EP 2: Digital Detox and Face-to-Face Communication

Emily, a student at Chattahoochee Technical College, discusses the influence of social media and digital platforms on communication. She emphasizes the negative effects and aims to educate others to defend against them. Pros of digital platforms include easy access to information and the ability to communicate with loved ones. Cons include lack of social cues, eye strain, procrastination, and doom scrolling. Doom scrolling refers to getting sucked into social media and wasting time, while ADHD-related paralysis affects those who struggle with regulating dopamine responses. Emily recommends digital detox to combat these issues and improve face-to-face communication skills. Setting alarms and gradually reducing social media dependence are good starting points. Detoxing before bed can lead to better rest and increased energy. against the negative effects of social media and electronics as a whole. I speak from experience when I say that it's so easy to get sucked into the negative aspects of online platforms. Welcome to the Working Wizard Podcast. This episode we have something special for you today. We'll be continuing our series on different types of communication. Once again, my name is Francisco and I'll be your host today. Today we have a special guest. Her name is Emily from Chattahoochee Tech who has done some research on social media platforms and various other digital landscapes to influence how we communicate with others. So stay tuned. You don't want to miss this one. Before we drop any questions, why don't we briefly introduce ourselves to everyone and let us know about your place among the extensive world that is communication. Yeah, of course. Well, hello, everyone. I'm Emily. I'm a student at Chattahoochee Technical College. I'm amongst the social media and digital world subunits of the overall communication umbrella. I focused a lot of my research on how social media platforms and various other digital landscapes influence how we communicate with others, but on an individual level and on a global level as well. Not only is communication affected on our Instagram accounts among old and current friends, but in this new digital age where even presidents have a social media presence, communication and its effects are ever changing. Beautifully put. What would you say your drive or, let's say, your end goal would be when it comes down to these specific aspects of communication? Well, I would say my overall goal is to help educate fellow students in hopes to better defend ourselves against the negative effects of social media and electronics as a whole. I speak from experience when I say that it's so easy to get sucked into the negative aspects of online platforms that you almost can't see a way out without someone showing you. I completely agree with that, and you just saying that resonates with me in some sort of fashion, especially more with people continuing to speak about these issues, right? Well, Emily, let's jump right into it. Let's talk about I have some questions for you today. Does that work? Yeah, sounds great. What would you say are some pros and cons to the various kinds of digital platforms that we have access today? Man, well, there are many obvious cons that I'm sure everyone listening could easily rattle off. I'll start off with some pros. Let's dig into that end first. One big pro would be the overwhelmingly easy access to mass amounts of information. This is especially handy for college students like us. Another pro, too, would be the ability to communicate with loved ones far away. Distance no longer affects families and friends like it once did when video calls weren't possible. You can still be have a form of face to face and read facial cues rather than just the tone of their voice. And this, in turn, helps us feel close to each other. And then, you know, some cons of our present day digital platform would be the lack of social cues. This can be true for any number of social media apps where dialogue is exchanged. For example, Instagram or Facebook. Other cons would be, you know, eye strain, procrastination, task avoidance, and what we what I would call doom scrolling. Even ADHD related paralysis. And, of course, the negatives associated with the drama all over social media. Wow. OK. Could you specifically I like to touch this point to specific points specifically. Can you touch a little more doom scrolling and ADHD related paralysis that affect the user? Yeah, of course. So doom scrolling is the act of scrolling on social media platforms like Instagram or YouTube reels and getting so sucked into the mass amounts of easy entertainment that you waste hours at a time without knowing it. ADHD related paralysis is something I personally struggle with when it comes to social media. It falls closely in line with the doom scrolling, but has a heavier effect on people with ADHD who can't easily regulate their dopamine responses. The doom scrolling amongst people like this is often way more addictive and affects their behavior within their environment. An example of this could be leaving the dishes or the laundry undone for long periods of time. OK, that makes complete sense. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm a victim of doom scrolling. Today I went to go pick up the little one and I'm like scrolling through my phone. Right. And I'm sitting in the car. It was 530 the pickup time. I looked at the clock and I'm like, oh, my God, it's 545. And I had to jump back in there. Right. We get stuck in that moment. It kind of sucks you in. Right. So what would you advise to people that are looking to say digitally detox? Digital detox basically means detoxing yourself from the aspects of the digital world that affect you negatively. For example, you know, social media, we've got so many negativities that are spread amongst that, you know, we come into contact with. This could be setting a timer on your phone to allow you a set amount of time to scroll or use social media apps. You can also mute your social media notifications to prevent you from checking the app multiple times throughout the day. But aside from social media, detoxing from the harmful effects of things like our phones and computers is a must. This those of us that spend large amounts of time on the computer for work and school, especially that prolonged exposure to bright lights. The bright screens can affect our eyes long term and cause reoccurring headaches. Digital detox is not necessarily about abstaining from technology altogether, but rather establishing a more ethical, healthier approach to the tools that we are required to use day in and day out. Completely agree on that. Speaking of personal experience, like I try to detox like once a month. I'll get off social media, Twitter, you name it. And it just helps me kind of take a step back and enjoy the moment that I am now. Because I think you can agree sometimes we get stuck in that situation, right? And we lose that face to face communication, which is huge in a role developing and skills and things like that. You're not always on social media, right? Yeah, absolutely. The longer we isolate and maintain most of our interaction through digital platforms, the more our face to face communication skills begin to suffer. We're starting to lose that long term benefit of the human interaction. OK, can you speak a little bit more about that face to face communication? I think our listeners will love it and how it's starting to affect our long term effects of primarily communicating digitally. Of course, this is definitely a topic I'm more passionate about because I've seen how healthier changes have affected my own quality of life. We've had a massive increase in social anxiety on this planet. And a lot of research replicates this, especially among teenagers and college students on the negative side effects of social media. When we stop interacting in person, we start to lose the ability to engage with other humans, read and respond to social cues, be verbally responsive and even interact in group settings. This seems drastic, but the muscles you don't use, you quite literally lose. Lots of kids with social anxiety are advised by therapists to slowly work their way through their fears by exposing themselves to social settings that scare them. Many of them have to relearn nonverbal communication, empathy, interpreting emotional state without using individual trauma responses. You know, this is a very dense topic that we don't have the time to go through right now. But all that to say that without consistent face to face communication, we start to struggle with interactions and anxiety can easily form. Wow, that is very interesting. First, OK, for someone who's looking to digitally detox and increase their face to face communication, what do you suggest they should start? Like what should be the beginning point for them? You know, like I mentioned a little bit earlier, the action of setting alarms is a very easy way to start. Dropping anything addictive with social media dependence. Definitely. You want to start slow. If you start with too much change too quickly, you're way more likely to cave. Next time you take a break from work or school or even before you lay down for bed, give yourself like 20 to 30 minutes to communicate digitally, to scroll, to text your family. When your time is up, put your phone and your laptop away. Go back to work or have an activity to keep yourself busy. Once I put my electronics away at the end of the day, I'll read a good book or color before I'm ready to bed to unwind the mind and set myself up for a good night rest. That is so true. Digitally detoxing helps a lot, especially before bed. Like you mentioned before, reading a book with the blue light and all that crazy stuff, you get better rest and you wake up more energetic. And it's crazy. I need to start doing it. You're making me want to do another detox. No step away from that, screen time and all that. But I just want to say thank you so much, Emily, for coming on the show today and talking about digital detox and about the face-to-face communication. I really enjoyed having you here today, and I look forward to having you in the future again. Thank you so much. Happy detoxing. Take care. Bye-bye.