SOCIAL MEDIA DEPENDENCY: SOCIAL MEDIA PART 3

As mentioned in my earlier post [Social Media Part 2, March 2017], ‘social media addiction’ is now accepted by many social behavioral researchers, along with ‘internet addiction’ as more general category.  Internet addiction is now a listed behavioral disorder within the new DSM categories.  Kimberly Young is a key player in this area with a very interesting website (very lucrative also I suspect) at http://netaddiction.com/kimberly-young/.  A number of key figures in social/educational psychology have recently been looking at these issues, most famously Howard Gardner (one of the key figures in educational psychology) in his The App Generation (2013)—very good data-driven analysis.

We have a research group here at Chaminade University working on this subject with the goal of developing self-regulation/mindfulness strategies of higher education students (specifically folks like you at Chaminade).  Darren Iwamoto’s (Psych) research with CUH students indicates a major rise in students exhibiting high stress and anxiety levels—work which is reflected in similar studies globally.

Social media is at the center of this—go back and look again at the short video on this at https://youtu.be/HffWFd_6bJ0?t=1.

Our research group is looking at this issue within the framework of social media dependency as addiction has a number of not-useful stereotypes.  Social Media Dependency means that users need the social media interaction—without it they feel anxiety, stress, and other psychological and physiological (think dopamine) withdrawal symptoms.  As I note in the Social Media Powerpoints (5A-5C), this of course is the intent of the app makers, as they only make revenue if you are using the app.

We have working on a set of short Powerpoint training modules with the goal of sensitizing students (and others) about both the issues and also coping strategies.  We are using the ‘beta’ sets which I am sending out.  A number of them were designed specifically for a sit-down environment rather than the online, so you will have to look for supplemental support online.  YouTube has at least 1 million training videos on meditation (or so it seems) so there should be something out there that works for you.  These Learning Modules serve two functions: 1) they should help with mindfulness training, but 2) they are a key part of what we are specifically looking at in this class, the social impacts of the digital.

Remain Calm and Centered
SHIAI GEIKO

• Think of a rock in the ocean—still while water flows around it

 

• The rock is centered, calm—the water is energy, activity, noise
• If the rock gives in to the water, it gets washed away, out of control and at the mercy of the ocean’s random action
• The rock can take energy from the water [qi-mana] without giving control to the water
  

  Taking Control of Yourself
  SEME

• Clearing away YOUR demons
• TAKE THE INITIATIVE
• Place yourself in a control IN THOSE ITEMS YOU CAN SHAPE OR CONTROL

• Much of your world will be outside your control:
  • BUT you can still control YOUR REACTION TO IT
• Practice saying:
  • “NO, I’M SORRY I CAN’T” to requests from both inside yourself and from others

Situational Awareness
ZANSHIN

• Be constantly alert and aware of your surroundings
• Be ready to deal both with he unexpected and the predictable
• This will also help you empathize with others

Healing

• Pause in a quiet place and feel your fingers—what is your body trying to tell you?
• Breathing exercises
• Even out your breathing

Breathe from your lower diaphragm—move your stomach to breathe, not your chest

Advanced Meditation

• Remove distractions
• Sit or stand in a relaxed stance
• Imagine yourself Rooted to the ground
• Note your breathing
• Let yourself become aware of your surroundings
• What to you hear? Far away?
• What do you smell?
• What do you feel on your skin?

What is the quality of light that you see?  What colors?  What movement?

Self evaluation

• What has worked for you?
• Why did it work—how was it useful?
• What hasn’t worked for you?
• Why didn’t it work?
• Build on your successes: what other approaches may work for you?
• How can you modify the successes to make the whole a better fit for your needs and goals?