The ubiquitous smartphone is a tool many cannot live without, but how is this dependency affecting our mental health?
THERE are many moments in a day when Jason Loh* wishes that he doesn’t own a smartphone. Every time it buzzes, he is filled with anxiety, expecting requests from bosses and clients that demand his full attention.
“I cannot afford to ignore the incoming notifications and messages. You see, I love technology but I am frustrated that I cannot live without it,” says the 34-year-old accounts manager for a communications agency.
“Sometimes I think that I should just go offline for two hours, but what if my clients need me? What if there’s a crisis? What if there’s an issue that I need to inform my clients? What if the girl I like texted me for drinks when am offline?”
But that’s not all – Loh admits that as a heavy social media user, he also often feels unhappy and inferior when scrolling through his Instagram and Facebook feeds. Loh says that he cannot help but compare himself to others on the social media platforms, wondering why his life is boring in comparison.
“I am always questioning myself, feeling doubtful about what I do. What am I not doing right to live like others on social media? What can I do to not seem boring to my followers? I also cannot help but wonder where these people find the money to do what they do,” he adds.
Loh is not alone. Many studies have suggested that smartphone and social media addictions are intertwined, often leading to deteriorating mental health which includes bouts of anxiety and depression.
A 2016 research by the Suleyman Demirel University in Turkey indicates that depression, anxiety, and low sleep quality may be associated with smartphone overuse. The study, conducted among the university’s students, showed that females were significantly more addicted to smartphones than males, while depression, anxiety and daytime dysfunction scores were higher for heavy smartphone users.
Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences consultant psychiatrist Associate Prof Dr Muhammad Najib Mohamad Alwi, however, doesn’t believe that technology and social media are direct causes of depression or pose mental health risks.
But too many heated arguments or negative comments on these platforms could trigger mental health issues, he says.
“We know people cannot tolerate negative comments or being targeted excessively, for example, on a WhatsApp group, and eventually leave the group out of anger or exasperation. Many friendships have also been ruined as a consequence of social media wars, for example, during the recent election season.
“The common problem ranges from social anxiety disorder – previously known as social phobia, adjustment disorders, to Internet/social media/smartphone addictions.
“Many of these, of course, are clear precursors of depression,” he explains.
Cause for concern
Dr Muhammad Najib explains that “depression” can mean both a symptom or diagnosis. When someone is feeling depressed, the person is feeling low, sad or despondent. This could be a normal fluctuation of mood than occurs to everybody, he adds.
Depression, also known as Major Depressive Disorder, becomes a diagnosis when one is hit by a gamut of depressive symptoms.
This could include low mood, loss of interest in doing things, lack of motivation, low energy levels, disturbed sleep and appetite, feelings of worthlessness or guilt and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide, together with somatic symptoms which include physical agitation or retardation, fatigue and inability to concentrate.
“These have to occur continuously for at least two weeks. About 15% to 20% of the population would experience at least some depressive symptoms at any one time,” says Dr Muhammad Najib.
When Nadia Fernandez*, 37, gave birth to her first child, she was excited to join a Facebook support group where mothers shared tips and experiences on motherhood.
“I wanted help and perhaps acknowledgement that I was doing my best to breastfeed my child, and perhaps, for someone to just give me a virtual ‘pat on the back’ and say I was on the right track,” shares Fernandez.
However, it backfired. She eventually felt unhappy and even depressed when she realised that she wasn’t producing as much milk as the other mothers and couldn’t feed her child despite wanting to.
“It added a lot of pressure, as well as made me question myself as a mum. They had these ‘report cards’ and pictures of freezers full of expressed breastmilk and I was barely producing for goodness knows what reason.
“So I tried harder. I felt horrible and not a good mum for not breastfeeding my child well which added to my guilt and pressure,” she explains.
Fernandez was eventually diagnosed with post-partum depression, and the additional “Facebook envy” didn’t help her either.
The Independent posted a study by the University of Copenhagen, which found that people suffer from “Facebook envy”. In 2015, over 1,000 participants were separated into two groups – one with access to Facebook and the other without.
According to the report, those that quit social media for a week became more satisfied with their life. But the group that benefited the most is the one that’s prone to “Facebook Envy” – the tendency to easily get jealous over social media posts.
“Millions of hours are spent on Facebook each day,” report author Morten Tromholt was quoted as saying. “We are surely better connected now than ever before, but is this new connectedness doing any good to our well-being?”
The good, the bad
Clinical psychologist Dr Shawn Lee says that our smartphone dependency, as well as its impact and other issues, can be explained using transportation as an analogy.
“About a century ago, automobiles were a convenience limited to only the rich but as time went by, they became available to the general public. However, there was a price to pay for all the benefits it brought,” he says.
“Just to name a few – we have become less physically active, created traffic jams that didn’t exist a century ago, and caused greater pollution than ever before.
“When things got out of our hands, we ‘invented’ systems and laws to regulate it. These rules and regulations serve not to eliminate the technology, but instead to serve it to ensure sustainable development,” says Dr Lee.
Similarly, smartphones and social media too come at a cost, he says.
“Interestingly, the types of problems smartphones have created are not all that different from those created by cars.
“We have reduced physical activity and increased screen time, we have created cyber crime and cyber bullying that didn’t even exist half a century ago, and we suffer from greater ‘knowledge contamination’ than ever before.
“Again, the society responds to this by ‘inventing’ systems and laws to regulate the technology. As we can predict, these rules and regulations serve more to ensure rather than limit the development of the technology,” he says.
Forgoing smartphones in the current society is probably unrealistic, Dr Lee believes. In addition, smartphone usage and good mental health do not necessarily have to be mutually exclusive, he says.
“In recent years, many clinicians and researchers are exploring the possibility of using smartphone apps as a means to deliver psychological intervention. This shows that the smartphone in and of itself is not harmful, as are all technologies,” adds Dr Lee.
Fostering healthy relationships
Primary school teacher Santha Nair believes that people, especially youngsters, feel more connected with their peers online.
“They may have difficulties making friends at school, so they look to other places where they know they can get the attention. It is our job as educators, parents and adults in general, to ensure that the attention they are getting is positive and won’t affect their mental health,” says the teacher. Nair believes that today’s youngsters are more aggressive and quite volatile, especially online. Hidden behind a screen, they dare to say things that they wouldn’t in real life.
“This generation has a minimal level of patience. They think that they are the best all the time, and when they read a comment about them that they don’t like, it hits them real hard,” she says.
Nair believes that parents play a huge role in ensuring that their children are not affected by their smartphone, and they are not dependent on social media.
“Prevention is always better than cure. Anything in excess is not good, so start by educating children at a very early age.
“Limit the usage of social media and gadgets, and introduce them to more healthy ways to socialise and engage with ‘real’ people,” says Dr Muhammad Najib.
In general everyone should consider gradually putting a limit on their usage of technology, he says, adding that it takes a lot of discipline and works better if a group of friends adhere to the same strategy.
“For instance, have ground rules on not using social media during social gatherings. That would be a good start,” he says.
* not their real names
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