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Is Not Using Smartphones Actually Bad for Your Mental Health?

September 19, 2019 in Social Media Guide

The popular narrative says that social media, smartphones, and constantly being online has had a negative effect on our mental health, especially for adolescents. It can be difficult not to be bogged down by comparing ourselves to others, wanting validation for content that we create through likes and comments, or feeling confused and anxious about a possible subtweet. 

One recent study found the opposite result, however. They found out that after surveying about 7,000 people between 15-65, those who felt that they didn’t use their smartphones that regularly were more likely to have worsened mental health conditions. 

So, is it possible that not being on your smartphone, and by extension, not being on social media, can actually be worse for your mental health than being on it constantly?

Well, it depends. 

Spending too much time on your smartphone can have detrimental effects on your productivity, which can lead to intense feelings of anxiety because you aren’t focusing on important things that need to get done. Spending too much time can also distort your perceptions of people, especially physically, which can lead you feeling self-conscious about your own looks.

On the other hand, smartphones (and the Internet as a whole) are almost vital parts of society today. Nearly everyone has one and has some sort of social media account (if not several) that allows them to talk to others, have access to information, and connect with those who aren’t physically closeby. The study mentions that the primary impact that not using smartphones has on your mental health is that it can emphasize loneliness. Just like you can experience FOMO by being on social media by seeing posts of people hanging out without you (even if you don’t know them!), you can also experience it by not being on it too. Being off the grid may make you feel like you’re missing a lot of things online, and if those things get brought up in person (like a meme), you might feel awkward that you can’t relate and that people will like you less. 

So if you experience FOMO and loneliness on social media and experience FOMO and loneliness off of social media, what can you do to avoid it? Battling loneliness can be really difficult – no one wants to feel like they have nobody there for them – but things like battling these negative thoughts by remembering recent times when you were with people you liked or thinking of positive qualities about yourself can help. You can also trick your mind to think of loneliness as alone time. Activities like putting on a podcast and going for a walk, doing a at-home spa day, or going to a coffee shop to read a book gives you time to focus on yourself but is also distracting enough so that you don’t get overwhelmed by negative thoughts about yourself.

There’s always a middle ground when it comes to technology use too: if you feel like you spend too much time on social media and are experiencing loneliness, you can try to reach out to a friend and make plans to hang out in person. Alternatively, if you feel like not using your phone is making you lonely, you can text a friend and strike up a conversation about . Whatever it is, you have the power to navigate how social media and your phone make you feel.

Have you ever gone off the grid? How do you feel when you don’t use your phone for a long period of time? Do you have any advice about how to combat FOMO and loneliness?

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Going Back to School

September 18, 2019 in Be Positive, Educate Yourself

School is starting again which can be extremely anxiety-inducing for many teenagers. I know it is for me at least especially since it is my senior year and I have to apply to colleges. When returning to school, you see many people whom you haven’t seen for three months which may make you feel like they are judging you and, especially in high school, you get a ton of homework almost immediately. I have a few strategies that help me reduce my anxiety in school.

One thing I have found extremely helpful was finding a few friends whom I trust extremely well and also suffer from anxiety. All of us prefer quieter environments, so to avoid the yelling in the cafeterias, we all eat lunch in one of our teacher’s classrooms whom we also trust and has known us for three years. She is there for us to talk to about our problems or anything that is going on in our lives and has been really helpful whenever any of us has been feeling overwhelmed.

Another thing I have found helpful is asking the teachers of some of my work-intensive classes to tell me what homework we will have for the whole week either the Friday before the week starts or on Monday. This helps me to make a plan as to when I will do the homework and be aware in advance of the amount of work I will have. This helps me stop myself from procrastinating for as long which results in me being too overwhelmed by the end of the week.

I hope this helps other people and I would love to hear other people’s methods of reducing their anxiety during school!

How do or did you handle anxiety in high school? Do you have any advice about applying that to anxiety during college?

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#MyYoungerSelf

September 13, 2019 in LINKS

There’s no start date when it comes to mental illness. While depression is often considered to start in adulthood, the truth of the matter is that it can occur at any age. Half of people who experience mental health conditions do so before they’re 14, with 75% doing so before they’re 24.

When you’re a child however, you most likely have no idea that the things you’re experiencing are symptoms of mental illness. Because of things like stigma and a lack of understanding that children can have mental illnesses, these symptoms can be dismissed as a child having a bad attitude, poor parenting, or simply just the child being emotional. It’s not until you’re older that you may have looked back and realized that some of the things you experienced and did as a child were either symptoms or the first few signs of mental illness. These can feel like “aha!” moments in putting the puzzle pieces together in your mental health journey.

My Younger Self

The Child Mind Institute is focused on spreading awareness on children’s mental health and providing the tools to help people realize that mental illness can happen to anyone, regardless of age. As a part of their outreach, they have a feature where notable figures and celebrities who have mental illnesses leave short videos to their younger selves (appropriately named #myyoungerself). These include Kristen Bell, who has anxiety and depression, Michael Phelps, who has ADHD, and Emma Stone, who has anxiety and a panic disorder. 

They all discuss the mental illness diagnoses they have and when they first noticed that they experienced their symptoms. The messages are often pieces of advice, reassuring their younger selves that it gets better and that what they’re going through is justified. While it’s a message to themselves, it’s also a great way for viewers to recognize that they aren’t alone in their struggles and that even the most successful people struggle too.

What would you tell your younger self about your mental health? Do you think that you had any moments as a child, where looking back, you realize that they may have been the first symptoms of you experiencing depression, anxiety, or something else?

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Why has Juul Attracted So Many Adolescents?

September 12, 2019 in Social Media Guide

Chances are, you’ve heard of JUUL (especially recently with announcements of a potential ban). Like any phenomenon and trend, the word itself may cause an immediate response: recognition, mocking, maybe even confusion. But like any phenomenon or trends, especially one that’s mostly popular with teenagers and young adults, everyone has an opinion on them.

For those who don’t know, JUUL is a kind of e-cigarette or vape. First created in 2015, JUULs look like flashdrives and are skinnier than standard vapes, providing the tobacco through flavored pods. Each JUUL pod contains about 200 puffs, with the same amount of nicotine as a pack of cigarettes. Though they were initially created to help adult smokers on their journey to quit, they captured the attention of adolescents, and their popularity boomed.

Statistics have shown that up until recently, the rates of tobacco and drug use among adolescents has been decreasing. This has started to change in the past couple of years, where teenagers are actually starting to increase their tobacco use. Naturally, the most popular product for tobacco is through e-cigarettes: 1 in 5 high schoolers reported using an e-cigarette in the past 30 days, as well as 1 in 20 middle schoolers. Both of these are higher than the statistics reported in 2011. There’s a connection between the rise of e-cigarette use and general smoking habits as well: tobacco use in middle and high schoolers started to increase again in 2017, at the same time that e-cigarette use specifically started to spike.

JUUL has a strong social media presence, which may explain the reason that it attracted so many adolescents. For example, JUUL used to pay social media influencers to advertise their product on their pages. Although this has been discontinued and only involved a few influencers, the power of social media can have a giant impact on many with just one account. If one popular person posts about a product, word of mouth and reshares can immediately reach thousands of people. Teens will also share posts of themselves vaping in an effort to feel accepted by their peers.

Another way that JUUL has attracted adolescents is because of the way they advertise their flavored pods, which makes adolescents think that the product is less dangerous. Because JUUL advertises that their product will help people stop smoking cigarettes (which also has teens think the product isn’t as harmful), studies show that vaping can actually lead to cigarette use.

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Statistics also show that there is a connection between those with mental health issues and tobacco use: nearly half of those who consume cigarettes have a form of mental illness. This is also true for adolescents (especially since most adult smokers tried smoking for the first time when they were teens): Interviews with adolescents with mental illnesses have mentioned that they also turn to smoking when they are experiencing stress or anxiety, feeling that it will calm them down.

Given the frequent use of social media by adolescents, the increase of mental illness diagnoses in adolescents, and the connection between drug use and mental health in youth, it isn’t a surprise that e-cigarettes are causing tobacco use in adolescents to start increasing again. Many have noted this: the FDA has threatened to ban JUUL and is investigating their marketing tactics, referring to it as an epidemic. The effects of nicotine are still there, which are significantly more harmful for adolescents, whose brains are still developing. This includes being more vulnerable to addiction, so those who start at a young age are likely to continue smoking into adulthood.

While the message is getting out that JUULs and other e-cigarettes are just as harmful as “regular” smoking, it’s easier said than done to stop a harmful trend, especially for youths, and especially for those who think that it helps them cope with issues like mental health.

Do you smoke, or know anyone who smokes? Why do you think JUULs and e-cigarettes are popular with adolescents? What’s your opinion on them? What do you think can be done to help adolescents stop smoking?

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“I can handle this on my own”

September 10, 2019 in Educate Yourself

Adolescence is a time where we want to and feel like we can do everything on our own. This desire to be an individual without asking others for help happens with pretty much everyone once they start puberty. As we get older, we realize we have the option to make our own choices and don’t always have to rely on what those who are older than us.

This crave for independence and learning how to do things on our own can make us feel like we have to do everything without any help. To ask for help may make adolescents feel that they’re doing a bad job during this transition and that they’re still kids and therefore falling behind their peers. Asking for help may seem like a sign of weakness, which can make adolescents feel like they’re not good enough for their peers and others that they’re trying to impress. At a time when others’ approval and acceptance can mean everything, just the idea of rejection and judgment from others can prevent adolescents from seeking help at all.

Thinking like this can have detrimental effects though. This is particularly true when it comes to mental health. Signs and symptoms of mental illnesses increase during adolescence, but because of the stigma, the fear of what others might think, and the thought that they can and should handle these feelings on their own, adolescents aren’t likely to confide or talk about what they’re going through. 

If adolescents keep this to themselves, even if they recognize what they’re going through is intense and negative, these symptoms can get worse. For example, a mental health nonprofit in the UK called YoungMinds surveyed 7,000 adolescents between the ages of 10 and 25 about how they looked for information and support about mental health. Nearly 80% of respondents said they managed it and researched on their own at first, but only 17% felt confident in their abilities to handle it on their own. 

There’s a lot of choice and power when it comes to how adolescents can manage their mental health, however. Making the decision to go on medication, maintaining a schedule to go for therapy, even making the choice to decide who to confide in are courageous and ways to take control of a situation. Being independent doesn’t have to mean handling everything on your own, especially when things get tough, but it can mean taking action and making the decision to get support. 

How did you look for information when you first wanted to start learning more about mental health and mental illness? Were you afraid of asking anyone? Why?

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A Penguin to Talk to

September 6, 2019 in LINKS

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Sometimes, we just need someone to talk to, but for whatever reason, we might not be able to do so. We may feel uncomfortable with the stuff we want to share, or it may simply be the middle of the night, and everyone you talk to is asleep. As always, the Internet is here to help.

Artificial intelligence (AI) bots have been around for a while. They use information from conversations that they have had from people to predict the best response to give in the current conversation they’re engaging in. Because AIs don’t have a brain to process the information, these conversations can be very basic, and anything more in-depth can get messy quickly. Many have tried to engage in AI conversations with a humorous spin, posting about how they can get out of control.

Wysa
Wysa

While they can be really funny, professionals are trying to use AI to help others, particularly when it comes to mental health. One way is through the app Wysa, which was designed by a group of developers, designers, and psychologists to provide a bot to give you someone to talk to whenever, wherever to help with anxiety and depression.

Wysa has you speaking to a cute, tiny penguin, who uses CBT techniques in their conversation with you. The penguin will not only give responses and advice, but will also respond with cute gifs and emojis. In addition, the penguin will give you exercises, as well as an option of which exercise you prefer from a group, to try.

The FAQ emphasizes that your privacy is protected, and you don’t have to make an account with your email, give your birthday, or even use your real name when using Wysa. Your conversations with Wysa will also be saved for you so you can scroll back and see what it has recommended in the past.

Talking to Wysa is free, but it also comes with the option to talk to a coach for an additional cost (you also need to be 18 and older to do so too).

Have you ever tried talking to an AI bot before? Do you think that they can be helpful to talk to for mental health purposes? How do you feel about AI?

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Building Better Habits

August 30, 2019 in LINKS

Although it can happen at anytime, there are certain points in the year where it just feels right to reorganize and refresh your routine and lifestyle. There’s the beginning of the year (remember when Marie Kondo was everywhere in January?) and of course, spring cleaning, when the weather starts to get warmer and it feels like we’re waking up from a stuffy winter-long hibernation.

School and Mental Health

We’re also in the midst of a key time for lifestyle reorganization: those going back to school are probably getting adjusted to the new routine and having to put the puzzle pieces of classes, work, and leisure together for their schedule over the next couple of months. Right now is both an exciting and stressful time: it can feel relieving to get organized, but also worrying about whether or not you’ll stick to it.

Truthfully, it can be hard to stick with these habits. What may start as a carefully detailed planner with a color-per-class can end up at the bottom of your backpack, forgotten and covered in coffee stains. Optimistic plans to go to the gym everyday can end up with your sneakers hidden underneath your bed collecting dust. Even smaller goals like biting your nails less are out the window once that first exam starts to loom over your head.

These are all okay! It’s almost common knowledge at this point that nearly all New Year’s Resolutions fail before February and it takes dedication to have a habit become a part of your everyday life (you may have heard the unofficial rule about it taking 21 days to build a habit). Changing and sticking with a new routine and habits takes a lot of hard work.

The Fabulous

The Fabulous app (iTunes/Google) is there to help you strengthen these habits and keep up the goals you may have set for yourself recently or at any time during the year. It’s an app that goes beyond reminders for you to drink 8 glasses of water or ask you if you wrote in your planner that day. It’s research-based short activities that you can do everyday to build all kinds of healthy habits, with mindfulness exercises and a 10-minute physical exercise you can do anywhere without any equipment. You can build your way up to developing a morning routine and there’s also a section where you can dedicate 4 hours to just focus on any assignments you need to complete.

Fabulous is free for your first month if you only have a couple of habits that you want to establish, but to maintain them or continue building more habits, there are monthly and yearly subscriptions too.

What habits have you set for yourself recently, whether it be school-related or not? Do you think having a coaching app can help?

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The Benefit of Group Therapy

August 28, 2019 in Educate Yourself

Do you have one night a week free? Even just an hour of extra time? If so, you should try to join group therapy. I go to group therapy on my college campus, and it has changed my entire college experience for the better. It has been a great complement to my one-on-one therapy sessions. There are groups for each diagnosis, meaning everyone else in the group can relate to what you are going through. There is no judgement, and you can be assured that others in the group understand what it is like to juggle mental health and school requirements.

For the first few sessions, I did not speak much, and I just absorbed what others were saying. This helped me because before joining, I felt I was the only one on campus going through the struggles I was facing. But, as I started going more regularly, I began sharing my experiences. And I noticed that not only did my sharing help others feel less alone, but it also made me feel that I could finally vocalize my feelings. The responses I got from others in the group, often sharing of similar experiences, was very helpful. The moderators of the group always did a great job of steering the conversation so it would be a productive hour for everyone.

Group therapy has become a staple in my week. It is something I look forward to, and an hour where I can share anything I want and know I will not be looked at any differently for it. I will continue this coming semester, and it is something I am actually looking forward to.

Have you ever attended or considered group therapy? How do you think it’d be different than one-on-one sessions?

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5 Ways to Keep a Level Head for the Start of School

August 27, 2019 in Be Positive, Educate Yourself

With the splendor of summer coming to an end and the stress of the school year following shortly behind, it’s important we maintain our sanity and stability through these busy transitions.  One way we can help keep our anxiety levels low during this time is by creating and consistently maintaining self-care routines before our schedules get crazy.  Then, when things do start to pick up, our self-care is already built into our daily lives.

Here are five tips to help you keep a level-head this fall:

1. Proper Sleep Hygiene

The way we get ourselves ready for bed directly impacts the way we sleep and the way we wake up in the morning.  The way we wake up in the morning and how rested we are directly effects how the rest of our day goes.  Therefore, it is very important that we practice proper sleep hygiene!  Good sleep hygiene looks different for everyone, but there are a variety of ways to improve your nightly routine.

First, it is very helpful if we keep our bed as a place for only sleep. Although it may be comfortable to do your homework on your bed, it can be confusing for our brain to do stimulating activities in the place where it is used to resting.  When I used to write papers in bed, I started to associate my comfy mattress with stress and schoolwork.   Once I started doing my schoolwork outside of my apartment, I started to feel and sleep better!

Second, it is important that we stop doing stimulating activities, especially ones that involve screens, at least one hour before heading to bed.  When we watch TV or check our phones late at night, those bright lights trick our brains into thinking it’s still daylight, making it difficult for us to fall asleep.  This is where a consistent nighttime routine comes into play!  When we have a relaxing evening routine, it helps our body know it’s time for bed.  A calming bedtime routine might include reading a book, taking a shower or bath, or meditating.

Third, exercise can influence better quality sleep.  As little as 10 minutes of exercise per day can dramatically improve nighttime sleep.  However, stimulating exercise too close to bedtime can make it difficult to fall sleep, so don’t get your steps in too late!

Finally, if you’re a daytime napper, it is important to know that napping does not make up for insufficient nighttime sleep.  Limiting your naps to only about 20-30 minutes can improve your energy and mood without making it difficult for you to fall sleep later that night.

2. Morning Prep the Night Before

Another way to keep your mornings stress-free is to prepare for them as much as possible the night before.  The less you have to do to get ready in lathe morning, the more time you have to enjoy a hot cup of coffee or eat a delicious breakfast!  Simple things such as packing your lunch, picking out your clothes, or getting your backpack ready the night before reduces morning chaos and frees up time for more pleasurable activities.  I used to dread getting out of bed to get myself ready for school, but when I started preparing for my day the night before, I started to feel way better about getting out of bed!  Instead of having to think about homework first thing in the morning while I pack my bag, I get to think about a lightly toasted everything bagel with cream cheese.

3. Earlier Wake-Up Time

In addition to prepping the night before, setting your alarm just a few minutes earlier than you actually need to also can reduce early morning stress.  Instead of trying to sleep in as late as possible, hitting snooze three times, and then scrambling to get yourself together on time, you can allow yourself to wake up more gradually.  All that rushing around sends your body into alarm-mode, which spikes your adrenaline.  Adding a few extra minutes to your wake-up time can really help start your day off in a more relaxed manner.  Additionally, don’t check your phone right when you wake up!  You have all day to worry about your emails and Instagram, no need to clog up your morning with them.

4. Reboot Your Commute

Another easy way to take control of the stress of school is by using your daily commute to your advantage.  We all know that traffic can be infuriating, the bus systems are confusing and crowded, and it always seems to be raining on your walk to campus, but with a little reframing, we can make this a glass-half-full situation.  Try and view your morning and evening commutes as built-in “me” time, rather than a time to battle other vehicles through the stop light.  You have to make your commute one way or another, might as well enjoy yourself while you do!  Try to do something that nurtures your mind, such as listening to a podcast or an audiobook.  Or your walk to class is the perfect time to bust out that new music playlist!  Now that I have a different frame of mind about my morning drives, I look forward to them.  Especially on Monday’s when my favorite podcast drops a new episode for the week!

5. Daily Affirmation

For our fifth and final fall tip, I want to suggest something that you can carry with you all day.  Choosing a daily affirmation for yourself can help set the tone for your day and can help keep that tone if you feel your anxiety levels rising.  One study found that repeating an affirmation helps reduce cortisol levels during stress inducing situations.  Your affirmation can focus on beneficial traits you’d like to manifest, goals you have for yourself, things you are grateful for, or really anything you’d like.  Here are some examples: “I am confident,” “I will flourish in my work this week,” or “I am thankful for the things I have.”  Two of my favorite affirmations are: “I learn from my mistakes” and “I am strong, I am sincere, and I am secure.”  It really helps me throughout my entire day if I write down my affirmation and keep it with me.  I like to keep something physical with me so that I can touch it when I need to remember my strength.  Anytime I’m feeling nervous or blue, I read my affirmation and remind myself that everything is going to be alright.

I hope these five tips I use to keep my self-care consistent are helpful to you too.  Some may work for you better than others, but they’re worth a shot!  In my experience, they have all been useful in reducing my school-related anxieties.  Good luck in your fall endeavors and please remember: you’re not alone!

Do you have any morning or nighttime routines or habits that you use to reduce stress? What tips do you have or what has worked for you to reduce school stress? 

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Sitting in (Not So) Complete Silence

August 26, 2019 in Be Positive

For some, the quiet can be peaceful. There are no distractions and a place for them to focus on their thoughts without any outside intrusions.

For others however, the quiet can be deafening and can cause them to feel incredibly anxious. The best way to describe this feeling is when you’re taking a test in a large room. It’s the feeling that something, anything, can happen at any second that can throw you off completely, and that uncertainty is stressful. Your mind can start to wander to places you don’t want it to and distract you if you have something you have to focus on.

This is where white noise comes in. It’s a middle ground between complete silence and busy noise. It’s not overwhelmingly loud and can ground you and your thoughts instead of letting them bounce around in a silent void. It’s known to help people calm down and relax and can help improve sleep quality. Others also claim that listening to this kind of ambient, background noise helps them focus better.

So knowing that it might be able to help you concentrate, sleep, or relax – where can you find white noise? There are websites and apps that provide customizable white noises, and Spotify’s playlists and Youtube videos of white noise go on for literally hours. There are other natural sources for them as well; if you live near a body of water or even just a fountain, you can take a walk around there for example. Fans also provide a white noise effect (you might even think that it sounds similar to beach waves). 

There’s a lot of positive things to be said about white noise and how it can help ground you for whatever you need, but at the same time, there isn’t much research to support the effects. One study even suggests that listening to white noise for long periods of time can have a negative effect on our central auditory system.

If you find white noise to be a source of comfort for you, make sure you listen to it at lower volumes if you can and don’t keep them on for extended periods of time.

How do you feel about white noise? Do you find silence to be comforting or would you rather be around more noise? Have you ever tried white noise as a way to focus, relax, or sleep?

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