介绍:
LW: Researchers have established a worrisome link between social media usage and sleep. Now, Wu You, all the time, every week, every day, we’re told that social media is bad for you, that if you’re on your phone too much, it’s bad for you, that you’re not going to be healthy if you’re on your phone all the time, you’re not going to find a suitable partner in your life if you go on social media all the time.
NL: You’ll get square eyes.
LW: You’re going to go bankrupt if you’re on social media all the time. What is it this time, about social media, that you’re not allowed to do?
WY: This time, the study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that young people who spent significant time on social media get less sleep than those who use social media less often; they are saying this may affect your sleep, and sometimes people even spend 121 minutes, on average, on their social media. But this was carried out in America; I believe that the situation can be more severe in China, because more young people would love to check their WeChat moments and talk with their friends on WeChat and see if anything else is coming out.
LW: I’ve got a list here of signs that you might actually be addicted to social media. You guys can tick off what you get. So the first one is: you find yourself accessing social media sites first thing in the morning and last thing before you go to bed at night. Nick, are you guilty of this?
NL: First thing in the morning, probably yes.
LW: What are you checking?
NL: WeChat.
LW: Okay. 100%.
NL: Because you wake up, my phone is my alarm, so your phone is there in your hand, there are messages, and you check them. Last thing at night, maybe not so much.
LW: Okay. Wu You?
WY: I’m 50% guilty. I will check it first thing in the morning, to double-check my WeChat moments, any news that’s come out, and then at night, probably I’ll listen to podcasts or other kinds of audio.
LW: Next one. You become angry or agitated when unable to access your social media sites.
WY: I’d be angry, yeah.
LW: Wu You’s jumped straight in, it wasn’t even meant for her! All right, this one I quite like as well. You regularly spend time on social media sites while you’re alone … which is a stupid one, because that’s usually when you spend most of your time on social media. You spend time on social media sites so you can not be alone.
NL: I would say it’s more of an addiction if you’re on social media sites when you’re not alone.
LW: This is another one we see. You check the numbers of friends, followers or connections you have more than once a day. We should check afterwards, just in case we’ve lost any. And this is an interesting one – more than once, you’ve had conversations with people online, while they are within your line of sight. So you’re with the person, and instead of actually talking to them you send them a little WeChat. All right, this is another one. At a family and/or a business gathering, you’ve hidden the fact that you’re looking at a social media site from others in attendance. So you’re having a little look under the table, or just a hand-held quick look, and then you put it back, but you’ve tried to hide it. Has anyone done that in this room? Nick, I’m looking at you.
NL: I probably have, at some point in my life.
LW: You do look like you’d do that.
NL: I look like a covert social media user?
LW: A covert social media checker.
NL: Thanks.
LW: What about you, Wu You?
WY: I do.
LW: Oh wow, no shame, she’s gone straight.
WY: I have to confess, I have to admit.
LW: Now this one I think is a little bit more interesting. You’ve lied or withheld information about the amount of time you spend on social media sites. What about you guys?
WY: Why do people need to lie about this?
LW: Well presumably someone’s thought that they needed to address you, and told you, well, this is getting a bit out of control. Nick?
NL: I feel that would have unraveled over the course of this conversation, if that were something we were withholding information about.
LW: Well, we don’t know! We don’t know! You guys might be withholding information. I’m looking at the both of you, I don’t know. Then the other one is this: your family has asked you to stop, but you can’t.
NL: No.
LW: No, think we’re all right for that one. But as long as you’re happy and you’re safe and you’re well, I think that there’s nothing really to worry about.
