Why social media will destroy you?

In the age of being ‘plugged in’, an entire generation has been caught up in what can be described as a positive feedback loop made available thanks to social media.

Let me try to paint a dire situation for us..

Sometimes it seems like our days are always running away from us. Most of us spend 33% of our day asleep, 20% on basic necessities/maintenance activities and 33% devoted to work, leaving just a sliver of 14% for any other activity we'd like to perhaps partake in. To put that into perspective, if your time is limited to an average lifespan - that's about 14% of the daylight hours you get available for fun and leisure... which can be slightly less if you also have small ones running around at home! But now, we have a different dynamic - wherein social media platforms are mining this very little time we have.

Social media platforms are great at one thing - mining our attention.

They know exactly how to create positive feedback loops that keep us hooked: haptic feedback, inviting visuals that make it hard to resist taking the phone out and scrolling for hours. Social media bombard us with notifications about updates which we just can't help but respond to. Our dopamine reward systems have been so thoroughly hacked that Americans on average spend two-and-a-half hours per day engaged in social media activities--that's an outrageous 10% of our waking time! Social media has truly succeeded in shrinking our attention span by half and all you really need to do is pick up your smartphone and open a social media app.

We often think the amount of time we engage on social media platforms is a problem, but what is more concerning is what it hurts when we increase this time.

Without enough sleep, our bodies and brains take a huge toll and make us less productive throughout the day. Not only does this occur in everyday tasks, but it also affects any disruption that may arise when we’re at work. As engaging as these apps may be, it hurts the time we should be allocating to critical activities that matter.

In the age of being ‘plugged in’, an entire generation has been caught up in what can be described as a positive feedback loop made available thanks to social media.

Kids that are growing up with the internet in full bloom have adopted unconventional methods for understanding life. This has become largely apparent given their desire for constant attention; this trait has allowed for dramatic spikes in repeating behaviour and unfortunately, it may translate into a catastrophic future for those of us who fully immerse ourselves in the apps we use on a daily basis.

If you're one of the 99%, caught in the internet's endless dopamine injection machine, it might be hard to hear the message of this blogpost.

You see, internet zombies - as I lovingly call them - have been bred from a generation who have become accustomed to the blinding flash of instant gratification that these platforms provide. But don't despair - today's post is meant to wake up even the groggiest zombie and set us on a path toward reversing technology's total domination. It's a tough task - for all involved – but if we don't try, I'm honestly not sure where we'll end up. And I don't think anyone wants to find out.

This blogpost is a wake-up call for you.

Take back your life, my fellow Gen-Zers! To avoid a catastrophic societal collapse like those caused by communism and nazism in the 1930s, when unfortunately it took hundreds of millions of lost lives before people realized how wrong those ideologies were, it is our responsibility as individuals to resist going down that same dark path. Take heed friend - if we don't take action now, who knows what kind of state this world be in by the time we wake up from this nightmarish trance. It's a sea of blood out there - so let's make conscious decisions so that future generations won't have to suffer the same tragic fate!

Taking a utilitarian approach to social media and our phones can feel like a tough task.

To start, deleting the apps and using laptops instead, then turning off all notifications - it may sound easy but believe me - it isn't! It's hard to make these changes when we have become so accustomed to our habits over the years. However, having an understanding that what we are contributing to is nothing short of a catastrophe should surely lend a hand in steering you away from idle moments on your phone. Why not replace those sapped moments of doing nothing with something more worthwhile? Eat better, exercise, meditate or read - listen to music, podcasts or learn something new. There are far better ways to use our time than mindlessly scrolling on social media – the only obstacle is ourselves! Undoing those well-worn grooves will take dedication, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be worth it in the end. Let's make best use of this limited attention span and find ways to make each day count and avert the doom that is lurking in our background!

This is part of my 'why' blog series as I deep dive our modern day struggles. Read my last blogpost here. A video version of this blog can be found here. A downloadable audio is available in my patreon page.