Social media has altered dreams, finds researcher
Advent of social media has altered not only the thinking patterns of the people, but also their dreams.
KOTTAYAM: The advent of social media has altered not only the thinking patterns of the people, but also their dreams. As the duration of sleep has become less with the spread of Facebook, WhatsApp etc, the mind is not able to recall the dreams properly, according to a researcher.
Dr Boban Eranimos, 34, a native of Amayanoor, near here, has studied dreams which have the potential to cure psychiatric disorders — a topic widely discussed in the west, but not in India. He has secured PhD on the subject, ‘A study on the dream of blinds,' under the supervision of Dr. N. Rajeev Kumar of Mahatma Gandhi University.
He interviewed over 100 blind people and studied their varied dreams. The study revealed that the congenitally blind male participants had more aggressive dreams, including on good fortune, success and failure, whereas the females reported more friendliness, misfortune, striving and content in their dreams.
Understanding the secrets of the inner recesses of one’s dreams is helpful in exploring the unconscious mind. “The content of our dreams reflects our everyday walking experiences,” Boban says.
He supported his statement based on modern dream continuity hypothesis. “Through systematically studying the dream content, we can explore the conflicts and problems of the person and gradually propose solutions,” he says.
Dream work psychotherapies are widely practised in western countries, but in India, it is in its infancy. “Indians are not seriously investigated about the importance of dreams in psychotherapeutic practices,” Boban told this newspaper.
The explicit occurrence of sleep and dreams is comparatively less nowadays because one needs a long duration of good sleep for dreams. However, dreams happen in spite of the social media, he says.
Boban took his post-graduation in psychology from the School of Behavioural Sciences, MGU, and also secured MPhil in rehabilitation psychology from there. He also secured another MPhil in clinical psychology from the Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP), Ranchi.
Boban has been associated with Dr Art Funkhouser, expert in dreams and deja vu experiences, C.J Jung Institute, Switzerland. He has published some major works with him and also written many articles about dreams. He is also a member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD).