According to Statista, there are an estimated 3.78 billion social media users worldwide. It’s the primary way many of us get our news, how we stay in touch with friends and family, and a platform to share our lives with the world. With global blockbuster-esque success, it would seem that social media has hit on the ultimate please-the-people formula, but the truth is it’s a “double-edged sword,” says Dr. Malinda Desjarlais, PhD, an associate professor in Mount Royal’s Department of Psychology. While social media does facilitate connections of all kinds, it has been linked to an increased risk of depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, lower self-esteem and suicidal thoughts.

Dr. Malinda Desjarlais, PhD

Desjarlais has been studying social media since her days pursuing her doctorate and says using the technology is a delicate balance. She finds the human tendency to weigh one’s personal achievements and societal position against others is its main difficulty.

“A lot of the time on social media, you’re only seeing people’s highlight reel, the best image of themselves,” Desjarlais says. “What happens is that we compare that image to our whole existence. So when we have our flaws, our bad days, we compare ourselves, and that’s where we see a lot of the increase in depression and loneliness.”

There’s also FOMO, or “fear of missing out.” We see people doing great stuff that we weren’t invited to, or couldn’t possibly afford. Then we start comparing habits, lifestyle and success levels, and then even start using social media more to stay in the loop and try to keep up … somehow.

Priti Obhrai-Martin

Those who manage sometimes volatile social media accounts in their professional lives have their own ways of handling the emotional ups and downs of social media, and it’s advice that can benefit the regular user.

Alum Priti Obhrai-Martin graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Communication — Public Relations. The social media strategist with a Calgary-based consultancy firm offers effective social media marketing strategies to businesses large and small. They recommend those managing accounts at work minimize their personal social media use to help stay positive. With a public-facing job, there is safety in personal anonymity.

Obhrai-Martin, who once ran an e-zine called Cue, says, “One lesson I learned was that I could not sustain being everywhere all the time and being subjected to constant criticism or praise. Social media itself is a full-time job, and it became difficult to balance that with the actual work of publishing. I am generally a private person and did not like being 'seen' so much. That’s why it’s important for me today to separate my personal and professional social media work.”

You take the good, you take the bad

While using social media can negatively influence our happiness, it can also foster the development of communities that would be impossible without it.

“These are connections that wouldn’t have normally been made,” says Dr. Alan Fedoruk, PhD, associate professor and chair of MRU's Department of Mathematics and Computing. Algorithms driven by machine learning suggest what you see on social media, people who you seem to have things in common with and additional networks you may not have been aware of. These algorithms have been trained and are supposed to do the “right” thing for the user (and even more so for advertisers, by keeping you engaged and online longer). But there are some inherent flaws.

“Who is building these AI algorithms?” Fedoruk asks. “It's computer scientists and mathematicians and engineers, and other types of technologists, most often young, most often men and most often not trained in the humanities.”

Big tech companies get much of their talent from a small pool of schools, such as MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University, leading to the same type of people from similar backgrounds designing our major platforms.

“We need to start partnering with people who understand people,” Fedoruk says. “The education we provide our MRU computer science students builds in some psychology, some sociology, and makes sure students understand that the stuff they're using isn't just a nice piece of technology. It's also part of the human condition. It becomes a part of our culture and part of society.”

"The education we provide our MRU computer science students builds in some psychology, some sociology, and makes sure students understand that the stuff they're using isn't just a nice piece of technology, it's also part of the human condition."

— Alan Fedoruk, PhD, Associate professor and chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computing

Fedoruk offers the example of Twitter, which designers honestly thought would create a “wonderful hive consciousness,” but instead it started out (and mainly remains) a place where people can be horrible to each other without revealing who they are. Twitter had to react, build in the ability to block somebody, put in ways to report users and figure out how to spot fake accounts.

“Maybe somebody who was trained in psychology would have said, ‘Wait a minute, an anonymous ability to mock and ridicule and bully other people? Of course people are going to do it,’” Fedoruk says.

Karen Richards

Fedoruk sees social media in the future moving away from “likes” and “upvoting,” which will hopefully help alleviate the endless comparison-making we all do as we scroll through our feeds.

Users are also fighting back against negativity in social media by exposing those who are using platforms irresponsibly, calling out trolls and contacting authorities when behaviour is completely out of line or even dangerous.

This sort of social media activism proves that technology can be used for good and it can bring out the very best in people.

By controlling our own social media usage and ensuring that we are getting the positives out of all the different platforms available to us, there is a path to supporting personal happiness.

Karen Richards, senior social networking strategist at Mount Royal and an instructor with the Faculty of Continuing Education and Extension, says social media can offer access to new ways of thinking and opportunities if used consciously and with deliberation.

“I think it is important to use social media judiciously, like following credible accounts so the information in my feed is accurate, or knowing when I am being negatively affected and taking a step back. You have to actively manage your own social media to keep the content you see balanced,” Richards says. In other words, be proactive rather than reactive.

“Social media can provide inspiration and new ways to learn about complex topics like how to be an ally, how vaccines work or what systemic racism is. I also think it helps people not feel alone and can be an important resource when a person’s mental health is suffering,” Richards says.

By actively finding the good on social and limiting the bad, we feel more in control. And that is a positive step towards well-being.