-
A theory on the mental health effects of social media.
Posted by on February 18, 2021 at 10:28 amHello!
This theory is based on System 1 and system 2 based thinking put forward by Daniel Kahneman.
Incase you are already familiar with the concept, you can skip the next 4 paragraphs.
System 1 and System 2 are the two decision making processes researched by Professor Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking Fast & Slow.
• System 1 is the brain’s automatic, intuitive, and unconscious thinking mode. It requires little energy or attention, but it is often biased prone. System 1 is more influential and guides our day-to-day decisions.
• System 2 is a slow, controlled, and analytical method of thinking where reason dominates. Unlike system 1, it requires energy and attention to think through all the choices. It will filter out the automatic instincts and biases to make the best choice. In essence, system 2 should monitor our system 1 thoughts. However, system 2 thinking can produce poor results or irrational results
As humans, we consider ourselves to be rational creatures – and, therefore, assume we spend most of our time in system 2. However, we spend almost all our time in system 1.
My theory goes -the reason why social media causes so many mental health issues is because the edited and altered nature of content on the current platforms registers as “fake” to our system 2 but not our system one!
We know consciously that so much of the content is fake and not something that reflects reality ,so system two can understand the same.
But because this content is not actually “fake”(more on this next) it registers as REAL to our system 1 ,causing some of the mental health complications.
Why I say this content is not truly “fake” by definition is because when someone puts up a photo on Instagram for example ,they are putting up a picture of themselves which is something that is a part of reality and hence partly real, but the edited nature of the picture makes it part of something that doesn’t reflect reality and hence partly fake!
Fake content trying to be real content AND succeeding at it, without us realising (without system 1 realising to be precise) in other words, is my theory.
I would love to hear any thoughts on this!
-
2 Replies
-
[Please keep in mind that all posts need to be of professional discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/socialmedia/comments/ft6ghx/all_new_posts_need_a_flair_going_forward/). This isn’t a help desk. [If this post doesn’t follow the rules report it to the mods](https://www.reddit.com/r/socialmedia/about/rules/).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/socialmedia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
All new posts need a flair going forward
byu/JonODonovan insocialmedia -
My thoughts, social media caters to both System 1 & 2.
The posts that is on top of the list is the one that is pleasant to see, the mechanics of the app (colour, sound, navigation, choice of icon, etc. ) is made to be pleasing, and there is an algorithm that feeds us the posts that we like to see. Ever see a top post on instagram with a sad face?
The content also exposes us to the things that is exotic, things that we may never be able to achieve, and because we’re bombarded by it, our perception on what is normal/attainable becomes misled. So we become depressed. The addictive nature of social media app makes us come back for more.
I think these 2 sources are worth a watch
* The Science of Well-Being by Yale (Free course)
* The Social Dilemma by Netflix
Log in to reply.