, muscle memory. If I’m waiting for
something to load on the computer I’ll automatically reach for my phone to fill
the time, if there are adverts on the TV I’ll tap onto Snapchat. It is as if we
cannot let our brains be still.
“This generation is
more connected than ever”. I’ve heard this line muttered umpteen times over the
years. In terms of having access to millions of people worldwide this sentence
is undoubtedly true but when it comes to people’s actual real lives I disagree.
When at a pub or in a
restaurant I see tables of people with their heads buried into the bright blue
lights of their phone screens. Silence. People are connecting but not with the
flesh and blood beside them.
The need to be
constantly connected, for our brains to be forever active and the need to be
validated at all times is unarguably chipping away at our mental health.
It seems like the only
time we are switched off is when we are asleep and even then we sometimes pick up
our phones in the middle of the night.
More young people than
every are suffering from mental health problems and of course this could be
down to a variety of different reasons but it is hard not to see the amount of
time spent on social media as one of the main culprits.
Somebody (I can’t
remember who) stated that if we as people were to consume crappy, fatty, sugary
foods 24/7 then we would expect our bodies to begin to rot inside and that we
should also think about this in relation to our minds. If we constantly consume
crap, trashy ‘news’ (Hiya Daily Mail) then our minds will begin to suffer.
Don’t get me wrong I
like social media, it’s handy for my job and to keep up with what’s going on in
the world but we need a break from our screens to stop this ever threatening
journey to becoming a society of social zombies. Maybe in 20 years time when the
Walking Dead will be on its 30th season it will be a load of living
people walking around with their eyes glued to their devices. Ok, maybe not,
but it is food for thought.
