GREG HARTON: The pitfalls of relying on social media

I was intrigued a couple of weeks back when the University of Arkansas released information on research by Dr. Brian Primack showing increased use of social media among young adults is significantly more likely to lead to depression within six months.

According to the university, his work is the first large, national study to show a link between social media use and depression over time. It's set to be published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in early 2021.

Primack is the dean of the UA College of Education and Health Professions.

It has been a long time since anyone viewed me as a young adult, but I can understand entirely why social media use and depression might be linked.

Take, for instance, my harmless search for information a few months ago about recreational vehicles.

The limiting effect of the covid-19 pandemic has spurred widespread interest in travel trailers, motor homes, truck campers and other modes of hitting the road with, literally, the kitchen sink and most anything else one needs to live while traveling. Sales and rentals have skyrocketed. And I'm as big a sucker as anyone for those dreams of seeing the nation by embracing the more nomadic side of the human spirit.

I don't know that I'll ever get one, but being cooped up at home makes breaking out on the open road seem pretty attractive. Or even just a weekend at Beaver Lake or Lake Ouachita.

Still, by searching the Internet for RV information, I've turned my social media feeds into the equivalent of the serpent offering Eve a bite of a piece of fruit. I'm the proverbial horse being led to the water again and again. And every message titillates with the wonders of RV travel that I'm obviously missing out on unless I join in.

The Internet is an envy machine, a feel-good drug while you're using it, but it can make you feel like you're missing out if you don't have the latest RV or boat, or if you're not taking the cool vacation you see another family taking.

Social media, whether Facebook or Pinterest or Instagram, tends to present a glossy image of people's happiest times. It's fun to stay in touch, but the effect can also be to plant seeds of discontent, questions as to why my life isn't as perfect as what I see of other people's lives through social media. What am I doing wrong? Don't I deserve the same kind of flawless life I'm seeing?

The truth is, life isn't always easy, fun or trouble free. Nobody's life is fully represented by what they're willing to put on social media. Few people highlight their financial problems or their marital struggles or their dissatisfaction with their work.

I'm not expecting people to do that, but it's important as social media users to remember we're mostly getting the surface look at people's lives -- essentially, all the good stuff. The trouble comes when we fall into the trap of making comparisons about what we know of our own complex lives with the cleaned-up examples of other people's lives presented through social media.

Is it any wonder such tools, designed technologically to figure out our wants and needs and then to feed us images that might turn our emotional responses into spending, might have a corrosive effect on our mental health over time?

I doubt research findings suggest we swear off modern technology. It seems to me it suggests we need to be mindful that social media is not necessarily reality and our best approach to life is to steer clear of comparisons.