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says Dr. Teresa Sztaba, clinical psychologist and executive constantly reported higher levels of loneliness and
director of the Manitoba Psychological Society. depression as compared to youth who had minimal use,”
“We are so connected all of the time — we don’t have Bromley said. “Generally speaking, it feels like social
those natural rest periods that used to be built into our media connects us, but the studies are showing higher
schedule prior to having constant access and demands levels of loneliness in those who focus on social media
from technology and various media,” Sztaba said. “I do more than face-to-face interaction… chasing likes is not
think there has been an impact on people becoming more equivalent to making friends.”
easily distracted. I think there also has been an increase Although there is no formal clinical diagnosis for an
in stress.” addiction to social media or, by extension, smartphones,
For generations, people would have Sunday scheduled as the mediums share characteristics with other activities
a day to rest and spend time with family, Sztaba said, people can get addicted to, such as gambling, said
which was not only necessary for maintaining valuable re- Michael Ellery, a clinical psychologist with an expertise
lationships, but also to give our brains a much-needed in addictive behaviours.
break. “It’s immediately reinforcing and somewhat randomly
“Whether they were religious or not, people had an idea so … for instance, when you put a post up on Facebook,
that there needed to be time set aside where commerce you get responses — likes, comments, that sort of thing
was not being done, where work was not being done, and — but you don’t necessarily know when it’s coming, how
people could visit and connect with each other … that was many you’ll get or how often,” Ellery said. “When you
set into our schedules for a long time,” Sztaba said. give people that kind of reinforcement schedule, that
“It’s certainly very important for people to have down random reinforcement, it takes a long time for behav-
time. It’s very important for people to have times when iours to extinguish.”
their adrenaline levels are lower because they’re not feel- “Teenagers, Ellery adds, are especially susceptible to
ing stressed about having to respond to multiple demands internet overuse.
at the same time.” Teenage brains are sort of wired to pursue novelty…
Social media and similar technology has also impacted they’re prone to lots of dopamine-firing in response to
that social interaction, Sztaba said. novel sorts of stimuli like social media use,” Ellery said.
“I don’t think we’re connecting like we used to … even in “Their brains are actually geared to be addicted to
normal, every day social interactions we are constantly things.”
being distracted from that caring and connecting relation- There are some benefits to technology as it is today,
ship with others,” Sztaba said. both Ellery and Sztaba said, and there is still a lot of
“We have all kinds of social media that are for connecting research to be done on how it affects us.
with others, but it’s a “I do think there are advantages … I think the ability to
different nature of a have knowledge at your finger tips, basically the world
relationship, it’s often encyclopedia of knowledge, is amazing. The ability to
a more superficial connect with people from all over the world is amazing,”
kind of relationship. Szaba said.
There aren’t a lot of “There’s been contradictory findings about the effects
lengthy talks, for ex- of technology. Some findings seem to indicate that IQ
ample, or deep con- levels are rising and there’s been a hypothesis that it
nections with people.” might be associated with technology and that availabil-
Some studies have ity of information. However, some studies seem to
even started to show indicate that too much use of technology might be
negative effects due associated with lower IQs … I think the jury is still out
to the over-use of in that respect.”
social media, said “People are really interest in vilifying social media, but
Chris Bromley, a we haven’t made any clearly causal connections
psychiatric nurse between people’s well-being and this sort of behaviour,”
working in child and Ellery said.
adolescent mental Meditation, deep breathing and taking time to be calm,
health for Prairie however, is never a bad idea, Sztaba said, as a way to
Mountain Health. regain balance and give the brain some time to
Brandon University student and digital detox “One study showed recharge.
proponent Nathan MacKrith checks his cell that youth who use “Even if you can stop and breath calmly in a relaxed way
phone one sunny afternoon in February. social media almost for a couple of minutes, it can be of benefit,” Sztaba said.

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