Waits has a house, friends and a partner. But his online connections are sparse after permanently logging off Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter last year during a digital detox. (He uses Instagram on his desktop to promote his side business, he said.) He says he feels happier and more present. But not everybody around him gets it. Some people rib him with a ‘Wow, good for you’ or emotion-dump about their own social media hang-ups.
“Addiction is the most interesting of diseases because it’s a disease that convinces you that you don’t have a disease, right?” he said.
Plenty of Americans claim social media is a scourge, but few cut the cord. Sixty-four percent of U.S. adults say social media has a mostly negative impact on life in this country, but 72 percent maintain at least one social media account, according to data from Pew Research Center. Headlines point at social apps to explain upward trends in anxiety, depression and loneliness among Americans, but people of all ages continue turning to social media to build communities. Amid our gripes and widespread distrust, social media serves as a new public square, where news develops, leaders debate and users form potentially lifesaving connections.
Jarrod holds a phone by his leg while a spotlight reflects off the screen.
After deleting Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram, Jarrod Turnbull, a 22-year-old actor and teacher in Brooklyn, saw an improvement in his performances. (Zack DeZon for The Washington Post)
Jarrod's shadow of him with his hand out shown against a curtain.
Some Americans are replacing their smartphones with flip phones. I could never do that. Sometimes I really need to know at 3am the capital of Costa Rica.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
