COLUMBUS (WCMH) – After Monday’s Facebook outage, people are back using the company’s social media platforms.
Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp were all down for about six hours, and while some enjoyed the break from the social media platforms, not having access left others feeling lost.
“I think it really shows how reliant many people have become upon social media,” said Dr. Megan Schabbing, system medical director of Psychiatric Emergency Services at OhioHealth. “That incident was really indicative of how dependent many people have become on social media.”
Schabbing recognizes social media can be used in several productive ways, but added too many people spend too much time with it.
“We know for a fact it’s in the best interest of both your physical and mental health to actually limit your screen time,” she said.
Not having access to Facebook and its other platforms may have led to anxiety for many, according to Schabbing. However, she’s hopeful some good could come from the outage.
“It was almost an unintentional experiment, so it was almost like you were forced to not have that screen time, and guess what? Everybody made it through,” she said. “No matter what the effect the outage had on you personally, the take-home message is social media can be a positive for people if you find a way to limit the time you spend on it and just make sure you have control over it. When the social media takes control over you and you can’t go without it, that’s when you might start to think it’s a problem.”
Schabbing said the outage serves as a reminder to only use social media in ways that are beneficial.
“Maybe Monday was a reminder for some of us and for many out there, it would be great if we could all just be a little bit more deliberate about our screen time,” she said. “Think about how to use it in a way that’s going to boost your mood and not make you feel worse.”