Technology and Negative Impacts on Your Mental Health

Technology can affect our physical wellbeing, but did you know it could have some startling effects on your mental health?

Let's examine some technology-related mental health disorders.

Nomophobia

Nomophobia is a phobia (irrational fear) of being without your phone (derived from "no-mobile-phone-phobia"). Nomophobia causes obsessive checking of your phone, and symptoms of anxiety when the sufferer can't check their phone (sweating, tachycardia, agitation, and so on). It was proposed for, though denied, inclusion to DSM-5, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders. According to a study commissioned in 2010 by the UK Post Office, 53% of British adults feel anxious when they "lose their phone, run out of battery or credit or have no network coverage". A further 9% admitted to anxiety when their phone is simply switched off.

Nomophobia has become so common that researchers at Iowa State University have invented the first Nomophobia Questionnaire (the NMP-Q). Along the lines of similar, recognised questionnaires used to diagnose depression or anxiety disorders, they ask respondents how they would feel "if you left your smartphone at home and had to spend the day without it."

If that question has sent you into a cold-sweat, you may be nomophobic.

Facebook Depression

More than 500 million people use Facebook every day. And yet a study by Kross and colleagues (2013) found that the more time their student participants spent on Facebook, the less happy they were. Another study by Blease found that 25% of college students using Facebook sometimes leave depressive statements on their wall, like "Having a bad day. Sometimes I wonder what it's all about."

READ The Good and the Bad of Facebook: How it Affects the Minds of Children

Several causes of Facebook Depression have been suggested:

• Cyberbullying: Depressive comments and cries for help may draw cruel comments as well as kind remarks from loving friends. Although there are methods in place, to unfriend or block, it takes minutes to set up a fake account and harangue a victim again.
• Many people online may be more successful or (by our own perception) attractive than we are. People can often feel like they are competing with everyone online. When they feel they have failed to meet up, depression sets in.

Researcher Charlotte Blease suggests that people are more likely to view themselves negatively if they spend a large amount of time reading a large amount of bragging notices from a large amount of apparently-successful Facebook "friends" (who they may not have actually met).

Also, many people who are mildly depressed may prefer to connect online rather than in real life. Unfortunately, rather than alleviating their loneliness, it only seems to highlight that everyone else seems to be doing much better than they are, which makes it worse.

Just remember, we don't see the full details of people's lives on Facebook. We don't see them at three in the morning, wiping sleep from their deeply-circled eyes, and with their hand covered in baby-sick. We see them perfectly-groomed and beaming with a scrubbed newborn sleeping like an angel in their arms. We see the highlights of their lives. And they're not the whole picture.

Internet Addiction Disorder

An internet addiction is exactly what it says. It is a compulsion to use the internet. People afflicted with this condition will lie so that they can use the internet, feel depressed or agitated if they are denied access, and feel euphoric when they are using the internet. A quarter of all children is addicted to the internet.

It is such a serious problem that it was added to the DSM-5 as a condition that required further research. Between 1.5 and 8.2% of all people in America and Europe is thought to suffer Internet Addiction Disorder.

READ Internet And Your Brain: Psychological Effects Of Online World

Sometimes the addiction is focused on online shopping or online gaming. This can lead to bankruptcy, if the individual makes a lot of purchases.

An SSRI medication called Escitalopram has shown improvement with Internet Addiction Disorder, reducing internet use from 36.8 hours a week to 16.5 hours a week. Therapy, such as Cognitive Behabioural Therapy, has also shown success in treating Internet Addiction Disorder. In treatment of Internet Addiction Disorder, the goal is not to prevent all use of the internet but to prevent maladaptive, obsessive use and allow the patient to have a full life in which there is room for other activities.

Do We Need To Cancel Our Facebook And Throw Out Our Phones?

You don't have to ditch your technology. However, it is important to regain some balance.

Be aware of screen-time limits:

• No screen-time for the under-2s
• 1 hour only for children under 5
• 2 hours recreational screen time(maximum)  for children aged 5-18 (excluding school-work)

No official limits exist for adults, but perhaps you could lead the way by setting themselves your own recreational screen limits. It'll be easier for your children to follow your screen-time rules if you're a role model.

Try these tips

Remember that technology is a tool, not your master. When something buzzes or dings, let it wait sometimes. If you're constantly on-call, people will always expect you to be on-call, even if you'd rather take a break.

READ Do YOU Display Any Internet Addiction Warning Signs?

Try a tech curfew, ninety minutes before you go to bed.

Make time to meet to your real friends in person. When you meet-up, turn off your phone, or at least put it on silent.

If you - or your child - are playing an interactive video game, warm-up first.

Observe safe playing time-limits, and then make-sure you take a break (this is doubly-important if a child is playing, or watching your play).

Finally, try to unplug from technology at least one day a week. Turn off your phone, your computers, your gaming consoles and be with your loved ones. Do some fun activities and remind yourselves of how it feels to really connect.

Sometimes, when we're surrounded by technology, we can forget that we're surrounded by people, too.