The 3 Reasons I Was Addicted to Social Media

I quit social media years ago, but I used to be hooked

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There was a time I was hooked on social media.

Every day, I was online for at least six hours. That time was spent trawling Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest for the latest photos of models, fashion icons, #vanlife influencers, and other social media icons. When I wasn’t giving my attention away to celebrities for free, I was busy strategizing about and creating meaningless content for my social media that would disappear into the void.

It’s appalling how much time I wasted on social media. Thousands and thousands of irreplaceable hours of my life I spent trying to make social media algorithms happy, for no reward other than external validation.

Many people have this problem. Using subtle yet powerful psychological design techniques, social media companies have hooked nearly everyone on their drug. Thanks to this, there are more people stuck on social media than ever.

There are probably many reasons people find social media so irresistible, but here are the ones that were most powerful for me.

#1: I was too ashamed to be myself

When I was dependent on social media, I spent a lot of time browsing Instagram…