WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO TAKE BREAKS FROM SOCIAL MEDIA
You may not realize it but there is psychological trauma, that can be described as PTSD, associated with continuously seeing certain negative or violent images and messages. Too much social media can have damaging effects on your mental health. Fear of missing out and comparison can cause depression.
For centuries African Americans have suffered from the implications of racism, discrimination and police brutality and as a result of continuously seeing images of slayings at the hand of the people who are sworn to protect us, with no regard and no repercussions, many are suffering with what can be or should be considered a form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD) according to psychologist and professor Monica Williams. (Wortham, 2015)
Williams said, “When you see other people who look like you who are being victimized, it makes you feel that the world’s not a safe place for people like you” (Adetiba, Almendrala, 2016) Williams says racial based stress and trauma is “a natural byproduct of the types of experiences that minorities have to deal with on a regular basis…it goes largely unrecognized in most people.” (Wortham, 2015)
There are an array of symptoms associated with the psychological trauma of racism that present themselves in people suffering with this stress related disorder that include hopelessness, depression, aggression, anger, loss of appetite, emotional numbing and more.
In addition to traumatizing content, people are bombarded with other people’s happiness which triggers their own perceived shortcomings which can also lead to depression. “What happens many times when you log on is that you kind of activate a lot of social comparison,” said Oscar Ybarra, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. He notes that even if individuals are aware of the “curated” nature of many online platforms, “they nevertheless feel like, ‘How am I stacking up?’ or ‘How is my life stacking up?’ compared to what these people are presenting. I think that what happens is that the more you use the platforms (Ybarra has published pieces on the relationship between Facebook and certain mental health outcomes Trusted Source.)
It is important to “unplug ” every now and again for your own sanity.
Go outside and take a walk. Read a book. Sit in the park and people watch. Talk to your spouse or your kids. Your mental health depends on it.
*I began researching PTSD, in blacks, in 2017 after the following incident:
I try to spend every birthday submerged in sun and ocean water.
In 2017, I took a road trip to Virginia Beach. My friend and I, and our snacks and our music and our blaq gurl magic, were on the road and it happened.
We are being pulled over.
My stomach twisted in knots.
My hands trembled.
On a road in the middle of nowhere town…All I could think of is Sandra Bland on the side of the road…all I can see in my mind is Philando Castille. Angry with myself for allowing fear to consume my entire being, I am taken back to the night ex-hubby and I were on our way to the theatre and we were stopped. I know with absolute certainty that if I wasn’t in that car they would have killed him.
I don’t like this feeling.
Irrational fear?
I was sick to my stomach.
Obviously nothing happened to us and we went about our day but the psychological affects of continuously seeing our ppl killed with no regard and no repercussions had manifested as fear.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/24/magazine/racisms-psychological-toll.amp.html
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