A mental health professional has expressed concern that Barbados has become a “screen-oriented society” which is contributing to increased mood disorders among young people.
Although not in a position to provide figures, mental health, addiction and trauma therapist Reneé Napoleon noted that over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in people between the ages of 16 and 30 years presenting with these issues, some of which she said stemmed from a lack of social interaction and not being able to cope with emotions.
The operator of Empathic Interventions Counselling and Consultations Services told Barbados TODAY that in her practice, anxiety and depression have been “the two big [disorders] that we really have seen an increase from COVID up to now”.
“We are not saying those issues were not there before, but it really highlighted the issues that some of our youngsters face in terms of not being able to cope with their emotions, not knowing where to seek help,” she noted.
Napoleon said some of that could be linked to the increased use of social media and reduction in face-to-face human interaction.
“Not everybody is able to cope with the digital world,” said Napoleon. “As human beings, we need human connection. Sometimes we need that face-to-face connection. Sometimes we need that human touch. That is lost behind a screen.”
Noting that it was important to take regular breaks from computer and phone screens, the mental health professional noted that research has shown that constantly being “plugged in” to social media could have a negative impact on one’s mental health.
“I am not saying it is a bad thing. Obviously, with the new world, we can’t get away from it, we can’t escape it. But it is also being in tune and knowing when to unplug, knowing when you are being overwhelmed.
“We have become a screen-oriented society. We focus on how many likes we get on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. There are some very useful and important aspects, especially for entrepreneurs and small businesses; we need it or we will be left behind but again, it is about balance and what we use it for,” she stressed.
Napoleon addressed the recent Youth Symposium of the Small Business Week where she cautioned young people that as they get involved in entrepreneurship and look to push their businesses online, they should not get carried away.
“Sometimes we really need to learn when to unplug and when to disconnect from that because with the digital frontier we really have lost the connection, and as human beings, we thrive on connection and connection with others,” she said, noting that it was easy to get overwhelmed especially when “the first thing we do in the morning and the last thing we do at night is to check our phones – our emails and our WhatsApp messages”.
