Discussion
Findings
This research project intended to provide evidence for the relationship between the aesthetics of expressive arts therapy and the media consumed in modern culture. Through a critical review of current relevant peer reviewed literature, the project intended to highlight key themes between both concepts. Preliminary empirical research found an increase in screen time use due to COVID-19 (Sultana, 2021) and a transition of the mental health field towards telehealth. Initial hypotheses predicted maladaptive outcomes to the aesthetics for people who use media consumption excessively (Apaolaza et al., 2019). However, the primary outcome of this project identified that the relationship between aesthetics and media is multi-faceted and more complicated than hypothesized. The data collected tentatively suggests four key findings. To begin, media multitasking, as a behavior of simultaneously engaging in multiple media activities (Yoon, et al., 2021), serves an emotional and sensory gratification purpose and not a cognitive functional one (Baumgartner & Wiradhany, 2021; Poplawaska et al., 2021). The data collected also tentatively suggests an increased risk of psychiatric disorders with excessive media use (Apaolaza et al., 2019; Colley, 2020; Easton et al., 2018; Goorman & Green, 2016; Holman et al., 2020; Tunney et al., 2017). The third significant finding conveyed social media consumption as a behavior which is highly associated with the hedonic pleasure system (Bartsch & Viehoff, 2010; Hoffman et al., 2017; Jeong et al., 2019; McCauley, 2019; Rieger et al., 2014; Rømer et al., 2015). The final data collected tentatively suggests mindfulness as a preventative factor from the potential unhealthy byproducts of social media consumption (Apaolaza et al., 2019; Goorman & Green, 2016; Poon & Jiang, 2020). The primary outcome of this project conveys that media consumption as a behavior is highly influenced by our therapeutic aesthetics.
Purpose
My preconceived notions that social media negatively effects our mental health all inclusively served as a barrier to initial impartial research. This extreme notion, through the research project, was deemed not as simple and created many avenues for further research. The literature provided a personal enlightenment to the complexities of the topic I sought to address. Although the project was originally intended as a critical review between aesthetics and media, in order to find a link to mental health, the research project identified nuances within the concepts themselves. From the limited literature on aesthetics and media, the review dissected the terms into searchable variables. Through this dissection of aesthetics and media, it was possible to look at the relationship and its applicability to the expressive arts therapies field. As anticipated, associations between excessive screen time and poor mental health were highly correlated and prevalent within current literature. However, media use and its relationship to our emotional and sensory self was multi-faceted.
Limitations
There were many weaknesses within the literature review project. The first weakness is the lack of substantial literature surrounding therapeutic aesthetics. Therapeutic aesthetics as a search variable refers to the human capacity to feel and sense. The youthfulness of the field of expressive arts therapies, where the therapeutic aesthetics is conveyed, provided for a limited number of research articles addressing the philosophical concept. This limitation effects the quantity of appropriate literature and raises concerns surrounding replicable and reliable sources. To continue, the topic looked to address the increase of media consumption and its effect on our ability to emote with regard to mental health. There is a difference between how media affects our emotions and our ability to express our emotions. How media affects our emotions was significantly more present within the literature than our ability to express our emotions. Summarizing, this thesis topic was limited due to a semantic failure of a lack of literature for the concept of expressing our emotions.
Another limitation for this study includes its specificity to the United States and lack of cultural consideration. For example, due to the thesis topic being centered around a philosophical concept, it was a reoccurring theme to have ethnicity, or therefore a lack of, as a variable within the scope of studies analyzed. This weakness conveys a potential ethnocentric outlook by ignoring the identity of ethnicity within the research. The majority of the research within the literature on technology was collected within the past couple of years due to the vastly changing nature of technology. Furthermore, there is limited research on the implications of COVID-19 on this project which calls for further development and analysis of data.
Implications (Unresolved or New Issues)
This project raised several issues regarding aspects of media and aesthetics not previously understood. The behaviors of people interacting with media differentiate across type of media and type of anhedonia. The DSM-5 disorders associated with anhedonia are a critical aspect of psychiatric disorders but varies across them (Rømer et al., 2015). Anhedonia, synonymous with anesthesia for the scope of this paper, can be a dysfunction in liking, wanting, or learning (Rømer et al., 2015). The complexity of aesthetics within the human experience needs to be further broken down through neuroscience tests before conclusions can be made. Furthermore, a deeper understanding of how media is being consumed and the trajectory of screen time usage will help with the scope of the paper.
Areas for Further Research
I propose further research to explore the nuances of emotional and sensorial expressiveness within the human experience. I challenge future research to conduct the studies through a socio-cultural awareness of systemic structures of power and privilege. Further areas of research can explore people’s aesthetic responsiveness using the Aesthetic Response Assessment (AReA) (Schlotz et al., 2020). Studies, with race, ethnicity, and identity addressed, can use the AReA with interventions of media types to analyze aesthetic responsiveness of samples and subsamples. I propose further research and expressive arts therapists to test aesthetic responsiveness before and after mindfulness interventions. Does anesthesia occur after mindfulness interventions on specific populations? What types of themes within media create larger aesthetic responsiveness across a specific population? How can neuroscience literature and expressive arts therapy literature be used together to create conclusions and correlations about these variables?
Conclusion
This project conveys that media consumption as a behavior is highly influenced by our aesthetics. Furthermore, mindfulness as an embodied trait and practice can serve as a mediator to developing maladaptive behaviors associated with media consumption. A practice of personal parallel process responsibility was taken throughout the thesis project. For example, as therapist I am part of the therapeutic relationship and process. In exploring the thesis process, I practiced healthy habits related to technological decompression, mindfulness, and expressive arts. To concretize the record keeping expectations, I maintained healthy media consumption, journaled frequently, and practiced the expressive arts. Through the maintenance of these goals, I attempted to aestheticize myself into seeing, hearing, and feeling throughout the thesis. Through a critical analysis of screen time and the expressive arts in terms of mental health, I offer treatment recommendations of mindfulness interventions through all mediums both online and offline. Due to screen time increasing for the average United States citizen due to COVID-19, there is a larger need for mindfulness interventions. The thesis contributes culturally relevant clinical practice of the expressive therapies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research outcomes call for the implementation of more expressive arts therapies in telehealth due to their inherent qualities that balance out the negative aspects of screen time. Readers of the thesis should take away the importance of the expressive arts at in-person sites and telehealth therapy. The project attempts to contribute to the expressive arts therapies field by highlighting mindfulness qualities within the expressive arts therapies as effective interventions for combating excessive media consumption.
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