With the lack of certainty today, it is not surprising that we often don’t feel we have control over our lives. This is troublesome because a sense of control is an essential component of what it means to be human. We will go to great lengths to gain this sense of control, even if it means engaging in non-productive or unwanted behaviors. We are drawn to social media because it reduces our anxiety by giving us a temporary feeling of control (Atroszko et al., 2018). So, are we using it too much?

At the risk of stating the obvious, there’s a lot going on! It seems like we’re trying to stay calm, but at the same time we feel like we have to get prepared. Within this frantic planning, people are talking about “hunkering down” and creating binge lists for viewing. What really concerns me about our plans to physically distance ourselves, however, is that this may also lead to emotionally distancing ourselves from others. And, that has consequences…