Social media’s grip on the public continues to tighten, for better or worse. Dealing with both was the topic Monday during Drug Free Comfort’s showing of a documentary featuring the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of social media.
The movie “LIKE” examined the impact social media — primarily through cellphone use — is having on society, particularly youth. Panelists addressed the movie and fielded questions from about two dozen people gathered Monday in the Lobby Coffee Shop in Comfort.
One aspect of the film discussed by the panelists involves social media and its algorithms, which have created and developed an addiction to their platforms, with users “becoming the product.”
Gillian Rodriguez, license professional counselor and a professor at Texas A&M-San Antonio, said the movie made a point to stress that you are a person, not a pattern or an algorithm.
“You have to choose how you want to live your life, whether it’s in real life, or on a screen,” Rodriguez said.
Much of the focus of cellphone use today is on youth, with school districts now attempting to limit use of phones in schools. But they are not alone in their social media/phone addiction.
“ Phone addiction is very heavy,” she said, “but when I say it’s at its worst for kids, it’s also the worst with parents, too.”
She said opening lines of communication are tough when one party, or both, are “locked in” and do not remove themselves from social media.
“I think more and more we’re realizing that communication is a challenge, especially after Covid,” she said. “I think it really feels that way (it’s getting worse) because our youth don’t have a memory of ‘a time before,’ without their cellphone.”
Meeting moderator Kein Klaerner, a Kendall County Sheriff ’s Office (KCSO) lieutenant, special services division, told of his time as a school resource officer.
“What got me was lunch. They would be sitting in a circle with their friends, on their phones, and they are not talking,” Klaerner said. “Or they are texting or snapchatting each other across the table instead of talking.”
Michael Cokerham, KCSO mental health deputy, said the movie covered every one of the different types of social media; how people are using it — and how it’s using them.
“That’s a problem; people make judgments about their own lives based on social media: what someone puts on their post, or what they add to yours,” Cokerham said.
Phones need to be placed away, he said, when we’re gathered with others, in efforts to try to restore open lines of verbal communication.
“Put it away; it’s an addiction we all have,” he said. “If I leave it at home or in my pocket, I’m telling the person they are important to me. Thats how we develop real relationships.”
Bryce Boddie, senior director of behavior health for Hill Country Family Services, said it’s his job to work with sheriff’s office and police department officers. “When they show up, it’s usually because it’s not a good day in your life. It’s one of the worst, it’s a crisis,’ Boddie said.
“Social media,” Boddie said, “can overwhelm us at times. We’re picking it up when we wake up, we’re holding it when we go to sleep, we’re not taking it off the table.
“I think when those problems in our lives become dominant and overwhelm everything else that we’re doing ... when we don’t treat it with moderation, it can overwhelm our lives quickly.”
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