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SMIDS: Social Media-Induced Delusional Syndrome
by Charles Carreon
July 25, 2012
A new mental disease for the Internet age is proposed for
inclusion in the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders:
Social Media-Induced Delusional Syndrome (“SMIDS”). While
tentative in its observations, this proposal has a
legitimate basis in anecdotal evidence, and discusses the
risks of attempting treatment of SMIDS-sufferers.
The primary subjective characteristic of SMIDS is the
sensation of power gained from being part of a large,
anonymous group of social media participants. By
“anonymous,” we do not mean that a person who declares their
identity cannot be suffering from SMIDS; rather, we mean
that due to the large number of people joined in a Social
Media Mob (“SMob”), each individual experiences the safety
of relative anonymity. By “the safety of relative
anonymity,” we mean the sense of security derived from the
knowledge that there are so many participants in a SMob that
it’s highly unlikely any one of them will suffer negative
consequences due to their conduct.
The primary objective characteristic is the tendency to
focus on an object of hatred (the “ObHat”), which
intensifies as the number of SMob-participants grows,
manifesting in antisocial cyber-behavior. Like members of
a street mob who ordinarily manifest no criminal
characteristics, yet become capable of flinging bricks and
mortar and engaging in random violence when gathered in
large numbers, members of a SMob may engage in behavior
atypical of their usual behavior patterns. Such behaviors
may range from online postings of sadistic wishes that the
ObHat should suffer misfortune such as career failure and
painful death, sending hate mails bearing similar ill-wishes
to the ObHat, sending physical packets of disgusting
materials such as offal to the Obhat, and directing Denial
of Service Attacks towards websites associated with the
ObHat.
The delusory character of the sense of power experienced by
the SMIDS-sufferer can be easily discerned, and has
tautalogical roots. In point of fact, the ObHat is unlikely
to suffer anything like the severe sentences pronounced upon
her by the Smob, unless of course the ObHat falls victim to
Social Media-Induced Self Hate (“SMISH”). The massed
expression of ill wishes by a SMob is thus similar to the
effects of primitive curses among the aborigines — dangerous
if taken at face value, survivable otherwise. Hence, the
expression of ill wishes by SMIDS-sufferers are referred to
as Cybercurses.
Common battle cries flying from the spittle-flecked lips of
SMIDS-sufferers are “we are the Internet,” and “Google never
forgets.” Such cri de couer reveal the roots of
the delusion. The roots of the power delusion lie in the
SMIDS-sufferer’s fear that in fact, he is powerless. The
roots of the corollary delusion that the SMob can destroy
the object of hatred by the objective force of massed
Cybercurses are an attempt to curb the anxious feeling that
participating in Social Media is in fact meaningless.
For ObHats victimized by SMIDS-deluded SMobs, the experience
can be painful and shocking; however, unless the ObHat
decays into SMISH, their suffering is transient and
non-pathological. The same cannot be said for all those who
suffer from SMIDS. Although at first, joining in SMob
behavior may trigger only transient episodes of acute SMIDS,
unnoticed by anyone besides the ObHat and the SMob, like
other forms of Social Media dysfunctions, an addictive cycle
often forms that leads to chronic SMIDS, with pathological
characteristics that beg for treatment.
At present, the occurrence of Social Media induced
dysfunctions is in its infancy, and the only known treatment
modalities appear to be removal of the initiating stimulus, i.e., turning
off the Internet. However, for persons who have come to
believe that they “are the Internet,” turning off the
Internet would be the equivalent of suicide, and thus
unthinkable. Were any outsider to attempt to forcibly
remove them from the Internet, the chronic SMIDS-sufferer
would likely react with violent rejection and excuse-making
behavior. Excuse-making would generally take the form of
self-righteous expressions that the SMob merely wants to
make a better world, and that the ObHat du
jour is a
genuine danger to the welfare of all.
For those in the helping professions dealing with SMIDS, and
for human resources professionals who encounter SMIDS in the
workplace, the first avenue of approach should be indirect.
The serious danger, of course, is that anyone who confronts
a SMIDS-sufferer with their conduct may find themselves
turned into an ObHat, with all of the risky consequences
associated therewith. A manager confronting a SMIDS-sufferer
about lost productivity in their employment might wake up to
find themselves the focus of a plethora of SMob attacks:
fake Twitter accounts proclaiming that the ObHat must now
disclose that they are transsexual, bogus Facebook pages
embracing extremist ideologies, and an email box with new
messages proclaiming things like: “Welcome to the Jihad, and
Peace be upon you brother. Thank you for signing up for our
Peshawar-based online training program in anti-drone
warfare.”
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