Digital usage is inescapable part of our lives but our digital usage has turned into digital dependency and digital addiction. It has become a major public health issue affecting all age groups but mostly denarians (persons in the age group of 10-19 years) and vicenarians (persons in the age group of 20-29 years). It has led to digital depression. Digital depression is defined as the feeling of restlessness, dissatisfaction, anxiety, burn out, loneliness and worthlessness caused to due to excessive use of digital media.
It has different forms. For instance, we experience dissatisfaction with our looks, skills and status or life in general because we check the pics and posts of people enjoying their life and flaunting all the luxuries they have; we envy them without realising that everybody has his own share of hidden struggles and troubles in their real life; which we cannot fathom through their reel life. There are many couples who post their happy moment clicks but they are not immune to the conflicts and misunderstandings; there are many teenagers who upload their family get together videos; but deep down they also are experiencing issue of generation gaps.
There are many successful award winning doctors, teachers, entrepreneurs, IAS and KAS officers who show cast their achievements and we consider ourselves underprivileged in comparison to them without realising they also have been through tough times and failures. Likewise there are many digital citizens who experience worthlessness and anxiety just because their friend list and subscribers are not at par with their competitors. Many get depressed because they experience cyber bullying/ body shaming or people harass them and demean them. As goes with roasting; many roasters in the race of getting more likes and views drag others to such extent that it affects their psychological health.
Digital media is fuelling body image dissatisfaction; many youngsters get uncomfortable with sharing their original pics; they are deeply fascinated by the world of filters and keep uploading the filtered pics and videos; There are youngsters who get panicky if somebody capture their pics with original camera and this world of filters and snap chat is leading to both depression and narcissism (excessive self love). One good click and comment is enough to thrill them with ecstasy and one negative comment is enough to ruin their day. Self-Image and acceptance has become contingent on others’ approval and comments. There are many youngsters who experience anxiety and depression when they don’t get something novel to share; their minds remain engaged with the thoughts of which story to upload etc and this is affecting their psycho -social life and productivity. We don’t enjoy the moment be that family get together, picnic with friends or wedding; but just keep capturing, storing and sharing the pics and videos. This has added to our mental burden.
Social media has become the hotspot of cyber scams; be that monetary scams or love scams; and we have the full awareness but still are unable to prevent ourselves from this. For example every mature male and female have this understanding that trusting and engaging in online relationship with stranger after few chit chats is naivety and a risky adventure; but still educated and sensible boys and girls are falling in this trap. Again and again we read or hear new story of a male or female ruined by the sweet poison of online dating. Though there are stories of happy couples who met online but online betrayals outweigh online commitments. There are many reported cases where girls changed their religion to marry their online lover and then were later deserted. They were shown castles in the air and then deserted after being physically, emotionally and psychologically abused.
According to a study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 81% of people online lie about their height, age, weight, Socio economic status or marital status on their dating profiles. Likewise a study published in the journal of “Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social networking” based on a survey of 4000 couples revealed that couples who met online were more likelier to breakup. This break up in online relationships takes a heavy toll on mental health of lovers. Digital depression (phoneliness) is also experienced when we don’t receive texts as frequently as expected or when there is poor internet connectivity.
Last but not least; one important cause of digital depression is IDIOT (internet derived information obstructing treatment) syndrome. People suffering from IDIOT syndrome google out their symptoms, self diagnose and start treatment without consulting a doctor or some people google out the medicines prescribed by doctors and start checking their uses and side effects and then discontinue the treatment without realising that a single medicine has numerous uses and doctors know best what a patient needs. Many patients develop extreme health anxiety after searching their symptoms on internet as on google even a minor itching is shown to be linked to skin cancer. People blindly trust medical information available on internet; they lack knowledge to distinguish scientific facts from myths.
Takeaway: Digital depression is real and it is the product of digital akrasia; tendency to be driven by digital dependency despite our better intentions. In other words, we have the realisation of the ramifications of our addiction but lack self control to come out of it. It is imperative that we work on boosting self control. We should learn to be respectful in cyberspace. All The Young and Old Should Be sensitized about the responsibility and accountability of what they watch and share online; they should be made skilled enough to use their critical thinking ability before trusting or propounding any information and update. They should be made aware of intellectual property rights. They should be helped to accept and respect themselves and others in real way; free from filters. As goes the principle GIGO (Gold in gold out; garbage in garbage out); we need to be cautious whether we are taking in logical and healthy infotainment or just filth and futile stuff. Time is one of the biggest blessing and we will be held accountable of how we spent it.
Let’s be respectful, responsible and reasonable in cyberspace!
(Author is pursuing PhD in psychology and can be reached at sheikhbismafarooq@gmail.com)
