Most Connected Generation Ever: Feels Lonely All the Time

The study also makes a compelling argument that the inherent nature of social media encourages this culture of comparison that is driving the rise in depression.

Nov 14, 2019

“When I arrived, they made noise, as young people do. I went to greet them and only a few gave their hand. The majority were with their cell phones, ‘photo, photo, photo. Selfie!’” This is what Pope Francis said when asked about young people recently and as funny as it is that the Pope is irked by selfies when he prefers handshakes, there is good reason to suggest that there is something more serious going on here.

So, how true is it that millennials and Generation Z are lost in the virtual? Is this just another stereotype or is there something bigger happening here?

Counting the Likes Previous research has proven that 30 to 40 per cent of everyday speech is used to relay private experiences to others, but this habit of self-disclosure explodes online, with recent surveys indicating that upwards of 80 per cent of posts on social media consist simply of announcements about personal experiences.

Not long ago, author and speaker Simon Sinek saw his video analysis of millennials go viral speaking about just this. In other words, it’s highly, highly addictive.’ ‘It’s why we count the likes’. Sinek points out that to a generation of digital natives, this has become a very dangerous coping mechanism as they go through the stresses of adolescence. “When significant stress begins to show up in their lives, they’re not turning to a person, they’re turning to a device, they’re turning to social media, they’re turning to these things which offer temporary relief.”

Comparison: Seeing Everyone Else’s Highlight Reels
Firstly concluding that ‘time on Facebook was positively related to depressive symptoms,’ they also found that, ‘participants who make any type of social comparisons on Facebook on a given day appeared more depressed’.

They found that there was a strong correlation between “days that individuals spent more time on Facebook’ and making fewer” downward social comparisons (e.g., feel they are more accomplished than their Facebook peers). The opposite was true too, that increased time on Facebook led to significant ‘upward and nondirectional social comparisons’. In layman’s terms, the more time they spent on Facebook, the less accomplished it would make them feel compared to their Facebook friends.

The study also makes a compelling argument that the inherent nature of social media encourages this culture of comparison that is driving the rise in depression. “Facebook users are exposed to a continual stream of information (i.e., status updates, viewing newly uploaded pictures, friends posting on each other’s walls, liking of other people’s status updates).”

However, it is not just the amount of time spent online by young people that is worrying here, it is also its ever present nature. Dr Jean Twenge also asked her students at San Diego State University what they do with their phone while they sleep and was very concerned by their response. “Their answers were a profile in obsession. Nearly all slept with their phone, putting it under their pillow, on the mattress, or at the very least within arm’s reach of the bed. They checked social media right before they went to sleep, and reached for their phone as soon as they woke up in the morning (they had to — all of them used it as their alarm clock). … Some used the language of addiction. “I know I shouldn’t, but I just can’t help it.”’

How can we help young people with this?
There are two solutions that seem clear when we evaluate the symptoms of social media, the first is regulation and the second is encouraging a cultural shift.

The Church should also encourage young people to create open space in their lives  again.

As Sinek puts it, “When you don’t have the phone, you just check out the world. And that’s where ideas happen. The constant, constant, constant engagement is not where you have innovation and ideas. … but we’re taking away all those little moments.” It is also in these moments that we pray and discern and listen for God’s will.

If constantly distracted, young people are missing these opportunities to find meaning, to be creative and to build meaningful relationships, but the Church can provide all of these things within the Christian community, built on meaning and rich traditions of prayer and discernment. With a generation that is constantly comparing themselves to others with a growing anxiety about their own worth, the Church, more than ever, needs to proclaim that we get our worth from being children of God and from being worth a saviour. -- catholic-link.org

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