Social media’s impact on your mental health

For many of us, checking Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, other social media is all part of our normal routine, right? And keeping tabs on friends and family across the world can help to make you feel more connected, but there's a negative side to that unchecked screen time, which can lead to poor sleep, memory issues, and poor overall mental health. Joining me now with more is Vaibhav Devarkar, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Professor, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. So why is social media so addictive, and why do we feel that burst of happiness when someone likes one of our posts? Thank you, Whit, for having me. Well, I think one of the problems with social media and the incessant novelty that it generates is it keeps the brain in what is called constant exploratory mode. And so the brain is constantly now in a position where it's looking for novelty, but it's actually never settling on anything. And we always transition in our own lives between exploration and exploitation. We look for things, but then we settle on something and we use it. The problem with social media is it actually engages many of the same addiction mechanisms. It's not the same thing as substance use addictions, for example, but I think in the brain, it engages many of the addiction mechanisms which keep people glued to the constant act of looking for things, but never settling on anything. That's so interesting the way you explain it. It's like, I've thought about that before, but you really added some clarity to it. You're in this constant state of exploration. And one of the other issues here, social media just focuses so heavily on physical appearance and pushing users to add filters to their posts. How can these altered images affect our mental health, specifically in young people? Well, I mean, you're seeing it in the community. You're seeing it with an increase in depression, with an increase in anxiety. I think the reward circuitry in adolescent brains is being rewired as we speak. These effects will not be known for some years. When people are constantly looking for gratification online, they always need their posts to be liked, to be responded to. I think we are entering an extremely dangerous age and we're seeing some of the effects now. And I think a lot of the effects which we don't know and which I personally fear will not be known for some years still. So social media, or let me ask you a question about parents specifically. I'm a parent, I have two young children, two girls in middle school. So the social media thing is a big discussion in our household. How can parents keep their children using social media in a safe way? And what are some ways to help wean kids off their devices, especially as they get ready to go back to school? Well, the first thing that I always think about is, parents have to set an example themselves. I think the way kids very much emulate what parents do, and I think the kinds of behaviors, the patterns of behaviors that parents engage in are likely to be emulated by kids. And so if you find a way to stay off your own social media, there's a higher chance that kids will do as well. I think there are now more and more resources that you can use to talk to your kids about the dangers of social media. There are some excellent documentaries out there. There's an excellent one on Netflix called The Social Dilemma. There are more and more academic papers, I think, that are conclusively demonstrating what the short-term impacts of social media are. I would suggest that parents acquaint themselves with many of these resources, understand what these results are telling us, and find a way to communicate this to your kids. Professor DeVarkar, thank you so much for your insights this morning. We really appreciate it. My pleasure.