Why I Quit Social Media

A couple of months ago, I was out with a group of friends of mine. We had gathered together probably after a period of more than two years. We hung out for nearly 30 minutes and guess what nearly 25 minutes of the conversation was about?
One of my friend showed me his newly created Instagram page, asking every one of us to follow it, and shared his plans of making money from it. He was quite busy staring down at his phone all the time with sounds of 'hmm' in between.
The next friend showed me the number of friends he had on Facebook to establish his popularity and started searching my name on Facebook in order to send me a friend request. Quite ironic right!! Me standing in flesh right in front of him and he wanted to add me as a friend on Facebook.
Sharing a laugh while reading funny Instagram posts was a part of that conversation as well.

It's been more than a year now since I decided to quit all social media platforms and believe me I've never regretted missing out on anything at all. 

Back then, I would spend more than 3 hours every day switching between different social media applications and scrolling mindlessly down the feed. Every notification, every new post, every like, every comment; I didn't want to miss anything. I'd think a lot before uploading any photo and would get disappointed when any photo got less number of likes than the previous one, measuring my self-worth by the number of likes. Tagging friends with bigger friend lists to boost the number of likes was a strategy many of my friends used. Checking the notifications, the number of likes, comments and friend requests was the first thing I 'd do in the morning.

I remember getting jealous of my friends who got more likes and had bigger friend lists than mine. Popularity was measured by the number of friends on Facebook. Considering life miserable while my friends checked into some of the best places around the globe was a regular affair. When I look back now, I regret having wasted so much of my time on such an unproductive activity.
I learned a lot of things while not being on social media. Read a lot, worked on my writing skills and I probably would've never started this blog if I would've never quit social media.

Well, enough with my story. I decided to write a post on this topic because social media addiction is on a rise especially among teenagers. Every day when I enter the college classroom, I notice a lot of my friends scrolling down their social media feeds. It is kind of annoying when everybody is so glued to their smartphones all the time.
While researching this topic, I came across a large number of studies which revealed some of the harms of using social media. Let's try having a look at them.

Harms Of Social Media

Recently, I was watching a TEDx Talk by Dr. Cal Newport in which he revealed how the major social media sites used unethical practices and hired 'attention engineers' to make these sites as addictive as possible in order to maximize their profits. Studies suggest that increasing use of social media has been linked to a large number of psychological problems.

Some of the psychological and social harms caused by using social media are:

• Checking notifications after every few minutes can permanently reduce our concentration capacity.  
• The more people use social media the more likely they are to feel lonely or isolated. 
• Watching our friends' positive portrayals of their life can make us feel inadequate and lead to feelings of depression.
• Remember that feeling when you upload a photo and are so anxious to check the number of likes and comments the moment you wake up in the morning. Well, use of social media has been linked to anxiety-related disorders.
• Social media gives us a false sense of accomplishment and acceptance. Our posts getting liked by others make us feel good.
• Social media can lead to poor communication skills as messaging is easier than talking face to face. The use of abbreviations can harm your vocabulary.

You Don't Need To Pull The Plug

Please don't consider this post as me suggesting you to quit social media and delete all your social media profiles. It is quite possible that I'd start using social media myself again in the future. The purpose of me writing this post is to make you rethink your relationship with your smartphone. Try to have a balance in your life. Don't be that person who would regret having spent some of the best years of his/her life behind a screen. Don't be that person who goes on a vacation just so he/she could post it on Facebook. Don't be that person who clicks a photograph with the sole purpose of uploading it on Instagram rather than capturing that moment for a lifetime.

Some suggestions you can try following are:

• Turn off notifications of all social media applications.
• Uninstall social media applications from your smartphone to avoid constant checking and ruining precious moments with friends and family. 
• Unfriend and unfollow strangers on social media as they only increase the number of posts in your feed. 
• Try spending more time off your smartphone screens amidst nature and try devoting some time for physical exercise. 

A Challenge For You (The Red Goldfish Challenge)

Set a limit on the number of posts you would be checking tomorrow (try keeping it low) and tomorrow try sticking to that limit. If you are unable to log out without the temptation to view more posts then try curbing your addiction with the above-mentioned suggestions.

Please don't try carving this on your hand.

That is all with today's post. Until next time:
Keep reading and keep smiling:)

References:

1. Quit social media | Dr. Cal Newport | TEDxTysons
2. WHY I QUIT SOCIAL MEDIA FOR A YEAR AND WHAT I LEARNED | Freedom in Thought
3. 5 Ways Social Media Screws You Over | Improvement Pill

For best and unique posts on foreign affairs and an insight into the real world of politics do check out this amazing blog; Political World.