If I don’t post a picture of an event, did it even happen?

One thing that people don’t expect when they come to see us at Wisconsin Cardiology Associates is that we don’t just focus on the obvious risk factors: Blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, etc. We understand the importance of sleep, healthy relationships, and mental well-being, as just a few examples. 

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Our current social-media-dominated world is not built to support mental health, as many are beginning to understand. Most of us now know that endlessly scrolling through Facebook or Twitter is not good for our health. But you may not realize that even when you are not actively engaged with the app, it is affecting your mental health, and your enjoyment of the world around you. 

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Nowadays, when we experience something interesting and fun, we share our experiences with friends and relatives who aren’t with us. This process of sharing provides us with both personal and interpersonal benefits. However, a recent research study provided some insight into how the decision to share the moment can impact the experience itself. They looked at this question within the context of photo-taking, an ubiquitous and now seemingly necessary part of all of our experiences. This research team compared the act of taking pictures simply for oneself (to preserve one’s memories) with the act of taking pictures for the purpose of sharing with others (to post on social media). In this study, they found that taking pictures with the intent of posting them actually reduced enjoyment of the experiences. The researchers postulated that this decreased enjoyment of the moment happens because when we take photos with the intention to share them, we add into our minds some degree of worry and concern about how to take the most appealing shot, or what people will think of it. These thoughts directly reduce our enjoyment of the moment. This thought process also lowers our engagement with the experience itself, which also reduces our enjoyment of that experience. These researchers showed that the goals that drive our photo-taking behavior actually affect our enjoyment of the experience.

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This is yet another reminder that we should strive to be “present” in the moment. Let us all try to focus on doing things for ourselves, and not for what others will think of us. We will enjoy our lives more, lower our stress and cortisol levels, and improve our heart health.

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At Wisconsin Cardiology Associates, we encourage you to be healthy both in body and in mind, and will counsel you on ways to achieve both.

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Barasch A et al. Journal of Consumer Research, Volume 44, Issue 6, April 2018, Pages 1220–1237.