How to make your social media happier, according to scientists

王呈祥

Picture this： you're between Zoom meetings， and scrolling through your social media newsfeed. Headlines like "Death toll continues to rise"， "COVID-19 may cause long-term health implications" and "Health-care systems overwhelmed" flash across your screen. Your mood takes a dive， but you can't stop scrolling.

想象一下這個畫面：你剛開完一個視頻會議，趁著空閑翻閱一下社交媒體推送的新聞。你的屏幕上閃過的標(biāo)題都是“死亡率繼續(xù)上升”、“新冠病毒可能會對健康產(chǎn)生長期危害”、“醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)不堪重負(fù)”之類的。你的心情驟然間變得低落，但是你仍忍不住翻閱的欲望。

If this scenario rings true for you， you're not alone. Research shows people have a tendency to seek out information during uncertain times – it's a natural coping mechanism. But is persistent information-seeking on social media， sometimes called doomscrolling， helpful during a pandemic， or any time？

如果這個場景曾發(fā)生在你身上，那么你不是孤身一人。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，人們在充滿不確定性的時期往往都會去尋找信息，這是本能的應(yīng)對機(jī)制。但是在社交媒體上持續(xù)地搜尋信息（有時被稱為末日刷刷刷）在疫情期間或其他時候真的有所助益嗎？

Research on the effects of bad news on mood suggest exposure to negative COVID news is likely to be detrimental to our emotional wellbeing.

此前曾研究過負(fù)面新聞對心情的影響，結(jié)果表明，負(fù)面的疫情新聞不利于精神健康。

For instance， one study conducted in March 2020 involving more than 6，000 Americans found that the more time participants spent consuming COVID news in a day， the unhappier they felt.

舉例而言，2020年3月開展的一項(xiàng)涵蓋了6000多名美國人的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，參與者在一天內(nèi)用于瀏覽疫情新聞的時間越多，他們就越不開心。

These findings are striking but leave a few key questions unanswered. Does doomscrolling make people unhappy， or are unhappy people just more likely to doomscroll？ How much time spent doomscrolling is a problem？ And what would happen if， instead of doomscrolling， we were "kindness scrolling" – reading about humanity's positive responses to a global crisis？

這些研究結(jié)果令人震驚，但還是留下了幾個懸而未決的關(guān)鍵問題。是末日刷刷刷讓人不開心，還是不開心的人更愛末日刷刷刷？在末日刷刷刷上花多少時間會影響情緒？如果我們只看正面新聞（人們對全球危機(jī)的積極反應(yīng)），不看負(fù)面新聞，會產(chǎn)生什么結(jié)果呢？

To find out， researchers conducted a study where they showed hundreds of people real-world content on either Twitter or YouTube for two to four minutes. The Twitter feeds and YouTube videos featured either general news about COVID， or news about kindness during COVID. Researchers then measured these participants' moods using a questionnaire， and compared their moods with participants who did not engage with any content at all.

為此研究人員開展了一項(xiàng)研究，讓數(shù)百人花2到4分鐘觀看推特或油管上的真實(shí)內(nèi)容。推特消息和油管視頻中展示的是普通的新冠新聞或疫情期間的善舉。然后研究人員用問卷測量了參與者的情緒，并將他們的情緒與沒有看任何內(nèi)容的參與者相比。

People who were shown general COVID-related news experienced lower moods than people who were shown nothing at all. Meanwhile， people who were shown COVID news stories involving acts of kindness didn't experience the same decline in mood， but also didn't gain the boost in mood they'd predicted.

和什么也沒看的人相比，觀看新冠相關(guān)普通新聞的人情緒更低落。與此同時，觀看疫情期間善舉新聞的人情緒沒有變低落，但是也沒有像預(yù)期的那樣變開心。

These findings suggest that spending as little as two to four minutes consuming negative news about COVID-19 can have a detrimental impact on our mood.

這些研究結(jié)果顯示，觀看新冠相關(guān)負(fù)面新聞僅2到4分鐘就會對我們的情緒產(chǎn)生有害影響。

Although researchers didn't see an improvement in mood among participants who were shown positive news stories involving acts of kindness， this may be because the stories were still related to COVID. In other research， positive news stories have been associated with improvements in mood.

盡管在這項(xiàng)研究中，觀看正面善舉新聞的參與者心情沒有改善，但這可能是因?yàn)檫@些故事依然和新冠疫情有關(guān)。不過其他研究指出，正面的新聞故事可以改善情緒。

So what can we do to look after ourselves， and make our time on social media more pleasurable？

那么我們要怎么做才能呵護(hù)自己的情緒，并讓我們的社交媒體時光更加快樂呢？

One option is to delete our social media accounts altogether. Figures show almost half of Facebook users in the UK and the US considered leaving the platform in 2020.

一種選擇就是完全刪除社交媒體賬戶。數(shù)據(jù)顯示，2020年英國和美國近半數(shù)臉書用戶曾考慮退出這一平臺。

But how realistic is it to distance ourselves from platforms that connect nearly half of the world's population， particularly when these platforms offer social interactions at a time when face-to-face interactions can be risky， or impossible？

然而，遠(yuǎn)離這些與世界近一半人口相連的平臺是不現(xiàn)實(shí)的，尤其是現(xiàn)在這個特殊時期，面對面互動有風(fēng)險甚至不可能，而這些平臺卻能夠提供社交互動。

Given that avoidance might not be practical， here are some other ways to make your experience on social media more positive.

考慮到避免社交媒體可能不現(xiàn)實(shí)，以下有其他幾種方式可以讓你的社交媒體經(jīng)歷變得更積極。

Be mindful of what you consume on social media. Focus on the personal news and photos shared instead of the latest headlines.

第一，留心你在社交媒體上觀看的內(nèi)容。多看朋友圈上分享的個人消息和照片，少看新聞頭條。

Seek out content that makes you happy to balance out your newsfeed. This may be images of cute kittens， beautiful landscapes， drool-worthy food videos or something else. You could even follow a social media account dedicated to sharing only happy and positive news.

第二，查閱推送信息時多看那些讓你開心的內(nèi)容，比如可愛的小貓、美麗的風(fēng)景、令人垂涎欲滴的美食視頻。你甚至可以關(guān)注一個專門分享快樂積極新聞的社交媒體賬戶。

Use social media to promote positivity and kindness. Sharing good things that are happening in your life can improve your mood， and your positive mood can spread to others. You may also like to compliment others on social media. While this might sound awkward， people will appreciate it more than you think.

第三，用社交媒體分享積極善意的內(nèi)容。分享自己生活中的好事可以改善你的情緒，而你的積極情緒可以感染他人。你也可以在社交媒體上贊美他人，盡管這聽起來有點(diǎn)別扭，但是人們比你想象的更喜歡贊美。

As the pandemic continues to alter our lives and newsfeeds， the study highlight the importance of being aware of the emotional toll negative news takes on us. But there are steps we can take to mitigate this toll and make our social media a happier place.

疫情繼續(xù)改變著我們的生活，也改變了社交媒體推送的內(nèi)容。這項(xiàng)研究凸顯了意識到負(fù)面新聞有害心理健康的重要性。但是我們可以采取措施來減輕這一危害，讓社交媒體變成更快樂的地方。