The digital detox

young people rebel against social media for mental sanity

By Peter Hyslop

Few things are more satisfying than opening a new iPhone. The smooth feel of the box as the lid glides off, the sound of plastic peeling off the screen and wrangling with a larger size- it makes one feel like a five-year-old at Christmas. Phone-centred materialism is at an all-time high, and it's got many of us in its grips. But there's a new movement starting among our youth which attempts to break the digital spell.

Emerging from the screenful pandemic, there's a growing crowd of young people following the “digital detox” trend, walking out of the virtual world in protest, citing concerns for their mental well-being.

Lauren Hunter is one of them. The speech pathology student from the University of Newcastle says it’s because prior to quitting, she couldn’t sit still without the comfort of a continuous scroll.

“I’d probably spend several hours a day on social media platforms. I think I’m very bad at dealing with moments that are empty, that have gaps in them, so I’d just fill it with social media.

“I just think social media leads to a lot of discontentment, you miss out on time with friends and family or going outside, which is meant to help with your mental health,” she said.

New report finds depression on the rise in young people

Post-COVID, we’ve never been more dependent on our devices. With learning, socialising, and working all being confined to the home during lockdowns, there was little room for unplugging, aside from a moment’s exercise.

It came as little surprise when the Black Dog Institute released a report this month titled Turning the Tide on Depression, finding that rates of clinical depression had globally doubled in teens during the pandemic, and had also doubled in under 25s over the last 14 years. The report found a connection between increased social media use and higher rates of depression, particularly in teenage girls.

While social media wasn’t cited as a significant concern for young adults, other pressures such as the rising cost of living, and a dire economic outlook were to blame.

Even though there was a correlation between social media and increased depression in teens, no possible explanation of body comparison, cyberbullying or negative self-evaluation could account for it.

REPORT COVER CREDIT: BLACK DOG INSTITUTE

Young people argue the impacts are more direct

But people on the digital detox crusade beg to differ. Young adults say they have seen first-hand the impact social media is having in their lives. Hunter says it's the sheer amount of time spent on social media that had the most significant effect on her well-being.

“I had deleted TikTok previously, because 6 hours- where did they go? I found reels, and everything that has the TikTok format was the most unhelpful thing for me. You get that instant serotonin [by scrolling]. Instagram is probably more difficult than Facebook, but Facebook’s hard because people have events so it’s hard to leave,” she said.

While making the switch was difficult, Hunter says it was something she had to do. Now that she’s pressed the delete button, she hasn’t looked back.

“I think my anxiety around it wore off. The first day I thought I was going to miss out on things and then it was 'actually, I’m not.' I got less and less anxious … I wasn’t comparing my life to other people, especially on Instagram. I was able to enjoy things and be present more.

“I had so much spare time, it was great! I read books! … I thought I would feel more isolated, but it meant that I had deeper conversations [with others]. I wasn’t assuming I knew things about people’s lives that I actually don’t," she said.

What surprised me about Hunter was her ability to focus and be present in the moment, even during our conversation- perhaps her decision to quit has had an impact.

Communications student at the University of Newcastle Rachel Lee says she's enjoyed giving her devices a break. After spending too much time on her iPad, she made the decision to leave social media.

“I deleted [social media] for the first time years ago, once I got back on it, I told myself if I start comparing myself [to others], I’d have to get rid of it.

“I wasn’t focusing on my studies, and then I’d get to when the assignment was due and then I’d rush it and get all anxious about it. I think it was impacting my mental health in that respect,” she said.

So, what change did quitting make for Lee? The first days were frustrating, as she zombie-checked her phone to find a gap where the apps should have been.

“I kept just going onto my phone and there was nothing there. I was like 'oh I’ll go check' then I was like 'oh I don’t have it!'” she said.

But after getting through the rocky first days, she says her face-to-face relationships improved.

“I was meeting up with people instead of just messaging them. My best friend, we work together, but if I wasn’t working, I’d go and just have a chat with her instead of just messaging her … but at the same time, I felt a little bit more isolated because I wasn’t keeping up with everyone. It was a bit of both,” she said.

_{RACHEL LEE PHOTO: SUPPLIED}

Troubled relationships

Dr Joanna Barlow is a clinical psychiatrist in the Newcastle region, treating young people with diagnosed anxiety and depression. While she agrees there could be a causative effect of social media use on depression, she says there are other factors contributing to a rise in mental illness among Australia’s young people.

“Many of the young people I’m seeing already have difficulty with in-person relationships, and sometimes their social media use can take over from that and they don’t have to relate in the real world with people, and that can be really detrimental to them.

“I think that there is a spiral that goes on because they’re not forced to have the same relationships that people would have had in the past, so they can kind of retreat in a sense to social media and are in their rooms for much of the day and night,” she said.

But, I ask, does depression develop because of social media, or does an increase in loneliness independent of social media cause more screen use?

“I think it is a complex thing. I do think [social media] does have a direct causative effect on making people more anxious and sometimes a bit more depressed. I think they develop unrealistic ideas of what is normal, of what other young people are experiencing.

“Teens and young adults are looking at those [posts] and thinking 'my life’s pretty awful'. I think the unrealistic expectations are really prevalent,” she said.

Dr Joanna Barlow speaks at the virtual conference Talking Teen (Credit: PYNSW)

Dr Joanna Barlow in a panel discussion (Credit: PYNSW)

Renewable energy engineering student at the University of Newcastle Liam Irwin says his decision to quit was influenced by the unhealthy comparisons he was making to others.

“It was affecting my mood and it was sort of like an addiction, a constant thing I was longing for. I’d waste 2 hours at a time, and looking back it wasn’t helpful, I didn’t get anything out of it.

“I’d say social media is all about comparing yourself to others [but] removing that comparison of other people’s lives to your life is really helpful. Then there’s not much to worry about.

“It was a struggle, but it was worth it in the end. I don’t know if I’ll go back. I might just not have anything on my phone,” he said.

_{PHOTO OF LIAM IRWIN: SUPPLIED}

The face-to-face perks make it all very tempting. Perhaps we should downgrade to Nokias- I hear they have brought the trusty rusty back. In the meantime, removing social media might be one of the best decisions we make. But meeting people without Facebook-stalking them beforehand, that might take some adjusting.