Six-hour social media outage was like lockdown in reverse - expert

A psychology expert has described the six-hour Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram outage as 'lockdown in reverse' - but may have brought benefits to those who struggle to multitask.

While Covid-19 lockdowns led to concerns over mental health due to a lack of human connection, Dr Rebecca Semmens-Wheeler, a senior lecturer in Psychology at Birmingham City University, said the explosion of social media platforms over the past 15 years has created a different set of problems.

She said: “During the Covid-19 lockdowns, we realised the value of human contact. People suffered with their mental health, with many feeling isolated and becoming depressed and anxious.

“Now, post-lockdown, another source for connection was temporarily removed. This time, owing to an outage, we could see people face-to-face but we weren't able to connect with them via three of the world 's biggest social media and messaging apps.

“The six hours without Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp was a bit like lock down in reverse.

“Over the past decade and a half, social media has exploded into our lives, generating a new set of mental health issues. The internet is full of articles about how to digitally detox, apps that measure our screen time and services to block us from certain websites and apps, which can help us to become more productive and improve our well-being.

“A growing body of research suggests that while social media can have its benefits, it is addictive to many and can also be a tenuous source of self-esteem.

“We get a dopamine hit when somebody likes our post. We get a sense of connection when we see that other people share our points of view.

“While having a break from social media can be an excellent thing for some people, this experience will have been a wrench for many, and is likely to have caused anxiety and discomfort for those people, especially without knowing how long this would last.

“Many people turned to other forms of social media, such as Twitter and Telegram, as evidenced by the latter application struggling to function as WhatsApp users looked for an alternative. ”

The outage may have had some benefits for some users, Dr Semmens-Wheeler adds.

She said: “There could have been benefits to the outage for those who did not experience anxiety.

“For example, they may have had to multitask less, and might have been able to focus on other tasks.

“We know that social media affects productivity and engaging in another task drastically impairs our performance and fatigues the brain - as it has to work hard to switch between tasks. ”