Whether news comes through emails, texts, or snapchats, we all use social media to share experiences and get information.
But social media veils the truths about lives and events.
“Social media is like this giant filter on everyone’s lives and in my eyes, it’s fake and not genuine, so having to find out super disturbing news didn’t feel real because I found out through social media,” said Briana McDonald, a junior who found out about her friend’s suicide over the internet.
The candid online process of receiving intense information also affects the way people deal with that information.
According to researchers at the University of California, San Diego, humans receive about 34 gigabytes of information per day, or 100,000 words plus images and video. This informational overloading affects a person’s ability to feel, so processing the death of a fellow student through a screen is inherently ingenuine and produces off-base responses.
These factors make it impossible for social media to do justice for a life or tragedy.
However, there is a good side to social media and that is spreading love. Messages of love help people to not feel alone.
But the internet is an impersonal way to spread anything– whether it’s joy, laughter, love, or pain.
Talking to other people is the best way to overcome depression and to cope with any hardship, trauma, or adversity.
The American Psychological Society calls therapy one of the main ways people can recover from anxiety disorders and trauma.
Mayo Clinic also cites “talk therapy” as a main coping mechanism for depression.
Do not cope with tragedy and pain through the internet or force other people to do so either. Talk to a real person– friends, siblings, parents, grandparents, teachers, priests, rabbis, anyone– and be available to talk to others who may be struggling too.
This editorial reflects the views of the Scot Scoop editorial board. This editorial was written by Talia Fine.
