8 |
2022
MENTAL HEALTH
Staying engaged in the world of social media
I am sure that we can all remember the days on your drive home from work , or if you ’ re like me ( millennial ), I can remember the days driving in my fathers pick up truck on the way home from school . I remember pulling into our neighborhood with the sun beaming through the window of the truck , the air smelling fresh , and the only thing on my mind was to change into my “ play clothes ” so I could go outside and play with my neighboring friends until dark . I can also remember , what doesn ’ t feel long ago , eating lunch with family and friends when we all were present with one another . We made plans to meet at each others houses ,
BY ZACHARY MCGEORGE | DSW , LCSW , AdventHealth
cooked food for one another , spent time together doing fun things . Sometimes the best things to do were “ nothing ”, just enjoying being in each others social company . I oftentimes find myself asking the question , “ What happened ?”. Looking back at my childhood and growing up in rural Appalachia in Manchester , Kentucky , I often notice because of the lack of resources we had , and have , in the area , we used each other as the social resources . My friends and me used our creativity to create fun . We thought we were in paradise because we had acres of hills to run and play in ! But again surfacing back to the question : “ What happened ”? When
you drive home from work , today , do you see children playing out in the driveway ? Better yet , when going to a restaurant to eat lunch or dinner with a friend , when looking around at others sitting at tables next to you , what do you see ? Are people engaged in conversation , or are most people looking at their phones ? I truly believe , anecdotally , that much of this social phenomenon has been slowly incorporated into our daily lives that we have , myself included , allowed ourselves to fall custom to the dangers of social media . Many social workers , sociologist , and other social science disciplines have coined the term “ alone together ”. In one of her more recent writings Sherry Turkle refers to the term in her groundbreaking book ‘ Alone Together ’ suggesting that the Internet , or social media , provides an illusion of togetherness while contributing to isolation . Continuing , one of the diagnostic criteria for depression in my clinical clients is isolation .
SOCIAL ISOLATION
“ If ” we can do the same things at home that we can do out in public , there is a lessoned chance that we will attend public gatherings . I like to call this the “ social currency ”. We , as tribal humans , are meant to be in communication with others face to face . Social media can cause harm , if we allow it to , in the form