Are our computers damaging our mental health? And if so, can they also help us overcome that damage? Sarah Dobbs finds out…
How many hours per day do you spend on a computer? For most of us, at least eight, right? We sit in front of a computer all day at work and then probably come home and use our own PCs to browse the internet, play games, interact with people on social media or watch Netflix. Throw in the time we spend messing with our smartphones, and it adds up to an awful lot of time spent looking at a screen, rather than other humans.
And unfortunately, that might be a problem, because recent studies have started linking heavy computer usage to all kinds of health issues, from obesity to depression. Using computers and smartphones excessively can also cause sleep disorders, and it’s also linked to stress.
That’s all bad news, but before you quit your job and head off to live on a remote farm with no telephone line, let’s see what can be done about it. Technology might be causing us problems, but it might also be able to help us get through them…
Technology And Health
We’ve talked a lot in this magazine about how using your computer for too long can impact your health – usually because bad posture can lead to backache, too much typing in awkward positions can cause repetitive stress injury and squinting at a screen for too long or in poor light can damage your eyesight. And all those things are still relevant, but you know what the advice is going to be already: adjust your workstation properly, take regular breaks to stretch and move around and get your eyes tested.
What we maybe haven’t talked about quite so much is the impact technology can have on your mental health, but there have been studies into how extended computer usage affects mental health for years. One of the biggest studies was carried out by Chiba University in Japan, in 2003. Over three years, Dr Tetsuya Nakazawa and his team surveyed 25,000 workers and found that those who spent more than five hours a day at their computers were more at risk of depression and insomnia.
And then in 2010, researchers at Leeds University came to a similar conclusion when they surveyed 1,300 people in the UK. Using a questionnaire to find out people’s internet habits and the Beck Depression Inventory to measure their mental health, Dr Catriona Morrison et al found that people classified as “internet addicts” were more likely to be depressed than non-addicts. Which came first, the depression or the internet addiction, can’t be established, and the sample size used was pretty small, but even so, it’s a bit concerning.
If this is ringing bells, though, you’re not alone. The problem is that the way we use computers – social media, in particular – might as well have been designed to make us dependent on it. The internet has opened up a whole new world of information and lets us talk to people we would never have encountered in our daily lives, which can be a positive thing, but it has a darker side, and if you find yourself spending a lot of time scrolling through Facebook or Instagram and feeling crappy about it, it might be time to try to pry yourself away.
Turning It All Off
Going cold turkey on the internet might be a bit of a shock to your system, though – and anyway, if you want to keep in touch with friends and family, sometimes sites like Facebook or Twitter are necessary. But if you reckon using them is starting to do you more harm than good, it might be time to limit the length of time you spend there.
And of course, there’s an app for that. Freedom (macfreedom.com) is one of the most popular – available for PCs, Macs and Android devices, it blocks internet access for a predetermined time, letting you get on with your life without being tempted to just check whether your favourite blog had updated.
There’s an obvious downside to that, though, which is that you might need some internet access to do your job. If that’s you, you might want to look into something like Anti-Social (anti-social.cc), which works with PCs and Macs and can be set to block whatever websites you want. That might include Facebook, or it might be a forum you’re spending too much time on or a gaming site or whatever. Again, you can set timers, so you can get back on your favourite sites later.
If you’re a Firefox user, the extension LeechBlock does much the same job; the Chrome alternative is StayFocusd. Both of these will stop you from reaching sites you shouldn’t be spending time on and force you back into more productive browsing.
If Netflix is your poison, you might have noticed that the service pops up its own ‘Are you still watching?’ message if you binge-watch too many episodes of a TV show. (If you haven’t, you may judge me; I’ve run into it several times.) Since Netflix will keep playing TV episodes forever if you don’t hit stop, this might just be to make sure you haven’t fallen asleep and missed the last three episodes, but it can feel a little… accusatory sometimes. Still, it’s probably worth taking the pop-up as a reminder that sometimes you need to get off the sofa and stretch your legs.
Content Warnings
Time isn’t the only factor in deciding whether or not your use of technology is healthy or not, though; there’s also the question of what you’re doing, and what kind of content you’re consuming. Most social networking sites have extensive policies detailing exactly what is and isn’t acceptable, and along with illegal content, that can include material likely to do harm to others. That includes hate speech (which, for example, Facebook defines as attacks on people based on their race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity or disability or disease) and anything related to selfinjury, bullying, and violent or graphic content.
All very well, except social networks like Facebook are huge, sprawling things with thousands upon thousands of users posting content every day, which makes it hard to police what really does get posted. Users can generally report infringing material, but by then the damage may be done. And sometimes content that wasn’t doing anyone any harm – like breastfeeding photos – might get caught in the crossfire.
Tumblr might have found a way of dealing with the difficult question of harmful content, though: by tackling it at the search level. Search for terms related to mental health issues – ‘depression’, for example, or ‘anorexia’ – and you’ll get a message from Tumblr asking if you’re okay and offering resources you might like to look into to get help. Tumblr has also begun to add content warnings to certain blogs; outright harmful content is removed, but since some users have said they find it helpful to be able to talk about things like eating disorders and self-harm with their friends on the site, Tumblr has decided to add the warnings instead of banning all mention of the issues. It’s a sensible-sounding policy, and Tumblr has worked with mental health organisations both to find the best ways to express their warnings and to make sure they catch all related keywords, to offer their users the best possible support.
You could argue that it’s not the responsibility of a website to monitor the mental health of its users, and that would be true, but at the same time, it’s quite reassuring to think that vulnerable Tumblr users aren’t just shouting into a void. And if at least one person takes the advice to call a helpline when they’re in need, then that’s got to be worth something, right?
Although no such system is ever going to be completely perfect, it seems like Tumblr is setting a good example that other sites might want to consider adopting in future.
Supportive Apps
Let’s go back to those studies about depression and computer usage for a moment. Since causation hasn’t been established, it might be that spending too long online leads to depression, but it could also be that people suffering from depression spend more time online (ditto anxiety and other disorders). Maybe they don’t have many supportive people in their lives or maybe they find it easier to make social contact through a computer than in reality. For many people, the internet is a vital lifeline, and just saying ‘Get off your computer and you’ll feel better’ won’t help.
For those people, then, it might be useful to find networks and apps that offer something more than the endless cycles of bragging that Instagram and Facebook can devolve into. Something like 7 Cups Of Tea (www.7cupsoftea.com) could be invaluable. Created by psychologist Glen Moriarty, the site offers a free and anonymous connection to a trained listener. Everything discussed is confidential, and someone will be available at all times. As well as a website, there are iOS and Android apps, so it’s easy to access a listener, wherever you happen to be – and you don’t have to schedule an appointment.
Another option is Kindly (kindlychat.com), though anyone can sign up to be a listener without going through any training, so for more serious issues, it might not be entirely helpful. Still, sometimes just knowing an option exists can be a comfort, even if you don’t need to use it. And it’s encouraging that there are people willing to donate their time to helping someone, rather than trolling YouTube comments.
Look After Yourselves
If you’ve never felt affected by things other people post online, then all these services and warnings might feel a bit over-protective. But if you don’t need to use them, they’re easily ignored. Even Tumblr will let you click through to see posts tagged ‘depression’ if you really want to, and you can just skim over its gentle suggestion to seek help.
If you reckon the internet is affecting your mental health, though, it might be comforting to know that there is help out there – whether you want to spend less time in front of your PC or not.
(And all of us could probably do with more regular screen breaks, even if only for the sake of our eyesight.)
When Social Media Doesn’t Help
Social media can be great for keeping up with friends and family you don’t see very often, and also for forging new bonds with people you might not meet in reality. But doesn’t it sometimes make you feel a bit sad to see everyone’s shiny perfect lives being plastered all over Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter and everywhere else?
Dubbed ‘Facebook envy’, the phenomenon of feeling bad about your own life after looking at other people’s social media posts is pretty common. It’s even been researched, and according to various academic types from the University of Missouri, Nanyang Technological University and Bradley University, it all comes from social comparisons. Compare someone else’s photo of a sunny beach holiday with your own rainy grey reality, and it’s easy to see why you’d feel down.
The thing you have to keep in mind is that everyone tries to make themselves look good on social media. You don’t share photos of a meal that went disastrously wrong or a day your hair looks rubbish – and neither does anyone else. Comparing your own reality to a highly edited version of someone else’s life isn’t a fair comparison. Even Taylor Swift has her off day. She just doesn’t Instagram them.
If You Need To Talk To Someone…
Honestly, if you’re suffering from depression or anothermental health issue, all the Facebook Likes in the world probably won’t help as much as talking to someone. If you need help, try one of the following:
The Samaritans
Phone: 0845 790 9090 Website: samaritans.org
Available 24 hours a day, every day, the Samaritans are there to listen to whatever you need to talk about, and promise they’ll keep everything confidential.
No Panic
Phone: 0844 967 4848 Website: www.nopanic.org.uk
Open from 10am to 10pm every day, the No Panic helpline is specifically for people struggling with anxiety disorders.
Mind
Phone: 0300 123 3393 Website: www.mind.org.uk
Another mental health charity, the Mind phone lines are open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and can help with advice on where to get help – for yourself or others.