We live in a prominent digital era where technology continues to evolve. These technological advances alter social norms in which society tries to fit into. Evidentially, social media is here to stay which has a detrimental effect on mental health. After thoroughly analyzing Paula Durlofsky’s Logged in and Stressed Out: How Social Media is Affecting Your Mental Health and What You Can Do About It, it is clear that America is facing a mental health crisis due to time spent on social media. The developments of technology have made it significantly easy to access a surplus of entertainment that is accessible at a click of a button. Although balancing time spent between social media and physical interactions can be difficult, Durlofsky shows that it is possible to have a healthy relationship with technology.
Technology is not the problem, we are. Logged in and Stressed Out presents coping tools to improve our lives and change the way we interact on social media. Each chapter focuses on how we can better ourselves behind the screen. Durlofsky guides readers through the struggles of break-ups and infidelities that may be caused by social media along with the severity of depression, anxiety, and social distortion. It is clear that we as a society lack physical interaction. We have become consumed by scrolling through what we “want to look like,” that we have completely lost sight of who we actually are. “There’s no doubt that social media has replaced traditional ways of communicating and meeting other people to such a degree that it has altered our experience of play, connecting, exploration, dating and meeting new friends” (Durlofsky, 2020, p. 62). After reading this book, it becomes apparent that there are actions and behaviors to learn that can be applied to an everyday life to gain better control over unhealthy social- media habits.
Durlofsky expresses throughout her book the importance of taking ownership for negatively coping with the usage of social media. She wants her readers to understand that it is okay to feel consumed by it. If we think that we are the only ones who have lost control over time due to social media interactions, she makes it evident that we are not. This is one of the many reasons why reading this specific book would be beneficial to not only younger generations, but everyone. “Striking a healthy balance between the virtual life and actual life is really possible and can even lead to a more meaningful and enriched real- life existence” (Durlofsky, 2020, p. 75). Durlofsky also teaches her readers how to turn negative feelings resulting from social media use into opportunities for emotional growth, and how to organically divide screen time and in person exchanges.
Although there are several positive outcomes of technology, the usage of social media has become extremely detrimental to younger generations, even older ones as well. Society has allowed for people behind computer screens to define their self-worth. We have lost the meaning of spending time with one another on an emotional level. We allow ourselves to become indulged in the toxicity that the internet has to offer. Photoshopping pictures has become the newest trend on Instagram, posting fake realities gives an audience false hope of what they “could” or “should have” and the amount of likes on each of these platforms seems to define who we are.
One of the main media literacy concepts is “different people experience the same media message differently” (De Abreu, 2022, p. 3). This can easily be tied into social media and how users handle judgment differently. We are given the power to change how we react, and what we interact with online.
With the help of Logged in and Stressed Out, there are a list of coping mechanisms to use for a healthy relationship with technology. The most helpful recommendation Durlofsky offered in her book was to keep a journal of social-media habits. “Record how many times per day you log on to social media and the amount of time you spend on this site. It is almost important to take notes on how you feel before and after you log on” (Durlofsky, 2020, p. 308).
Being that society is in a digital era, social media, and everything along with it, is here to stay. For there to be a positive change behind the screen, we need to be that change. Logged in and Stressed Out allows readers to positively cope with the challenges that social media has to offer. Although society most likely will never fully stray away from social media, there are proper steps to maintain a healthy relationship with technology.
Durlofsky, P. (2020). Logged in and Stressed Out: How Social Media is Affecting Your Mental Health and What You Can do about It. Rowman and Littlefield.
De Abreu, B. (2022). What is Media Literacy? ALA: Neal-Schuman.
Researchers and commentators have been making claims about the negative effects of
modern media technologies for more than 100 years. Sometimes their claims were based
on research, and some of this research was rigorous and well-designed. Some of it was
confirmed by other studies as well. But research is unreliable if it uses methods that are
skewed by instinct and opinion. A common error is to use simple correlations. So if
Durlovfsky’s book claims that “America is facing a mental health crisis due to time spent
on social media” then the first thing we need to know is what research that claim is
based on. Did she do it herself or has she drawn on other people’s research, and if so,
whose? Or is she just saying that mental health in America has worsened since social
media became popular? I could claim a causal relationship between the incidence of
blight on my tomatoes and the presidency of Donald Trump. But just because those two
events correlated doesn’t mean that there was a causal relationship between them. The
design of research that proves Durlovsky’s case would have been quite challenging:
large-scale, time-consuming and expensive. To accept her argument, we’d need to know
about the research that it was based on, who did it, who paid for it, and whether it took
account of other possible effects of social media: for example, the pleasures of
maintaining relationships and of sharing stories and jokes.