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  • Managing Social Media

    How Digital Minimalism Could Benefit Performing Artists - BAPAM

     

    The information in the following section was taken from the Charlie Waller Webinar "Social media: connecting us or creating distance?". You can find all of the slides here: PowerPoint Presentation (charliewaller.org)

     

     

    • Impacts of problematic use

      59% of university students are ‘smartphone addicts’ and a significant relationship between smartphone addiction and depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, smoking, and suicide was found. (Okasha, Saad and Ibrahim, 2021)

      Students at high risk of smartphone addiction are less likely to do well academically. (Hawi and Samaha, 2016; Chaudhury and Tripathy, 2018) 

      The Smartphone Addiction Scale – Short Version was found to be a significant predictor of academic performance. (Ozer, 2020)


    • Managing Problematic Use

      1. Set goals for smartphone use 

      2. Turn off smartphone at certain times of day 

      3. Don’t take smartphone to bed 

      4. Replace smartphone use with other activities 

      5. Play “phone stack” when out with friends 

      6. Remove social media apps from phone 

      7. Set limits of phone checking 

      8. Accept ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO) 

      (Robinson, Smith and Segal, 2021)



    • What can help?

      Actively comment and reply to others

      • The more you look at posts of others without engaging with them, the more likely you are to compare themselves to others, leading to lower self -esteem. 
      • Passive scrolling removes the positive mood -boosting benefits that come from person -to -person interaction. 
      • Instead of passively giving “likes”, try to comment and reply to others with positive messages. 
      • This can help foster connectivity to others. 


      Start using the ‘unfollow’ button 

      • As you would avoid spending time with a ‘toxic’ friend in real life, it’s suggested to stop spending time with a toxic social media friend. 
      • Even if they’re a friend or family member in real life, using the unfollow button is recommended if following them results in negative feelings.


      Turn off push notifications 

      • Take control of your account and only check it when you feel like it. 
      • Turning off notifications is recommended as a healthy boundary to set with social media use.  
      • This may be particularly important if the person has been feeling lonely, anxious, or sad.


      (Kaiser Permante, 2021)