I would like to talk a little about the potential dangers of modern technology, and more specifically, social media to our overall wellness. By now, most humans living on this planet are at least aware of, if not actively using social media. It has become an essential tool not just for human connections and information, but also for business, education, and many more reasons that I may not be aware of. One thing that I found in most articles about SM while I was doing a little bit of research before writing this is how fast this phenomenon has grown, at least in the West, and how deeply you can see its footprints in all affairs related to the human psyche. The SM has grown much faster and has become exponentially bigger and more complex than any of its creators had ever envisioned. In my opinion, one of the main reasons for its growth and influence is how fast & how deeply it can connect to and trigger the circulatory of our central nervous system which is in charge of our emotional responses. To break this down a bit, imagine two main branches of our nervous system with one being in charge of excitement and the other, in charge of calmness. And by excitement, I am not necessarily talking about happy and positive emotions but anything that triggers the sympathetic (action-inducing & exciting) branch of the nervous system. These could be a range of stimulants that can cause both positive and negative emotional responses like happiness, fear, anxiety, joy, terror, etc. Basically, anything that gets our attention to the point of raising the heart rate and blood pressure (even by very small margins). Social media uses/stimulates this system so perfectly that it in many cases can replace actual and direct human contact! This is unprecedented in the history of humanity since we are by default "social" creatures which means that most of us need to be in contact and connection with other humans to feel fulfilled and lead a happy life. And of course (and ironically), this innate need to be socially engaged is the key element for SM success in the last couple of decades. Experimenting with SM has proved that the majority of humans have the essential need to be a part of a group of people who share the same values, ideology, religion, etc.

The main problem is these delicate and complex systems have never been exposed to this much stimulation that goes on all the time and in many cases never stop! This means the sympathetic branch of our nervous system (you may also have heard of it as the "fight & flight" branch of the nervous system) is constantly bombarded with stimuli that are ongoing and never-ending. And in reverse, the para-sympathetic branch of the nervous system which is in charge of the opposite response and it's the branch that lowers our heart rate, and blood pressure and induces calmness is now being underutilized to the point that we have almost lost touch with how to activate and trigger it's responses. This is extremely dangerous since in order to have an emotionally balanced life, both these branches of the nervous system need to be activated and utilized. We may not feel it consciously but we are constantly triggering the fight & flight response just by living in a large metropolitan city. Navigating the traffic, managing a busy schedule, juggling multiple tasks, etc, etc are activities that require a sympathetic nervous system response. Just negotiating life in the 21st century even without the advent of SM is over-stimulating the sympathetic branch. But the bigger issue is that now, even when we are done with most tasks of the day and are home which represented a safe and secure space throughout the history of humankind, and when we need to naturally start to engage the para-sympathetic branch to relax our body and calm our mind, we continue to be overly engaged and usually overly excited online!

I am not an expert on social media but I have been working with many thousands of folks over the last 3 decades who were seeking ways to reduce their stress level. I have seen an exponential increase in the volume of individual stressors, and the number of folks who come to us seeking relief from them in the last decade or so! And in my humble opinion, that is a reason that we now need to consciously include parasympathetic-inducing activities in our daily lives. The opportunity to relax and calm down naturally is so rare and far in between now that we must include it into our daily routine or might go days, weeks, or even months without it! But the good news is that it doesn't take much to calm down, and we only need to do it for a few minutes a day. There are many books (I have actually written one myself), tapes, apps, etc about different techniques and lessons for how to meditate, relax, maximize your brain power, and on and on. However, the most important aspect of them all is to find a way to stop your internal conversations and the constant chatter that is happening at every moment inside your mind. It doesn't matter how you achieve that and it can be different for each individual, but one of the most basic and easiest ways to at least start is to just find (and designate) a calming and quiet corner in your house or workplace, shut off your phone, tablet, computer, TV, etc, close your eyes and start breathing deeply and continue for at least 10 minutes, and to do something like this every day. It might be a little challenging the first few days but I promise you that it'll become something that you will end up looking forward to if you stick with it for a week or two.

As always, please feel free to send any questions and comments to me directly: siamak@2bwell.net