A diet of social media: Are you using technology or is it using you?
By Nancy Ludwig, MS, RDN, LD, Head
Start Consulting Nutritionist
As part of my role as consultant
nutritionist to Siletz Tribal Head Start, I
offer information for families. I recently
had the joy and privilege of reader feed-
back with a request to address the topic of
social media. Contained in this Head Start
parent’s email were many useful links for
information (provided below). This topic
is huge and warrants multiple articles. In
this issue, I compare social media to food
choices, while exposing concern(s). Of
course, as a nutritionist, this feels more
like I am keeping within my scope of
practice. It also serves to remind us, how-
ever, that we make thousands of choices
every day. When we are conscious of our
choices, our outcomes are much more
likely to help, rather than harm.
The most compelling question around
social media is: Am I using technology
or is it using me? This is similar to how
we might make food selections. Do these
foods benefit me (and my health) or am I
responding to cravings or suggestions that
benefit someone else (such as an influen-
tial company that profits by my purchase)?
As an evaluation tool, it is also useful
to ask, “How do I feel after using tech-
nology? Is this something I want to be
doing?” These questions are especially
appropriate when looking at gaming or
activities that frequently hold our atten-
tion in ways where we (or our children)
lose time.
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Similarly, there are foods that are dif-
ficult to stop eating until gone or the bag
is empty. How do we feel when we eat a
bag of chips or a bag of cookies or candy?
These behaviors resemble addiction.
When you or your children can iden-
tify that, after using social media, you
“feel less happy,” perhaps you are serving
technology vs. technology serving you.
In asking whether our addictive foods
bring us happiness (or not), we need to
look beyond the “high” to include how
we feel later.
In social media, there is a misalign-
ment of goals. The designers of social
media know that people spend less time on
social media when it brings “happiness”
(or satisfaction) and people spend more
time on activities that result in feeling
“unhappy” (looking for satisfaction).
Algorithms are created with data
gathered from your social media behav-
ior to hold your attention. According to
the Oxford Dictionary, an algorithm is
a process or set of rules to be followed
in calculations or other problem-solving
operations, especially by a computer.
They are designed with goals that are
not aligned with your well-being. Not all
users see the same messages because our
“clicks” feed into the algorithms to create
what we are shown.
In reverse, we can train social media
(to a degree) by how we feed it (how we
respond based on our responses (clicks).
Who do you want to be in charge of your
life (and your children’s lives) – you or
the algorithm?
February 2020
Communication is a lifelong endeavor.
It’s more than making an announcement
and getting “likes.” Further, it’s very easy
to miscommunicate over text without the
benefit of feeling or seeing body language.
Additionally, “voice-to-text” apps are
notorious for changing what was actu-
ally said and increasing the likelihood of
misunderstanding.
It’s important to know what types of
communication to text or to reserve for
conversation in person or on the phone.
Perhaps we can think of this as “com-
munication quality” in the same way we
look at fast food vs. a meal cooked with
intention and love as “food quality.”
As with eating in a rush vs. in the
company of family, the benefits of nour-
ishment are magnified when shared with
love and fellowship. For our well-being,
we need balance. Breaks from our devices
allow us to be present with others, or to
play or to restore ourselves in nature.
The links below outline issues with
social media in much greater detail. They
also offer suggestions, as well as a pledge
to “Wait until 8 th ,” meaning let children
wait until the eighth grade for social media
(like the social media executives seem to
be choosing for their own children).
Please take the time to peruse the
links – especially the 45-minute video
for students by Max Stossel of Center
for Humane Technology. He is a former
designer who incidentally grew up as
a gamer. He explains design logic to
inform and to empower students to make
their own decisions (vs. responding to the
choices made for them).
What do we want for our steady diet?
We need the guidance provided by Tribal
elders who are steeped in wisdom from
observing tradition and history. With the
social media phenomena there is little his-
tory to guide us. The links provided expose
the model as “taking away our choice(s).”
My personal bias is that the time is
now, in 2020, to take back our personal
choice. Let’s be brave and not cowardly.
As shared by a concerned Head Start par-
ent, “There is value in organizations that
get parents talking to each other about
these topics. It’s time that we have more
information and more conversations with
other parents.”
In summary, the current programming
and design of social media intentionally
overwhelm who we are and downgrade
us to take away our freewill. We become
a “voodoo doll” via a recommendation
system that is driven by our clicks.
The algorithms study our behavior
with data mining, which is fed back to
us via suggested words to further shape
how we spend our time, our views and
ultimately our choices (which may not
match what we would otherwise choose).
Perhaps our greatest mission is to
“know ourselves” and to empower our
children to do the same. Social media
bids us to ask: How well do we know
ourselves? How is it that artificial intel-
ligence can hold our attention by knowing
our impulses better than we do? Who is
in charge?
The risks associated with electronic
communications are far greater than
just social media algorithms. There are
clearly many additional health impacts
and issues with electromagnetic exposure
from devices and from Wi-Fi, proximity
to routers, smart meters, cell towers, 5-G
and more.
Siletz Tribal Head Start offers nutri-
tional support at no cost to Head Start
families. Nutritional support is a family
issue and includes lifestyle behaviors (i.e.,
social media). Support, or consultation,
usually occurs over the telephone. If you
have questions or nutrition concerns about
your Head Start child, please contact your
teacher or the director and ask to speak to
the nutritionist.
Resources
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Take the pledge Wait until 8 th – wait-
until8th.org
Center for Humane Technology –
humanetech.com/parents-students/
Portland-area psychologist Dr. Doreen
Dodgen-Magee, wrote the book
Deviced – doreendm.com/
START parent blog on the issue and a
curriculum program – westartnow.org
Campaign for a Commercial-Free
Childhood – commercialfreechild-
hood.org/resources/
The documentaries Screenagers and
the Like Movie – screenagersmovie.
com/tech-talk-tuesdays and thelike-
movie.com/resources-directory/