How social media creates 'distance' from happiness

By PBS NewsHour

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Social media acts as an "obstacle to happiness" for its users, says author Kathryn Jezer-Morton. "I do think that, maybe, it creates a distance between ourselves and happiness that we then have to navigate," she told Geoff Bennett. "I don't think that it necessarily separates us from it completely, but I do think it creates an obstacle to happiness, especially for people who use it, you know, habitually." She added that people need to remember social media is a "communications medium" and that our online identity is not really us. "There's not a natural sort of evolved connection between the human and social media. This is not a reflection of the state of nature or of human nature," she said. "This is a technology that we can choose to use however we want." In her new book, "The Story of Your Life," Jezer-Morton looks at how social media quietly shapes our narratives and how it can alienate us from our own lives. Jezer-Morton spoke to Bennett for the PBS News podcast, Settle In. F

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