It is well known that our society is becoming more and more technological, especially since in 2011 a huge boom with social networks emerged. The internet went from being a computer utility to being in the palm of our hands, just a finger “swipe” away.
Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube or Tinder are the names of some of the most used social networks in recent years. The offerings continue to grow, as do the advantages and disadvantages of their use. Regarding the latter, it is clear that they keep the world informed by the minute, practically experiencing what may be happening on the other side of the planet. But what repercussions can the use of social networks have on our mood? What is the implication of the famous “posturing”? This term refers to all those behaviors that are performed more for image or social appearances than for a true motivation. Posturing is usually defined in the form of an image but is often accompanied by a phrase of absolute positivity or motivation that rarely corresponds to the person’s real state of mind.
All this movement has developed what some sociologists call the egosystem, that is, prioritizing the individual over the collective. From a psychological point of view, an increase has been observed in people who use social networks to increase their self-esteem and self-concept. The number of likes on a photo is directly proportional to the amount of happiness that person has. Likewise, few or no likes produce the opposite effect, great frustration since the expectations that the posturing action should have produced have not been met. Such is the impact of likes that on the Instagram social network you can “buy” followers or use the hashtag #tagsforlikes to make a photo more viral and get more followers.
Likewise, every message on the Internet starts from two basic premises: the intentionality with which the message is read and the sensitivity of the reader. Twitter is the queen when it comes to confronting these two facts. With the use of hashtags, any message you write can be read around the world and in less than 2 minutes become a Trending Topic, or in other words, everyone is talking about it at the same time. Perhaps the message you wanted to convey was simple, but someone in a city far from you read it with an inappropriate tone, responded to your comment, and so on, creating an entire chain of messages.
And it is that on the Internet, the tone of the message is set by each reader, and this tone is usually conditioned by the person’s sensitivity to that topic. Thus, if a topic that directly affects me goes viral on Twitter, I will read those messages with a different tone than if it talks about a topic that does not particularly interest me.
When the use of social networks becomes the core of our lives, that’s when the first pathologies begin to appear. Smartphone addiction is the most common of them and, sometimes, the most difficult to treat since carrying the phone in hand is something that is normalized.
Likewise, communication disorders increase since many young people, even when in a group, spend more time talking on social networks than among themselves.
The sentimental realm is not free from social networks. A study by Cyberpsychology and Behaviour Journal revealed that more than 28 million people ended their romantic relationships due to WhatsApp’s double-check syndrome, which allows you to see if the person has read the message or not. Obsessions, jealousy, and depressions are most common when WhatsApp goes from being a messaging system to a control service for your partner and friends.
And how does all this affect our younger generations? On the one hand, it is observed that children lose the ability to delay gratification and their frustration increases quickly, as they now increasingly need instant gratification, since it was not the same when you wanted to play and had to wait to get home, as being anywhere and being able to play with your parents’ Smartphone. Video game addiction is another of the great demands that reach our consultations, many instigated by smartphones.
On the other hand, social networks have a very strong effect on adolescents. Adolescence is the moment when we reaffirm our identity. When you forge your identity based on the attributions others make of you, the way you use social networks will be key to achieving high self-esteem. In contrast, social networks can turn against you in the form of cyberbullying.
As a psychotherapist, being prepared and knowing the latest trends in psychotherapy is essential to improve the quality of life of our patients and promote a better society. The Master’s in Clinical and Health Psychology from ISEP includes training in new addictions.