Social media detox: a break from virtuality
In a world where technology bytes are traveling at lightning speed, social media plays a huge role in our lives. The world wide web is the backbone of global business and overseas communication.There are an estimated 4.8 billion active users of internet encompassing 58% of global population as per digital census by www.statista.com. However the research on impact of social media in the recent past is suggestive of its unnerving entanglement with humans.
It has been an experimental month of social media detox and what it did to my brain and life has been beyond my expectations.
Being a part of the instagram netizens I have been an hardcore user of social media since my teens. If you are also one of the millions who scroll down the online feeds aimlessly eating up more than half of your free time then read on.
Social media applications which feed on our instantaneous attention span and keep us engaged with incessant notification are the new business models of big companies. The online world is alive and buzzing with unlimited data bytes. And ‘you’ love eating it. The desire for novel information is an innate desire for the human brain. The mind is curious and works on habits.
“Astonishingly, the average person will spend nearly two hours (approximately 116 minutes) on social media everyday, which translates to a total of 5 years and 4 months spent over a lifetime.”
An interest to deep dive into my mind and spirituality motivated me to take up this activity.The long hours of scrolling through the online feed was now a “strict no”! Just like any other addiction, social media has its own withdrawal symptoms.
The digital diet
Just like the body the mind feeds on information. Getting away from social media was similar to going on a diet. Now only discrete information was entering my mind space.Surprisingly it impacted my daily life in a positive way. I had a larger span of time in the day. The non-stop desire to check my phone’s social media feed was replaced by only news pop ups and a selected YouTube feeds.
Human attention span is at its lowest ever (thanks to technology!).According to a study by Microsoft, the average human being now has an attention span of eight seconds. This is a sharp decrease from the average attention span of 12 seconds in the year 2000. More shocking, perhaps, is the fact that research from Jampp found human attention span decreases by a whopping 88 percent every year.
Discretion to information was not the only aspect. Going off Facebook meant not getting updates on people’s lives. When I was on social media I had a strong desire to share the happenings and nuances of my everyday life on Instagram or Facebook. Went to a party? Check. Ate at your favorite restaurant? Check. It’s someone’s birthday? Check.
Double taps and likes
We get affirmations in the form of likes and comments from the external world. Even though many might deny, we all do feel validated to know that people have acknowledged our posts. After all we are human beings and we need appreciation.
The rise of social media has meant that we as a global population are more connected than we have ever been in the history of time.
However, our reliance on social media can have a detrimental effect on our mental health, with the average Brit checking their phone as much 28 times a day.
The number of likes or even the feeling that everyone knows what I did on my vacation promotes a spike in dopamine. A feeling of goodness flows in the mind with just a tap from a person afar on the other end of a screen.We want people to know. The grim reality in today’s world is that; we are more online than we are offline.
It creates a zone in the brain; which is a reflection of the way we view ourselves through the eyes of others. This subconsciously it triggers one to anticipate a like or comment.The strength of our inner affirmations need to outgrow the one’s from outside.
The celebrity bytes
We all have our ups and downs in life and the acceptance of the same is inevitable. Social media tends to grow seeds of comparison in young minds.
Celebrity profiles are the icing on the cake of virtual world. Their photos are edited lives, screened by their social media marketer. And we tend to compare our mediocre lives with their glittery existence. The world needs to realize that their lives are not perfect and they face their own share of unhappiness and imperfections. Basing our life’s ideals on their online image is not wise.
Self esteem and insecurities related to one’s body appearances that occur in teens due to the online world are detrimental.
Airbrushed photographs of celebrities with perfectly preened bodies staged in exotic locations are all over social media, but such flawless images have been described as damaging for the way they pressurise young people to meet unobtainable body-image standards.
The fear of missing out
Growing up as a part of a generation who stepped into the world of social media early, validation online was a great deal.
As a teen we have all faced FOMO( Fear of missing out) which we have also carried with us to our adulthood. Milennials after all! Our life’s choices are deeply influenced by our peers. Maintaining individuality in a world that’s constantly trying to tell you what is popular or cool is a challenge.
It is amazing to connect with people online. But over usage leads to a feeling of isolation and disconnects one from the real world.Young adults today are conscious about their online profile. They go to great lengths to maintain their virtual identity , sometimes even at the cost of their real life.
The couch potato
A paper on :The relationship between cell phone use, physical activity, and sedentary behavior in adults aged 18–80
Analysis of Covariance revealed that high cell users participated in significantly more sedentary time (521 ± 23 min/d sitting) than low users (442 ± 17 min/d sitting).
Smartphones have made us sedentary. Anxiety, hypertension, obesity are on the rise. Overuse of phone affects sleep, concentration and even brain health.Health impacts of overuse of social media are worrisome.
Our bodies naturally follow a cycle that allows us to stay awake and stay alert during the day and helps us get essential sleep at night. But when we look at screens as we are getting ready to sleep, our brains get confused. Bright light can make the brain think it’s time to stop producing the melatonin, a hormone that gives your body time to sleep cues.
A new kind of dawn
The minute we open your eyes in the morning, our hand reaches out to our smart phone. We check our phones for email, Instagram and Facebook notifications. Before even the day begins we tend to clog our vacant mind with the lives of people. Our naive mind now hosts residents, which are thoughts about the world.
I tried to change this habit. I spent the mornings with a calmer routine. I woke up to meditation, yoga or even spent some time alone. It made a huge difference to my day. I was not on a constant mind trail of who did what and where; like earlier. Instead my mind was full of energy and focus.
Throughout the day when my hand would reach out for my smart phone in my pocket, I no longer had the opportunity to check the feeds. Because I no longer had the apps. The challenge was not easy, but slowly it set in. Anxiety, stress level and a sense of unrest are decreasing day by day.
Instead when I found myself idle; I resorted to the things for which I always wanted time. I was no longer the zombie who spent hours on the phone.
A change in lifestyle
The virtual world started fading away with digital detox period. A need for real engaging conversations and meaning relationships grew slowly.People fill our world and enriching human connections is the key to building the foundation of our being. A social life is more than a social profile.
Cutting off from a regular diet consisting of the bytes of people’s lives, turned the table around. Social media detox forced me to get back to my long lost hobbies. A busy work schedule and long travelling hours always made me ponder where all my time disappeared. But now the clock moved slower. It was not as rapid as the pings or vibrations of my phone; as they used to be.
The experiment questioned my ignorance towards what I fed my mind with. I don’t deny the amazing advantages of social media, but overuse does have some serious aftermath.
Quitting helped me re-track my life and choose a lifestyle beyond the boundaries of its social media world.Focusing on myself was now a priority. The focus from where someone went on a vacation shifted to a revelation on the need to focus on the mind and body.
As the time on my hands increased gradually, my mind began to calm down. My health improved. Thoughts no longer were camouflaged under the blankets of people’s views and assumptions online, it was based on real scenarios and real interactions.
The human connection
Deep human connections are necessary for the human race to survive.
Humans are a social species. With the advent of apps, even for food these days; the need to speak with people in person is declining sharply. Meaningful involvement in simple activities are plummeting seriously. We have everything at our finger tips, whether its knowledge, food, utilities or even people. Technology is taking away our chance at a human fulfillment.
A quality time with friends and family results in soulful interactions and relationships that affect our overall happiness.
I challenge you to look around you in a public place! Aren’t the heads hanging with the chin down and eyes glued to a screen? Aren’t we living cyborgs already? It’s time to question our social media intake!
Mindful presence in reality and conscious use of virtuality can help us in the long run.I urge you to look up and be pro-life and not just online!
