Digital Despair: How Social Media Affects Our Well-Being

By Scarlett Payne | October 8, 2020

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

The average person spends 2 hours and 6 minutes on social media every day.

Social media platforms demand 24/7 engagement from users, but this method of promotion has become increasingly detrimental. Screen time is tied to increased depression and anxiety among users.

Attention Is a Hot

Commodity

The more ads a social media platform serves to consumers, the more they profit. The longer a consumer spends on their app or website, the more ads they can serve. The result is a combination of strategies aimed at getting you to spend as much time on their platform as possible.

Increased Screen Time Impacts Development:

• Lower psychological well-being • Less curiosity • Lower self-control • More distractibility • Difficulty making friends • Less emotional stability • Unrealistic expectations • Self-doubt • Fear of missing out

Is It Too Late?

Social media is here to stay, and it does a lot of good, too. Even so, it’s not too late to continue to make changes for the health of humanity.

What Marketers Can Do to Help

• Educate and get others inspired to help • Develop new methods of advertising • Share in LinkedIn groups • Speak at conferences on the topic • Support policy changes that hold social media companies accountable

What the Average Person Can Do

• Limit your social media use • Grayscale your phone • Turn off app notifications • Charge devices in a separate room • Only put useful apps on home screen • Fact-check what you share on social