W<\/span>hen we think of the saying \u201caging gracefully,\u201d we may likely think of this in terms of physical attributes, but it could also be emotional and perhaps spiritual. Part of living life involves living it not just with good physical health<\/a> but emotional health.<\/p>\n Living an emotionally healthy life depends on many factors, one being a very influential: connection to others. But it is also about the quality of those connections we have to others in our lives which also matters.<\/p>\n By the time we hit our 40s, we may have come to develop some wisdom, or we may contemplate the need and importance of making wise decisions to live the remainder of our lives healthily and meaningfully.<\/p>\n When choosing to do any behavior, it is helpful to ask oneself, \u201cHow will this benefit me?\u201d Or \u201cIs this good for me?\u201d In answering these types of questions, we may also need to contemplate what could not be as beneficial for us.<\/p>\n When it comes to the use of social media, we can consider its use through this lens.<\/p>\n Social media can be beneficial by facilitating how we connect to others in our lives that bring us value.<\/p>\n For instance, as we age and mature, we may appreciate and value our relationships with close friends and families, and social media is a way to maintain those relationships.<\/p>\n Is our child in the military somewhere around the world? No problem, you can video call them through the video calling feature that many social media sites have.<\/p>\n Do you have siblings scattered all over the country? Again, no problem, as there is no need to wait for major holidays to fly to see them.<\/p>\n Social media, then, can help add an additional layer of connection to simply talking on the phone or may eliminate the need to do this entirely.<\/p>\n For some, social media is all we may have. For those that may feel isolated and when one would once depend on only phone calls to loved ones, we now have the option of seeing \u201cposts\u201d online about how others are doing when they\u2019re far away.<\/p>\n Research has found that loneliness can take its toll on our physical health. Thus, addressing loneliness is a helpful part of aging gracefully. If we can use social media healthily, it can be a great tool to help you live physically well.<\/p>\n Another way social media can be of help is it can provide opportunities for other forms of support. For instance, belonging to a local group that supports a worthy cause for you (e.g., Habitat for Humanity) or one for support to specific health groups, such as one that helps each other manage a certain condition like diabetes.<\/p>\n Similarly, you can also connect to groups dedicated to exercising. Regardless of which group we may feel inclined to seek out, the process of belonging in one of them gives us a sense of connection and a sense of belonging. If we have barriers that hinder us from travelling to in-person meetings, social media can help make this possible. However, using social media can come with its drawbacks. Thus, using it responsibly is essential.<\/p>\n One drawback could be that social media can become addictive. Its use can reap the rewards of our dopamine system.<\/a> If getting online tends to result in a \u201creward\u201d by our brains, we may want more and more of it, increasing its use. As with anything in life, though, balance is key to avoiding falling into this addiction.<\/p>\n A drawback along the opposite line is that it may come with frustration or hurt when we don\u2019t come across stories we like or otherwise upsetting content. As we age, one important goal is to make the best of what we can of what the remainder of our lives have in store for us. We may consider being selective of what we choose to see online.<\/p>\n Bullying is also more likely to occur in cyber form as opposed to the in-person type. Hiding behind the screen makes this easier for people to do this in a similar way that road rage is easier than people cutting in line while at the grocery store.<\/p>\n A helpful benefit of seeing how others are doing through their online posts can lend itself to comparing ourselves to others. If we\u2019re not mindful that life has taken each of us in a different direction, we can easily fall into this trap. Recognizing that our lives are our own individual journeys can help keep things in perspective.<\/p>\n Comparing ourselves to others can lead to fear of missing out. Fear of missing out is feeling some stress or apprehension when we may not \u201cfeel\u201d included in what others are doing. As we age, it is helpful to have meaningful relationships to help make our lives worthwhile but not at the expense of our wellness.<\/p>\n Every therapist has a lens through which they see a given issue as affecting us. For instance, a therapist who sees relationships from the lens of an attachment lens would likely ask how your relationships would be affected by the use of social media. That is, will it enhance or hurt them?<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the question of how you would have a relationship with social media. For instance, will it fulfill your emotional needs in a healthy way? The answers to these questions may depend on the person, as this can vary from one individual to another.<\/p>\n We may each have our vulnerabilities that can affect us differently. For instance, if at the end of a stressful week, we come across a fun get-together that we didn\u2019t get invited to, then as an extrovert, we\u2019re more likely to be affected by FOMO described earlier.<\/p>\n But, if we\u2019re an introvert and we may want to stay in to recover from a long week, then we may find it relieving that we don\u2019t really need to be there as it\u2019s not likely to bring stress relief.<\/p>\n How do we make sense of all this?<\/p>\n Is social media use good or bad?<\/p>\n The final answer is: It depends. It depends on how a given person interprets their day-to-day experiences, which tends to include social media for a large majority of Americans in this technological era.<\/p>\n But hopefully, by reading this, you can at least have an idea of what to expect as you consider its use while you age. You may simply need to consider giving it a try and see if it helps with connecting with others, and if you believe it is harming you, then seek help from a qualified therapist as they may be able to help you consume it in a more healthy manner while reaping its benefits.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pros and cons of social media <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[176,177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2023","category-fall-2023-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14070"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14453,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14070\/revisions\/14453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Pros:<\/h3>\n
A different way of connecting with friends and family:<\/h3>\n
May curb loneliness:<\/h3>\n
Finding more convenient support:<\/h3>\n
The Cons:<\/h3>\n
Addiction may result:<\/h3>\n
Harmful content from negativity, including cyberbullying:<\/h3>\n
Comparing ourselves to others, including fear of missing out (FOMO):<\/h3>\n
The Not so Obvious:<\/h3>\n
Gregorio (Greg) Lozano, LPC<\/a>, GrowTherapy<\/a>, is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Texas. His focus of practice is on healthy relationships with others.<\/h5>\n