Understanding Social Media Addiction

“In general, we’re a social network. I prefer that because I think it is focused on the people part of it — as opposed to some people call it social media, which I think focuses more on the content.” — Mark Zuckerberg

One of the most complicated and bizarre love-hate relationships of the 21st century might be the one between social media and humankind. Most of us are aware of the pitfalls of social media to various extents. We all love to put the blame on social media platforms for every downfall our society encounters. And yet we find ourselves spending a good chunk of our time on these platforms, mindlessly scrolling.

Human beings have fundamental needs to belong and relate, for which interpersonal communication is the key. While social media is an all-powerful tool for these needs, it is also the one factor that isolates us the most. Things get much worse when it comes to a stage of addiction. Not all immoderate use of social media is an addiction. Social media addiction is the irrational and excessive use of social media to the extent that it interferes with other aspects of life. Now, let us examine how social media affects different facets of our life.

Negative internal monologues

It is easy to fall into a state of self-reproach when we get constantly bombarded with others’ carefully selected and polished online personas. ‘I wish I looked like that girl on TikTok’ ‘That 16-year-old boy is running a startup worth 1 billion. What am I doing with my life?’ ‘Everyone on Twitter seems so intellectual except me’ This is the sort of internal conversation we encounter after spending some time on the internet. These negative monologues lead to self-loathing, lack of confidence, and demotivation.

Low self-esteem

It is natural for us to yearn for a sense of belonging. We all want to be loved. Most social media features exploit this vulnerability of ours. The number of likes and shares becomes a way to quantify how much a person is loved and accepted. When the number goes down, it makes us dreadful. We tie our self-worth to the number of likes and social acceptance. Some people may go to any extent to get attention and seek validation.

Narrowed attention span

Attention span is the time spent focused on a task before becoming distracted. Various researches show that the number of social media accounts and the amount spent on social media directly relate to our focus and attention span. It explains our restlessness, declined academic performances, and procrastination tendencies.

There is a lot to incur for the time spent on social media. But, quitting on social media is almost impractical. Absenteeism is not an option anymore. We need strategies that help us improve our relationship with social media. Here are some techniques that help you healthily deal with social media:

• Practice mindfulness: Be mindful of the content you consume online and the time you spend on it. Declutter your social media platforms by unfollowing people and pages that do not serve your mental health well. You don’t have to follow your friend if their online persona disturbs you.
• Time-blocking: Block a period of time exclusively for using social media. You can use various applications and extensions to manage your screen time if you think you lack willpower.
• Build self-esteem: Increase your self-esteem by learning new skills, expanding your comfort zone, and challenging yourself daily to do something new or different. Build it so high that you no longer seek attention and validation from people online

As you might have already noticed, when we talk about the bad parts of social media, we are talking about people's dark side. These platforms are built to exploit our vulnerabilities. The only way to practice safe and healthy social media usage is to practice self-love, respect, compassion, and discipline. We can make the world a better place by bettering ourselves.