In the US, they are completing work on creating a social network in which visitors will share their experience of doubts and failures. It is expected that communication in it will benefit the mental health of participants.
For all its enormous popularity (or maybe just because of it), social networks have a negative impact on the psyche. At least, many scientists think so. Choking with delight descriptions of luxurious parties, dazzlingly beautiful photographs of exotic dishes and outlandish places that most users will never see or try – all this may well cause a feeling of loneliness and provoke depression, psychologists say. The explanation is perhaps a bit straightforward, however, several recent studies confirm its correctness (1).
However, specialists from the Emotional States Programming Laboratory (there is one, imagine it!) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) hope in the very near future to launch a social network that will not only not injure the psyche of users, but also help them in the fight against depression. The project under the working title Koko is already active, but so far only in beta testing mode, and you can become a member of the network by invitation only.
Try to imagine that you are posting a photo of your firing order on Instagram. Or you post a Facebook status saying that no one loves or appreciates you. A risky venture, to be sure. Of course, close friends will try to support you, but there will almost certainly be commentators who, to put it mildly, will take your complaints with skepticism, if not derision. In the new social network, this is excluded. It is intended specifically for the publication of “negative” – stories about problems, doubts, failures. And the comments are supposed to contain only words of support, approval and stories of those who went through such trials and found the strength to overcome them.
To this end, future members of the social network, before being able to leave publications and comments, undergo a special training aimed at developing empathy. In addition, the system also includes algorithms for identifying potentially traumatic, negative comments. And if the program detects them, the publication is postponed until it is evaluated by moderators.
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In the image and likeness
The idea of creating such a network belongs to Robert Morris and is based on his own experience. A clinical psychologist by training, Morris decided to devote himself to learning new technologies and enrolled at MIT. And he faced a lot of difficulties. According to him, during his studies, he observed the classic signs of depression. Morris had a hard time programming, he chronically failed to finish projects on time and more than once caught himself thinking that he would never cope with the tasks that he had taken on himself. For help in solving specific problems, Robert Morris constantly turned to programmer forums. And at some point he discovered that competent, competent advice from professionals helps him not only to overcome term papers, but also to find peace of mind. Then he thought about creating a social network to combat depression.
Last year, Morris created a prototype of the future network, called Panoply. And he conducted a three-week experiment, the results of which showed that people who suffered from symptoms of depression and used Panoply showed twice as positive dynamics as those who, suffering from the same symptoms, used the expressive writing method (a recognized way to deal with depression, based on daily recording their deepest disturbing experiences) (2).
Fellow psychologists assess the idea, perhaps with cautious optimism. For example, Scott Woodruff, a specialist at the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy, commenting on the work of Robert Morris for the Quartz portal, notes that supporting comments can allow the user to change the point of view of their feelings about what is happening (3). And it is in this “change of focus” that the essence of cognitive behavioral therapy, widely used in the fight against depression, lies. In addition, Woodruff believes that communication in the new social network will be useful for the commentators themselves. “The fixation on negative emotions and judgments is much easier to spot in others,” he says. “And this is a useful experience to learn to recognize a similar tendency in yourself.”
At the same time, Scott Woodruff is not sure that user training and message verification algorithms can 100 percent eliminate the appearance of negative comments on the network. And their publication on a resource originally designed to support and encourage can be doubly traumatic for those who open their souls asking for help.
There is another difficulty – the temptation to substitute a social network for an appeal to a psychologist in a situation where it is really necessary. This is acknowledged by Robert Morris himself. According to him, already during the testing, he drew attention to the publications of one of the participants, indicating serious psychological problems that require the intervention of a specialist. As a result, the researchers had to inform the woman about this, blocking her further participation. And providing the pages of the project with a notice that it is a self-help tool and cannot be considered an official medical resource.
1. Например: M. Steers, R. Wickham, L. Acitelli «Seeing Everyone Else’s Highlight Reels: How Facebook Usage is Linked to Depressive Symptoms», Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2014; 33 (8).
2. R. Morris, S. Schueller, R. Picard «Efficacy of a Web-Based, Crowdsourced Peer-To-Peer Cognitive Reappraisal Platform for Depression: Randomized Controlled Trial», Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2015; 17(3).
3.