I guess many of you are aware of the toxicity of social media, but most of you can not get rid of it. “ I can’t delete facebook because i have friends, that’s the only resource that keeps me to stay up-to-date”, “ I have learned a lot from facebook, i joined study groups,…”.
For me, these are really good excuses. Here are some reasons that motivates me to delete social media right the way.
- Time is the most valuable resource of human, and social media keeps me wasting my time unconsciously.
Psychologists estimate that as many as 5 to 10% of Americans meet the criteria for social media addiction today. Not only in America, there are so many people recently spending hours and hours on scrolling facebook or twitter’s feed without being selective about the content they see.
They are exposed to watch hundreds of short clips and news that do not even related to them.Some may are harmless, but some may pose a threat to people’s thinking and cognition, especially teenager, we can clearly see that teen who use social media more frequent than usual are more likely to be narrow-minded and behave badly.
Last year, just like other students, i had a facebook, instagram’s accounts and literally posted story about my life everyday, recorded short clips about myself saying hi in front of the camera or acted cute to get attention from the boys. I know it sounds cringe but i actually received many message requests from them.
At first, i thought it was so amazing that i could attract the boys, made those girls jealous of my perfect life, i spent hours to think of the caption to post a picture and scrutinized to every comments i received. I had that kind of habit for nearly 5 years and till 2021, now or never, i decided to make a revolution.
I’ve always craving for learning languages, one of my biggest dream is to talk to native speakers fluently. Therefore, i need to phase out external distractions, temptations and ultimately, reconstruct my mindset.
Since i deleted social media, i feel like i have more time to do the things i have always wanted, such as cooking, painting, learning languages, reading,…or whatever. On the physical basis, it helps you to have a healthier body because you do urge the muscles to function instead of lying on the bed or sitting passively for a long period of time. On the mental basis, it improves your overall mood as well as mental strength, you would be less likely to feel lonely, depressed and even sleep better. I understand the feeling of scrolling the feed, it is satisfying, I agree, but for the sake of long-term benefits, it’s time to give up the short-term obstacles to keep you move foward.
2. “ I use social media to learn new things” assumption.
Before talking about this, i want you to spend 30 seconds thinking about what did you learn yesterday from social media. How long did you spend on social media yesterday? Or this week? This month?
You may be surprised with the hours you spent, unexpecting the length of time that you’ve wasted.
In fact, most of us do not even remember what we saw on social media, maybe sometimes we do force ourselves to absorb some random useful knowledge, but on the next day, you would hardly recall it because social media reduces your memory capacity and it is the main reason why we procrastinate things and we can not even concentrate on particular task.
According to Diamond Physicians, social media can also keep you awake, making it difficult to fall asleep, eat, or focus. The continued strain on your body only leaves you more susceptible to mental health issues, such as anger, agitation, sadness, mood swings, anxiety, and depression.
It is commonly seen that people who are actively participate on social media tend to sleep later than those who not.
There are numerous ways to learn in this amazing world, you can either read from books or watching videos, you can ask your teachers or experts or even self-taught. You do not need to rely on social media to pick up new things.
3. Where i can not be my true self.
It seems like most people on instagram all have a very perfect life. Why they always look happy and beautiful?
Do i have to be the same or i won’t get more followers?
Chasing for virtual happiness made me feel like i gradually lost myself, i felt like if i did not imitate the standard of role models on the internet, i would not have any attention from the mass.
It was then until i realized that not everyone i saw on social media actually have beautiful lives, some may have but in general, they are just pretending. Also, it is predominantly seen that people on social media are more likely to be accepting, humble, nice and kind, and it is pretty disappointing that i have seen many people did not actually do the things they said on the internet.
A beautiful girl who always contributes positive and motivational encouragements to people. Off the camera, she is a drug dealer. A top-notch student who always obey to his parents and teacher. Off the camera, he offends his mom.
I mean, what are all these things for?
Instead of caring and watching or even envying others’s lives, why don’t you care about yourself? Dress whatever you want, say what’s on your mind as long as it is not offensive, do whatever you love, meet whoever you want to and finally, don’t try to be always right, life is full of mistakes.
Believe me, i can not make you a millionaire after reading this, but i can help you to live a happier life and live your life to the fullest.
“If you lose yourself, you lose everything”
4. Spending time with people that i would never meet in-person.
It is undeniable that social media do connect people together regardless of geographical boundaries, it is where you can find friends to talk to and keep in touch with people who are far apart.
However, what is the purpose of making new friends on the internet and talk about meaningless things for hours and hours?
Maybe you enjoy that moment, but it won’t last long and i am sure that you’ll regret afterwards.
When you are sick, down in the dumps, family and real friends are the one who can be leaned on.
You don’t need social media to talk to your friends, if they are the real ones, they’ll find ways to connect to to you, not those who talk friendly on the internet.
“Focus on how to be social, not how to do social.” — Jay Baer, founder, Convince & Convert
In a nutshell:
- Time is the most valuable resource of human, and social media keeps me wasting my time unconsciously.
- You don’t need social media to pick up new things or knowledge, most of us can not even remember what we saw on social media yesterday.
- Where i can not be my true self.
- People pretend to be iconic.
- Connecting with virtual people instead of concerning about your near and dear ones.
Note: I am not saying that all people joined social media are mean and negative, it also depends on your enviroment and your relationships. However, regarding to long-terms benefits, social media is not that fruitful and once you phase it out of your life, i’m sure that you’ll have more time to do the things you’ve wanted, spending time with “real” people and be healthy in both physical and mental health.
Be my friend and my partner:
Gmail: limyang558@gmail.com
Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hoang-thi-anh-duong-bb0493217/
