Tips To Overcome Social Media Addiction And Advice For Your Next Door Influencer Friend.

Social media is based on persuasive technology to keep you engaged with the constant consumption of content. Ever wonder how you forget to keep track of time the moment you open Instagram? These applications follow an approach that allows them to profit from what they are doing i.e. by keeping you engaged. In this post, we will discuss how to overcome social media addiction and much more.

I am sure you check your phone within half an hour the moment you wake up in the morning. If you are actively using social media or other services like Gmail etc. then this duration can be less than 15 minutes for you. This is simply because you have been influenced by technology that can rewrite your thinking and decision-making ability.

These platforms are based on persuasive technology. Persuasive technology is designed to create products that can influence your thinking pattern, and change your behaviour and attitude towards something. So, if you are using any such platform that keeps you hooked to it then you are not a user, you are a product. Social media has the potential to change the world order, start a civil war, make an individual do anything and much more.

To understand how persuasive technology functions you must understand the hook model.

The Hook Model

The Hook Model

It basically consists of four parameters: trigger, action, variable reward and investment in successive order. These four parameters form a cycle that allows the product to be used by users permanently without any monetary investment in promotions etc. Suppose you landed on a very funny meme on your Instagram feed (the reason why you choose to see that meme is a trigger). This trigger creates an action (action such as convincing you to watch more such memes).

Every time you open Instagram you see something different and that is called variable reward. Through variable rewards, you stay hooked on the platform because you are getting something new every time. Then comes the investment which means users are actually putting in something like money or time or effort etc. This cycle helps the companies to build better triggers, target ads and improve user experience.

Though this was not in detail since the hook model is not the topic of our discussion. I mentioned it because if you know how these products work then you can do something about it in the very beginning.

The Perfect Solution:

Beat the triggers. Algorithms are designed to serve you better triggers every time you enter the application. The only way to escape the cycle is to somehow identify the triggers and beat them at the very beginning. For this to happen you have to be very aware and focus on every small to big trigger. This is very difficult but if you manage to create a cue to beat the triggers you can build a habit of using social media only for necessary reasons. Note: triggers can be internal or external.

Here are a few ways how you can overcome social media addiction.

1. Identify the need:
   Ask yourself if you really need to use social media. Ask what benefit you are getting out of it and what purpose it is serving in your life. If you simply want to connect with your friends you can limit yourself to any one place. You don’t need to be everywhere. If you are looking for a social connection or validation then you should examine this thought again.
2. Monitor your digital time: Keep track of the time you are spending on these platforms. Some apps like Instagram allow you to check how much time you spend, if not you can download an application that keeps track of your timing. Try to reduce the time you spend. Set a target and achieve it.
3. Deactivation and Deletion: Deactivation simply does not work. If you have an account you know this already. Deleting your account is the best solution if you are not getting anything out of social media.
4. Block Notification: Remember the trigger starts from here. So don’t allow these applications to send you any notifications. You can simply disable the notification from your phone setting. It works.
5. Keep your phone away when you are working: Don’t keep your phone with you while working or studying. Keep it in another room. If you are on a laptop doing some office work, keep your phone behind the laptop so that you don’t notice.
6. Fix a time and prioritize yourself: Fix a time in a day when to use social media. Prioritize yourself, and prioritize your time because everyone you are talking to on the internet is either going to ghost you or use you for their leisure.
7. Know the truth: If you are using any social media you are their product, not a user. Though they don’t mention it openly. Only drugs and social media call people users. Know this. Other businesses call you either a consumer or a customer. Your time, your creativity, and your efforts are being used to target you.

Take a break from social media for a month or a year. Detoxication is important because that helps you understand that there is more to life than virtual reality. Uninstall, deactivate or delete, and do whatever you can to overcome social media addiction unless you are making a living out of it.

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My Honest Opinion And Suggestions If You Are Planning To Become An Influencer:

Honestly, I am not a big fan of social media. I removed my personal information and personal profiles a long time ago (2 years I guess — except LinkedIn). I try to use social media as a creator and for business purposes only (using an alias name) rather than as a content consumer. It does allow you to build a career as an influencer but that should be your choice only if you are serious about it and if you have your family to support you financially. A big limitation of social media platforms is their algorithms and inability to interact with all your followers and transfer them from one place to another. They honestly don’t care about your fans or followers and your relationship with them. They will only support and promote content that is going to increase engagement on their platform. This is very discouraging as you can’t build a business or stay in touch with your own followers or build a community. This is the reason why I like Substack as I can directly send an email to everyone and stay in touch with all my readers. This helps in building a one-to-one relationship and a community. Additionally, I will always have this community irrespective of Substack’s existence 10 years from now.

Here is what I would suggest:

1. Have a backup plan before you choose to become a content creator because the success rate is too low (You can check the data here). You need to be extremely talented to gain followers who are going to actually support you or pay for your product.
2. Social media companies don’t pay you (except YouTube. I am not sure about TikTok though) to create content. They just say that they are doing everything to support their creators. Don’t fall for this.
3. Algorithms determine the reach of your posts. The chances that your posts will reach your own followers are too low. Believe me, being in the machine learning domain, I know how these algorithms work. They are user-focused, not creators-focused. The recommendation engines are designed to increase engagement rate and show users what they are more likely to interact with so this simply does not take into account the interest of creators.
4. Influencers get paid through brand partnerships but not everyone. Very few percentages of these influencers are getting paid before generating results. Most of the sponsorships pay you based on the result but your own followers are likely to avoid sponsored posts. Just know that they may choose to support you if you have earned their heart in some manner but this does not happen with everyone and only extremely loyal followers will do that for you. You need to have a good number of fan following in order to actually make it your full-time occupation.
5. You need to invest money, to be honest. You need to invest in a good camera, good video editing software, good sound quality mic and stuff to produce content that will be supported by algorithms. Unlike YouTube, other social media platforms discourage the reach of poor-quality media. Ever wonder why only high-quality images and videos are mostly shown on the Instagram Explore page? You will feel as if Instagram is only for rich individuals and in a way it does differentiate. If you have the money you can easily become successful on Instagram through promotion and little or no talent.
6. Social media no doubt offers you opportunities but it is too biased and engagement oriented that it does not care about your passion or dream to become a full-time influencer.

So, think 4-times before you decide to leave your job to become a full-time content creator on any platform. Analyze your talent, grit, financial situation and responsibilities before your jump into this direction.

In case you become a content creator my suggestion would be to ask your followers or fans to join your independent community somewhere like Subtack or on your personal website. Don’t rely on platforms controlled by other people. Take control of your audience then only you will be able to build a personal relationship with them.

Content creation is not a bad career choice but you should have the freedom to control your audience without relying on the platform.

Good luck to you if you are planning to do so. I hope this was helpful. Make sure to share this post with your friends.

Have a nice day!

- Elixir