Lately I've been trying to get away from social media - but not all social media.
Specifically, social media such as Facebook.
I mean, outside of the fact that we're dealing with massive amounts of censorship at the moment with Trump being removed, Parler being snuffed and waking up to the realization that big tech has an incredibly disturbing monopoly over everything we require to function in society....
I have been personally finding that Facebook is incredibly addictive and using it too much I find it hard to put the phone down.
A couple years ago, I came across this youtube video from Cal Newport talking about how to have a successful business without the use of social media.
What struck me the most is in the beginning of his video he describes that some businesses (like Facebook) have people hired in order to figure out how to keep you addicted. They're constantly looking for those ways to keep that dopamine cycle going.
And it makes sense. As a company you want people to use your services/products and it would make sense to find some way psychologically to keep people coming back for more. Not only would it help your business grow, it would virtually guarantee it being a successful & long term endeavor if your product/service has all the bells & whistles people want.
Makes you wonder however how many people are in the position of being glued to their phones. I often find people my age and below can't have a decent conversation anymore, are able to sit in silence or focus on much anymore because of the constant need to grab our phones.
Even as I'm writing this right now I'll admit, I'm having difficulty sitting through an article I just found talking about Dopamine, Smartphones & You: A battle for your time from Harvard talking about this exact topic.
I can't focus. In the back of my mind I'm constantly wanting to switch back to Facebook to see what other people have said on my posts or on the posts I've commented on. It makes me constantly worry that I'm going to miss out on something; some update, some kind of drama, something big going down, etc. etc.
And since I'm alone a lot of days (stay at home mom life, woo!) I get lonely after a week of not seeing anyone, which has been amplified since everyone thinks a simple cold is going to kill them (if it even exists in the first place).
This being said going forward, I'll be limiting social media use during the day by unplugging the wifi at night and during the afternoon after I have done my social media & emailing for the day.
I have done this before in the past and have found the first few days to be difficult to deal with, but I look forward to taking another crack at it again.
Source: Mine
I'll keep ya'll updated with the results.