NEWS LETTER

Juｌｙ 202４

Edit and Issue
HOKENDOHJIN- FRONTIER, Inc.
Human Frontier Counseling Center
4F Aoyama 1-Chome Tower, 1-3-3,
Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
107-0062, Japan
Tel: 03-6747-6250

Schedule a counseling appointment

０１２０－７８３－７４４
Office hours:(excluding holidays)
Monday through Friday１０：００～２０：００
Saturday
10：00～18：００
E-mail :sodan@humanfrontier.co.jp※We will reply to you within two business days
after receiving your message.

©2016, 2024 HOKENDOHJIN-FRONTIER Inc.

You can also schedule acounseling appointment
through the LINE app.
（＊Reservations only.
Counselings are not available on LINE.）

On your LINE app, tap“Addfriends” → Tap the “QR code”
icon and Scan the QR code above toadd it on LINE.
Or, tap “Add friends” → tap“Search”, choose “ID”, enter
the LINE ID “@hfsodan” and tap
the search icon to add it on LINE.

How to maintain healthy relations with Social
Networking Services
Because social networking services, or SNS, have become so ordinary to
our daily lives, there must be many who have fallen asleep while browsing
SNS.
While SNS is handy as a source of information, they have come to containrampant misinformation due to the recent development of AI. Furthermore,
excessive use of SNS can have various adverse effects on our mentalhealth.
According to the studies by the University of Pittsburgh and the University ofPennsylvania showed that, on an average, the study participants spent 61
minutes per day on SNS, 30 times per week； and that highly frequent users
were 2.7 times more likely to develop depression than low frequent users.
The studies also found that limiting the daily usage of Facebook, Instagram,or Snapchat to 30 minutes reduced depressed feelings or feelings ofloneliness. The studies also showed that SNS sites that enable users to see
faces of other users or that contain positive interactions would likely to bringabout beneficial effects on the users’ mental health, while those that allow ahigh degree of anonymity, and a lot of leeway can pose the adverse effects.
At the time of the Noto Peninsula Earthquake in January this year, some
SNS users felt helpless thinking “everyone is taking various actions, but how
about me?” It is true SNS is convenient, but excessive use can lead todependency and undermine self-esteem.
Here are some tips for avoiding negative effects of using SNS:
1. Limit the time of using SNS. It is said to be best to keep it around 30
minutes a day.
2. Stop checking how many followers you get. Remember that you arenotdefined by the number of “likes” you get.
3. Schedule regular breaks from SNS. If you get anxious about unread
messages or notifications, make time to be away from SNS.
4. Be mindful why you use SNS. Use it purposely.
We benefit from SNS, such as collecting information to deepen ourknowledge and expanding our personal networks. However, being
overwhelmed by outpouring information can lead to anxiety or to negative
effect on our self-esteem.
It is important to get advantage of social media by setting a healthy boundarywith SNS maintaining a mindset that “I am perfectly fine as I am”, instead ofcomparing with others.

Counselor’s Oasis
For more than 20 years, I have played in a community softball team two to three times a month onSundays. After practice sessions, I chat with the teammates with various professional backgrounds.
We talk on a variety of things: our games, current topics, illness, elderly care, and more. Interacting withpeople of all ages with no conflict of interest helps me forget about unpleasant things and welcome thecoming week. I really feel that amicable conversation on such occasions helps me refresh myself. How
about you?