The anxious world of virtuality and its consequences on the psyche

The work, the study, the conversations between friends and family, entertainment, the search for a couple: there is no scope of life that currently escapes internet mediation. The smartphone, a Swiss application razor, is in our pockets and mimics with us.

Like never, and especially after pandemic, the Internet talks about our identity and our interpersonal relationships while transforming both aspects of novel forms. Two recent books, the Internet psychology of Alejandro Castro Solano (Paidós) and the anxious generation of Jonathan Haidt (Paidós), explore the link between the Internet and human psychology, warning about the possible pathologies and associated problematic behaviors. Does internet make us more or less happy? Photo: Pexels.Alejandro Castro Solano, professor and graduate in Psychology from the University of Buenos Aires writes with the also graduates María Laura Lupano Perugini and Guadalupe of the Church a review of topics and research framed within what they consider as a nascent discipline, cyberpsychology, responsible for analyzing the psychological variables that mediate the relationship between people and technology. With the conviction that technological changes transform human mind and behavior, the authors intend to address various edges of the new experiences specifically linked to the use of the Internet from a theoretical and clinical perspective. For the authors, the digital world is presented as an alternative space, creating a first dissociation that can be both benign and toxic. Anonymity, invisibility and asynchronicity enable dehinibition to express wishes and feelings that would be repressed in face to face, but also to exercise aggression without the same risk of facing consequences. Do you internet make us more or less happy? Seeking to answer this question, Castro Solano reviews a diversity of studies in which it is clear that personality meets an important role in the use and impact that Internet has on the psychological well -being of each person. In turn, the type of activities that are developed are a variable that modifies the results: while utilitarian uses do not seem to have negative effects, passive uses such as scrolle are harmful. For the American Jonathan Haidt, that same question ignites clear alarm signs. The Z generation, that of those born between 1995 to approximately 2010, is the first to cross adolescence with smartphones in hand. According to the social psychologist and professor at the University of New York, its members are subject to proof of a new way of growing that it calls “the great reconfiguration of childhood.” Haidt argues that the argument that the abandonment of a childhood “based on the game” in favor of a “telephone based” has given rise to a paradox: the overprotection of children in the real world and an oversight in the virtual field. At the same time, Haidt points out a worrying increase in cases of anxiety and depression in youth that, for the researcher, is a direct consequence of the early use of smartphones and social networks. The anxious generation Jonathan Haidt Editorial Paidósla Construction of Selfen 2022, the Spence family of California demanded the target company alleging that the algorithmic design of Instagram of addiction, anxiety, depression, self -harm, food disorders and suicidal ideation of his teenage daughter. The presentation makes sense after the revelation of the “Facebook Papers” (Facebook papers), in which a former employee of the company, Frances Haugen, explained that the company was aware of the consequences of its product on the mental health of its younger users and that they even referred to children between ten and twelve as a “unplug”, despite the fact that their own policies did not admit to children of thirteen as users. Haidt, in addition to having contact with other similar cases, has collaborated with the lawyers of the Spence. Social networks invite a self construction, an self -revelation in the eyes of others that does not always coincide with that of the offline world. A harmonious balance between life on the network and outside it will give, as the authors of Internet psychology show, a better welfare result. On the other hand, the constant exposure to information from others, in general of positive dye, is an incentive for social comparison and can arouse feelings of envy that affects more people with low self -esteem. In this point, Haidt stops in his book in the particular impact that has this mode of operation of the networks in the case of children and adolescents, who cross a crucial period regarding the construction of their own identity. The negative effects seem to be aggravated in the case of girls due to a variety of socio-evolutive factors that the author reviews in detail. The Internet psychology. Alejandro Castro Solano Editorial Paidós. From the biological point of view, the brain maturation of adolescents is also more vulnerable because they have not yet ended up forming the areas related to self -control and the postponement of gratification, a weak point in front of the dose of dopamine in the form of notifications of “Like”. This last aspect has led researchers to wonder if it is possible to talk about an internet addiction, with video games as a case study as a case study. The authors of Internet psychology point out that addiction is identified by prolonged periods of use accompanied by the carelessness of daily routines and dependence. Teenagers, once again, appear as a risk group. Latent fear of the social exclusion of their children in case of being outside the virtual circles. In that sense, Haidt insists on the importance of awareness and the creation of agreements to mitigate the feeling of lack of escape. On the other hand, it points to the need for state regulation and the platforms themselves, confident that the generalized deterioration in young people can be reversed for the next generations. Measure the dark internet side as a trigger environment of pathologies and behaviors such as cyberbullyng, grooming or trolls activity, the authors of Internet psychology are also responsible for the beneficial aspects that the digital world enables. To the extent that communication allows maintaining the proximity to distance with the peers, the feelings of loneliness decrease. However, even in those cases the cost seems to be very high in terms of mental health and virtual communities often imply a lower level of commitment. Solo, meanwhile, explores other aspects that concern the specific discipline, such as online psychotherapies and the applied use of artificial intelligence. According to reviewed studies, therapies through the Internet -modality that undoubtedly flourished due to pandemic -have given good results. While Internet psychology describes some relevant discussion areas for the new discipline, the anxious generation was born as a detachment of a book that was going to explore how, in Haidt’s words, social networks harm democracy. Both volumes serve as urgent input to think about the new subjectivity and the challenges that the smartphones that we carry everywhere bring.

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