User:Gkyoungren/Digital media use and mental health

Evaluation: Digital use and mental health

The development and use of digital media technology has seen a meteoric rise over the last two centuries. Generations are now gaining access to digital technology at a younger age, and it's common for most five year olds to know how to unlock an iPhone. Although the rise in digital media has led to greater connection around the world, many are still analyzing what long term affects this usage might have on physical and mental health. This article did a great job at giving background and linking the reader to scientific studies that are currently in process, or that have taken place within the last 20 years. However, through additional research on the topic, I was able to source some additional facts on digital media exposure rates, behavioral implications, and a TED talk that speaks directly to social media's influence on mental health.

The addition of the video also gives readers and researchers another perspective on the intimate link between social media and mental health.

Mental Health
At a TEDx event held at Ryerson University in 2017, collegiate marketing professional Bailey Parnell, shared the story of a vacation she took with her sister, and the strenuous journey she went through to truly disconnect with social media. Throughout the process, Parnell was able to realize that today's unceasing notifications coming from social media resemble that of a 'high' commonly experienced with drug or alcohol use. Although the experience is supposed to be authentic and a way to connect friends and family around the globe, Parnell quickly points out that what typically gets rewarded through 'likes' and notifications is a user's highlight reel. This begs the question, if we are always mentally comparing to the highlight reel, when does enough become enough?

Screen time
Today's generation of children and adolescents are exposed to screen time at a much higher frequency than generations before. Just infants during the rise of social media, today's kids are spending nearly 30% of the day exposed to digital technology.

Related Phenomena
Enabling the Spread of Social Disease

A 2013 article in the British Medical Journal highlighted the health impacts of social media, and specifically shared impacts related to the use of social media and its impact on social disease.

In the article titled Social Networks, Social Media, and Social Disease, communication research journalist Enrico Coiera discussed the relationship between the spread of social diseases and their link to social media users and networks and the influence these networks have on others, specifically on their ability to adapt or modify their lifestyle to mimic that of their friends.

According to Coiera, this network theory is defined and multiplied by relationships and ‘connections’ within any given social network. An example cited by Coiera was that a social media user connected to a group of smokers would be more likely to mirror the behavior of their peers and become a smoker, which he states shows the impact social media use has on the rise and fall of social disease around the globe.