It happens every evening at around 10:00 PM.
I sit down on the couch with a book in hand, but just before I start reading, I decide to check my Instagram feed. I recently discovered that if you hit the little magnifying glass and tap on one of the videos in the search feed, Instagram will send you video after video of related content.
The minutes go by. Before I know it, it’s midnight, and I’ve spent around two hours mindlessly scrolling through social media, punctuated here and there by reading a few paragraphs in the book I had intended to read.
Unfortunately, I’m not the only one mesmerized by social media, falling into this pattern of using it far beyond what I expected. According to some estimates, the average 16–24-year old (one generation below my age bracket) spends as many as three hours on social media every day.
The implications of this time investment are simply staggering. In Malcolm Gladwell’s recent book The Outliers, we are told that reaching expert status in a given field requires a 10,000-hour investment. Now if this average aforementioned 16–24-year old took their 3 hours of social media usage and reinvested it in something more constructive, it would take them just around a decade to become the next Michelangelo, Bill Gates, or Mohammed Ali.
Of course, that’s a gross oversimplification of the situation, but I hope you get my point: for most people, social media takes away from our investment in meaningful pursuits with tangible results that improve our world.
Which brings me to the point of my article.
Even though I myself use social media for business and entertainment, I’ve increasingly come to the conclusion that we would be better off without it.
And if you need any proof that I’m not alone in this belief, consider the fact that most of the tech gurus who have masterfully enslaved us to your own mobile devices do not use the very drugs they manufacture — and they don’t let their kids use them either.
In today’s world, concepts like enlightenment and inner peace are frequently discussed among a generation that views itself as far more conscious than previous generations. But in reality, these concepts remain as elusive as ever for most people — and social media doesn’t help anyone find them.
Enlightenment is a concept discussed in almost every spiritual practice around the world. Though it varies in meaning from tradition to tradition, at the core it always means having or showing a rational, well-informed outlook.
Inner peace is closely related to enlightenment. It’s a state of existence where one possesses psychological or spiritual calm despite the potential or actual presence of stressors.
Here are just a few ways that social media sabotages our efforts towards achieving these states.
Social media increases anxiety.
Someone I know recently approached me with the concern that their Facebook account was showing them more and more posts about a particular type of tragic circumstance that I will avoid naming. I asked them if they had read any posts about this type of occurrence, and they responded in the affirmative. Social media algorithms feed us what we engage with, over and over again. This AI does not assess whether or not the content is good for our health — it just wants to keep us on the page. If you like, comment, or even stop for a few seconds on a post (creating what’s called an impression) you have engaged with this content, and your social media feed will show you more of it. The end result is simply disastrous for people with anxiety about a particular topic. Rather than confronting their anxiety in a healthy way and/or working through it, they mindlessly consume more and more of the same worry. This barrage is not conducive to finding inner peace.
Social media makes us less happy.
I do not regularly use Facebook; one of the reasons I stopped using it is because I would frequently find myself looking at pictures of other people and their lives. I did it more from a place of curiosity, but for some social media users, this can quickly devolve into a spiral of jealousy and pain. We look at the images people curate of their best moments in life — that incredible home, those happy kids, that love-filled relationship — and we immediately compare our own real-life to the select portion of their real-life that we see. You simply cannot be happy comparing your life to the lives of people around you; it’s a highway to misery. Unfortunately, comparisons are just part of human nature. In the reality that exists apart from our smartphones, we can exert some self-control to avoid looking at things we shouldn’t look at. But when all it takes is a few swipes or scrolls to see how the proverbial Jones Family is living, it’s so much easier to descend into the hobby of fueling jealousy, ingratitude, and displeasure with our own lives. This downward spiral is not conducive to finding inner peace.
Social media keeps us trapped in our own thought bubbles.
As mentioned, the social media algorithm feeds you more and more of whatever you like to look at. If you start to engage regularly with content that resonates with your point of view, you will be fed more of the same. A key part of achieving enlightenment is seeking the truth — which will involve becoming well informed. When the way we look at an issue is filtered through one lens, we become unable to see a bigger picture. Even worse, we lose the ability to engage in a respectful way with people who disagree with us, leading to a heated confrontation about topics like politics or religion that often descend into personal insult. Moreover, social media makes it easier than ever to bump individuals who don’t share your own personal views out of your radius. In real life, you cannot just unfriend or unfollow someone who possesses different views than your own, especially if life requires you to interact with them on a regular basis. But on social media, you can. Engaging in discourse rationally and developing a well-informed outlook on life are part and parcel of being enlightened; social media facilitates neither one of those concerns.
Social media makes us less intelligent.
Social media platforms like TikTok encourage us to digest information in 15-second increments, or at the most, 60 seconds. This makes it impossible to retain more complex pieces of information. Our culture is becoming byte-sized, with disastrous results. Attention spans are dwindling, making it harder than ever for meaningful messages in art, music, and literature to penetrate our mind and be ruminated upon. True, rote memorization may not seem necessary when we have Google to look up anything, but traditional methods of education and information ingestion also facilitate the type of intelligence required for problem-solving. As social media bombards us with the addictive stream of one tree after another, we don’t just lose sight of the whole forest — we never see it in the first place. Creating a great work of literature, philosophy or music requires the ability to retain smaller pieces of information and connect them to a larger whole. Developing a complex business idea, analyzing an economic problem, or building a rocketship require the same. Becoming an enlightened person who sees the bigger picture of life also requires this type of intelligence — one that is not facilitated by social media.
So what should I do?
I’ve written before about the addictive power of social media. In many ways, it’s designed just like a casino: to keep us inside, lost, and distracted as long as possible. The problem with social media, however, that makes it even more dangerous than gambling, is that you always win. A slot machine may not pay out every time, but almost always, when you check your social media feed, you will be rewarded with an exciting ping, ding, or tweet. Next time you reach for your phone, think about the feeling that accompanies that action. Is there a slight touch of excitement or euphoria accompanying it? If so, you’ve just awoken to the realization that social media is dangerously addicting.
I wish I had a solution to this problem. As mentioned, I myself use social media for business. But in terms of social media used for personal entertainment, I know there is room to take a step away.
I think one of the easiest ways to deal with our addiction is simply to delete the apps from our phones and pick up a book. I also think that creating a select day of the week or daily time frame in which you do not use any kind of tech device carries amazing benefits for your health and happiness.
Perhaps one day, you and I will realize that we’re just better off without it entirely…much like the Silicon Valley execs who invented it. Until then, my friends — keep on seeking inner peace and enlightenment. And remember that social media is not the way to get there.
And if you enjoyed this article, please follow me on Medium.
I know. It’s ironic.