Soon our teens will have much more free time on their hands. How will they choose to use this time? It is likely some will turn to their screens and to social media. There is so much funny, fascinating, and engaging content to scroll through there. Yale professor of psychology Dr. Laurie Santos shares in this video that how we use social media can have an impact on our happiness.
When we use social media actively – posting, conversing with others, and interacting with content – we get a very small bump in happiness by the end of the day.
When we use social media passively – simply scrolling through content and consuming it – we get a significant reduction in happiness by the end of the day.
The big takeaway? It is ok to use social media, but be mindful of using it actively and sparingly. Choose to spend more of your time engaging in physical activity, spending time with loved ones, or making something creative.