By: Jacquelyn Argondizza
Marketing + Community Coordinator
The Small Business Collective
People love to take their controversies to social media, whether it be a political tweet or a post on LinkedIn bashing your industry. We need to be informed to an extent, but the gossip isn't good for us. The buzz of a new email while you’re eating dinner can ruin your meal by causing your mind to wander away from the people sitting in front of you to a message that may not even be that important.
While it's not a sin to go on social media or check your work email at night, we need to feel comfortable about putting our phones away sometimes (because wanting to and actually doing it are two different things).
Isn’t it frustrating how annoyed we get by these apps, but still go back wanting more? Our brains are hooked on technology and the dopamine rush we get from receiving a notification or clicking the "like" or "dislike" button. “Similar opinions have been expressed in documentaries like The Social Dilemma, where former Silicon Valley developers (the guy who invented Facebook’s “like” button, for example) remind us that social platforms are built to generate profits by manipulating human behavior.” (Montgomery Jr., 2022) To understand more about this topic, watch the aforementioned documentary, The Social Dilemma, on Netflix.
Social media bottom feeders live to cause problems online, and our jobs will take advantage of us if we don't set boundaries. You owe it to yourself to unplug and destress. Because contrary to the dopamine hit you're getting, it's imperative to our mental health that we spend less time on our computers and phones.
Thank you for reading all the way to the end – now put your phone down!
Montgomery Jr., L. (2022, February 17). How is Social Media Affecting Workplace Mental Health? Forbes. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2022/02/17/how-is-social-media-affecting-workplace-mental-health/?sh=4b21ce135205