來源:中國日報網
研究反覆證實，社交媒體上的負面新聞看多了對人的精神健康有害無益。儘管如此，疫情期間想要“戒掉”社交媒體實在太難。怎樣才能讓自己開心地使用社交媒體？來看看科學家的解答。
[Photo/Pexels]
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：你剛開完一個視訊會議，趁著空閒翻閱一下社交媒體推送的新聞。你的螢幕上閃過的標題都是“死亡率繼續上升”、“新冠病毒可能會對健康產生長期危害”、“醫療系統不堪重負”之類的。你的心情驟然間變得低落，但是你仍忍不住翻閱的慾望。
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?
如果這個場景曾發生在你身上，那麼你不是孤身一人。研究發現，人們在充滿不確定性的時期往往都會去尋找資訊，這是本能的應對機制。但是在社交媒體上持續地搜尋資訊（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.
此前曾研究過負面新聞對心情的影響，結果表明，負面的疫情新聞不利於精神健康。
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月開展的一項涵蓋了6000多名美國人的研究發現，參與者在一天內用於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?
這些研究結果令人震驚，但還是留下了幾個懸而未決的關鍵問題。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（人們對全球危機的積極反應），不看負面新聞，會產生什麼結果呢？
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研究，讓數百人花2到4分鐘觀看推特或油管上的真實內容。推特訊息和油管影片中展示的是普通的新冠新聞或疫情期間的善舉。然後研究人員用問卷測量了參與者的情緒，並將他們的情緒與沒有看任何內容的參與者相比。
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.
和什麼也沒看的人相比，觀看新冠相關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.
這些研究結果顯示，觀看新冠相關負面新聞僅2到4分鐘就會對我們的情緒產生有害影響。
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.
儘管在這項研究中，觀看正面善舉新聞的參與者心情沒有改善，但這可能是因為這些故事依然和新冠疫情有關。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?
那麼我們要怎麼做才能呵護自己的情緒，並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。資料顯示，2020年英國和美國近半數臉書使用者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，遠離這些與世界近一半人口相連的平臺是不現實的，尤其是現在這個特殊時期，面對面互動有風險甚至不可能，而這些平臺卻能夠提供社互動動。
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實，以下有其他幾種方式可以讓你的社交媒體經歷變得更積極。
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容。多看朋友圈上分享的個人訊息和照片，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，查閱推送資訊時多看那些讓你開心的內容，比如可愛的小貓、美麗的風景、令人垂涎欲滴的美食影片。你甚至可以關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讚美他人，儘管這聽起來有點彆扭，但是人們比你想象的更喜歡讚美。
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.
疫情繼續改變著我們的生活，也改變了社交媒體推送的內容。這項研究凸顯了意識到負面新聞有害心理健康的重要性。但是我們可以採取措施來減輕這一危害，讓社交媒體變成更快樂的地方。
英文來源：The Conversation
翻譯&編輯：丹妮
