Social media does little to no favours for our mental well-being. Above all, this is what living two months without it has taught me.
The decision to eliminate myself from the ever enchanting worlds of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram was one I had been contemplating for some time. I had spent years boring those around me with lectures about how social media addiction damages society and writing articles about its endless list of negative effects. But hidden behind the mask of my criticisms, I managed to sneakily remain a loyal user.
Observing the way in which everyone around me was becoming more and more obsessed with social media made me feel unsettled. As I became increasingly conscious of the addiction, I would notice how the attention of anyone I might engage with on a given day would be disrupted by their desire to needlessly refocus their gaze back onto their phone. I would spot strangers who were unable to sit through a meal without monotonously scanning their news feed. Or others who were unable to complete a simple stroll down the street without staring down at the all-important screen. Yet despite spending copious amounts of my own free time using it every single day, I failed to notice how tight of a grasp it had taken on myself.
It wasn’t until one evening a little over two months ago that it hit me. Arriving home from work, I had genuine intentions of doing some form of exercise, tidying my house, shopping for food and maybe approaching my much neglected attempt at a writing career. I looked forward to confronting this list of to-dos which had been niggling my thought flow for a number of days.
My mind, which had been so determined to be productive, was suddenly seized by a mellow beep from my phone. Which was likely informing me that some ‘friend’ I hadn’t shared company with in years had sent me a personal snapchat showcasing what they were having for dinner. In a frighteningly natural transition, I soon found myself in a motionless daze on the couch. As I alternated quickly between apps, my original plans soon became irrelevant. Almost two hours passed and the most productive thing I had managed to do was flick on a light switch. Endlessly flicking through the repetitive ‘news feed’ and observing the ‘stories’ of the better-than-mine day everyone was seemingly having, soon extinguished my motivation.
The evening in question shamefully passed by without me completing anything I had originally intended. Feeling frustrated and anxious, I wondered how frequently I let this happen. How often was I sacrificing my valuable free time for getting senselessly engrossed in this addictive, artificial world?
Being productive makes us feel good. It can boost our confidence and even our feeling of self-worth. This natural high is something we continuously deny ourselves as a result of getting distracted.
It’s an occurrence that may go relatively unnoticed. But whenever we neglect our desires, goals and errands, it can negatively seep into our subconscious. Considering the sheer amount of time we spend doing exactly this on social media, every single day, the prospects for our mental health are frightening.
I’m sure there are those who genuinely relish the idea of using their free time to endlessly navigate the social media universe. However, I would suggest with some confidence that most people, like myself, have never found it overly enthralling. Yet for some reason, we have been unable to refrain from religiously engaging with it all day, every day. The likelihood is that most of us have never even considered stopping. Lodging itself firmly into the daily habits of society, it has become something we feel obliged to be a part of.
The true extent of how damaging social media addiction is to our minds will be realised eventually. It may take a while, but you can guarantee the time will come when we all look back and say “How were we so stupid?” We don’t have to go back too far to find a time when advertisements glorified cigarettes.
As much as I had longed to disengage with the whole thing, it was certainly a strange experience when I eventually did. After persevering through Facebook’s determined reluctance to let me go and deleting each of my respective accounts, there were times when I didn’t know what to do with myself. During any idle moment, I habitually maneuvered towards my phone, only to be reminded of what I had done.
Once the habit was broken and I got over being out of the loop in any conversation that involved the phrase “Did you see that thing on Facebook…?”(which seemingly is an enormous amount of conversations!), the benefits were clear.
Feeling more engaged with my day, I became more mindful and aware of what was going on around me. I still had the exact same hours at work, but there now seemed to be this wealth of free time at my disposal when I got home. I utilised it as much as I could but often I would simply bask in the joy of doing absolutely nothing. Which instead of a motionless gaze at my phone, now meant the vivid processing of my thoughts.
I found further satisfaction in being removed from the constant bombardment of melodramatic ‘news’ and the superficial gossip from pathetic publications which try so desperately to obtain our attention. Having content and advertisements, which computer algorithms think we want to see, continuously shoved in our faces, makes for an overpowering, uncomfortable experience. Unfortunately, it is still early days for this aspect of the online world and it will continue to grow.
People will always jump to the defence of social media with its never-ending list of benefits, but no one can deny that our use of it has turned into total over indulgence. Like many other of life’s pleasures, its potential positive service to society will forever be marred by our inability to do things in moderation.
You can read more of my pieces on my blog ‘The Write Hand’ here.