America is in a state of cognitive dissonance.
Glued to our screens, we are being pumped with a fear agenda all day, every day. Our feeds are filled with propaganda that fuels anxiety, insecurity and depression. We try to turn it off, but we can’t detach from our smartphones. We need them for work, to keep in touch with family and friends, do our banking, plan trips, share photos or shop.
In between these never-ending digital tasks, we often find ourselves toggling back and forth between memes sent by friends or posted on social media, riddled with misinformation, disinformation, lies and distortions of the truth. These messages – often bankrolled by special interests – are designed to influence us, change our opinion, manipulate or divide us.
What this all-consuming avalanche of social media and media is actually doing, though, is destroying the mental health of millions of Americans from all demographics.
One in four adults report living with a mental illness, a number that jumps to one in three for those aged 18 to 25, according to a 2023 study. Those numbers are up from a similar study in 2021 that found one in five adults suffered from mental illness.
The rising number of mental health issues is not surprising since anxiety-inducing factors in our society have not been reduced or addressed. Rather, they’ve exploded. We live in uncertain times marked by financial chaos, global warfare, racial tensions, culture wars, political upheaval and disease – all of which is being funneled nonstop into our brains in real-time, through an endless variety of media.
Both sides of the political spectrum are using technology to fearmonger and influence people into joining their ranks. Our feeds are flooded with faux news and half-truths, designed to prop up confirmation biases and advance political agendas. There is no conspiracy too outrageous or debate too outlandish that we cannot find some evidence to support, whether the information is factual or not. It’s dangerous stuff and it’s fostering divisiveness, causing violence and harming Americans, especially in a country where 54% read below a 6th grade level, one in five read below third grade and 21% are illiterate. How can people with subpar reading skills possibly navigate such a treacherous and complex media landscape?
Republicans and conservatives believe PBS, the New York Times and the Associated Press are not legitimate news sources, yet they hang on every word of Fox News and Newsmax. Democrats and liberals, conversely, cloak themselves in the words of high-paid MSNBC and CNN personalities while dismissing every word that comes from the White House or the right wing press.
The news used to be delivered to our homes once a day, in a newspaper, or was on at 6 p.m. on a handful of local TV stations. Americans in previous generations could avoid the news more easily and were not subjected to a constant barrage of polarizing negativity. It’s pitting friend against friend and family against family.
We used to be able to get a break from the stress. Now, it’s a never-ending flow of propaganda where those with different opinions are branded Nazis, racists, pedophiles, traitors, race-baiters or worse.
The impact has been millions struggling with anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions – many suffering in silence. Our young people are scared. Functioning professionals are silently struggling, afraid to seek help. Too many of us are battling sleeplessness, alcohol, drugs, lack of exercise, isolation, over-stimulation, poor nutrition and family dysfunction.
As we recognize Mental Health Awareness Month, we need to make mental health a top priority and make it easier for people to get help. It is not a weakness to seek support. It is self-care and maintenance. You don’t wait until your engine seizes before you get an oil change. No one should have to wait until they experience trauma or tragedy before getting help.
Reach out to a friend, neighbor, colleague. Find resources at your school or place of employment. The stigma of mental illness must be erased because in this anxious and uncertain time, none of us can avoid the algorithm-fueled tsunami of negativity and fear being broadcast through our screens and into our brains 24/7. And none of us is immune to the impact.
What can we do to escape? What can we do to fight this relentless digital assault on our mental health?
Turn off the news. Disconnect from the endless flow of negativity. Connect with others. Take walks. Listen to music. Read books. Draw, paint, run, bike, swim, make music. Be present. Be grateful. Seek help.
Your mental health depends upon it.
George Carroll, aka Slaine, is a Boston-born film actor, musician and co-founder of Grand Rising Behavioral Health and Charles River Recovery.