I love WeChat! It is my favorite app in the entire world. You can do everything with WeChat: pay a bill, advertise for your company, summon a taxi, follow different companies and so much more. But, most of us really like WeChat because we can stay connected with our friends. That is what I mostly love about WeChat.

But, WeChat may be hurting me (and YOU). Although we are more connected to the world than ever, social media studies show we aren’t feeling close to others. Yale, the University of San Diego and even CNN have completed studies on social media’s impact on our health and wellbeing (using Facebook as a guide).

The results were recently published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.  What these studies showed is that those who use Facebook (and, I believe, WeChat) more often are actually less satisfied with their lives and less healthy than those who use it more sparingly.  The Wall Street Journal aptly stated, “The more times you click like, the worse you feel.”

The research team tracked the mental health and social interactions of 5,208 people over two years. Ultimately, the team found that Facebook usage was “tightly linked to compromised social, physical and psychological health.  There was a direct correlation between someone “liking a post,” “clicking a link,” or “updating one’s own status,” and the reporting of mental health issues on the part of the participant.

This is also backed up by a 2014 Baylor University study which found American students spend an average of nine hours/day on their phone. The study found this “enslavement” to their phones increased their low moods, increased feelings of isolation and depression.  CNN found that some young people check their phones over 100 times/day. Sociologist Robert Faris, as part of the CNN study states, “There’s a lot of anxiety about what’s going on online, when they (young people) are not actually online, so that leads to compulsive checking.”

So, social media, like Facebook and WeChat may be hurting us emotionally and socially. What else?

• We are distracted and lack focus. It is difficult to focus and maintain focus if we let the occasional “ding” of an incoming message distract us from the task in front of us.
• We lack idle time. That may sound well and good, but researchers have found that it is during idle times, where our minds aren’t fixated on a point of reference, that we have our greatest inspiration and creativity. Immediately reaching for the phone, when idle, circumvents the creative genius residing in “boredom.”

I won’t stop using WeChat and I am not advocating that you do, either. But, I am striving to benefit from WeChat’s strengths while minimizing the drawbacks it may bring. Some ideas:

1. Limit time using WeChat or any social media. Allow yourself certain windows of time each day to use it and turn it off or push it away from you until those times each day.
2. Monitor your own emotions while using social media. What do I feel when others don’t “like” my posts, but they like others? Am I placing too much emphasis on what others think about me on WeChat? If your emotions spiral downward as you use social media, it’s time to develop your EQ qualities such as self-regard, interpersonal relationships, happiness and optimism (to name just a few).
3. Set aside time to think/be idle. Don’t reach for your phone every time you feel you “have nothing to do.” Relish that time to think, be inspired, meditate or pray.