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Carol  Sahakian's avatar

Absolutely agree that one week of detoxing from social media isn't nearly enough to explore improving the quality of one's life. Social media “recovery” will take a while. It's recovery from isolation and loneliness. It's seeking out ways to handle not just THAT you feel angry or frustrated about, but WHY you are angry and frustrated and what to do with those feelings besides screaming into the void.

Maybe you've heard of Mallory McMorrow who is a state senator in Michigan but now running for Gary Peters’s seat in the United States Senate. She says to put down your phones, stop filling out petitions, and pick one cause that you want to get involved with and do it. Perhaps this is the antidote to social media overuse (addiction?), and maybe it's not completely giving it up but learning how to limit it and to relearn how to have a face-to-face conversation with another human being.

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Carol  Sahakian's avatar

May I make one more observation regarding a potential idea of why people are drawn to negativity? Being negative is easy, perhaps it’s part of our evolution, to always be on the lookout, to expect danger, be suspicious, to fight or flight (the limbic system). It takes a more developed brain (pre frontal cortex) to develop empathy. It takes even more training to develop it as a daily practice.

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