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Don Stenavage's avatar

Every new parent should read Jon's work.

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Becca's avatar

I read this article and was completely blown away (validated, even). Then I read the comments and was fascinated to see that a majority of the comments were some variation of “yeah, but what about…?” I’m a 38 year old female and have the (somewhat unique) vantage point of having been a freshman in college when Facebook launched. So in many ways I feel as though my sense of self was solidified before the overwhelming presence of social media, but was young enough when it came about, to also be able to speak on its effects. That being said, I agreed with everything in this article. It made perfect sense to me. I am currently someone who has deleted all social media apps from her phone, because my mental health was in the toilet, and can say with complete conviction that NOT engaging in social media has had an extremely positive impact on my mental health. Interestingly, months later my husband decided to remove Instagram from his phone as well. I found my husband’s experience compelling because he, the lucky soul, is extremely even-keeled and does not suffer from depression or compare himself to others on social media; and yet, even he reported (after the requisite week or so passed, as noted in the article) improved mental health, habits and an increased feeling of self worth. He noted that, during moments of down time, he was now engaging in more “present” activities that ultimately made him feel better about himself, instead of endless exercising his thumbs. So all this is to say, if someone like my sturdy husband can immediately notice a benefit from abstaining from social media…there’s really something to this. Of course it is much more nuanced than that, but I’ve already typed way too much 😅

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