HOW TO END SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION?

Most people you see are completely addicted to their phones, social-media, texting and other
similar things. We think that they provide real happiness, but in reality, they don’t. Social media
addiction is one of the most common new age addictions gripping people across the globe. Social media
platforms have caught the interest of the masses ever since their inception around a decade back. More
and more such platforms have come into being, since then. Their popularity has grown with time and so
has the number of social media addicts. It is hampering the student’s studies and affecting their grades.
It has become a hindrance in work for the working professionals, as well as home makers. As technology
spreads, to what extent do we discipline ourselves?

What is Social Media?

Social Media refers to interaction among people in which they create, share, and exchange
information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. “Social” refers to instinctual needs’ humans
have to connect with other humans while “Media” is what we use to make connections with others. It
basically means any human communication or sharing information on internet that occurs through the
medium of computer, tablet, or mobile. There are numerous websites and apps that make it possible
and it is now becoming one of the largest means of communication and is gaining popularity rapidly. In
last fast few years social media have grown tremendously at an unexpectedly fast rate and has captured
millions of users around the world. You see, the social media and smartphones serve as television,
magazines and newspapers that turn into something that follows us everywhere, even in the bathroom,
so all day images are flash to us in, it generates feelings of need, lack, and competition. The social
platform that were originally set up with the best of intention became quickly the largest most powerful
social conditioner of all time and it’s pushing everyone to their ideal life and to watch their ideal peers.

The importance of Social Media cannot be ignored since it plays a very crucial role in our lives
today, it is where we get a lot of information and ideas, but the thing is that most of teenager spending
too much time online and being disconnected from the real world. Social media almost becomes like a
second job because instead of making us more socially connected, it drifts us further away from one
another. Pretending to take a call, send a text message, or check one’s phone to avoid an awkward
social situation, for instance, is a common negative reinforcing behavior practiced by cell-phone users,
people are so busy deciding what to post, overthinking things, and trying to keep up with the next
person. A study by the group Common Sense Media revealed that teens spend an average of nine hours
per day consuming media. Pew Research Center shows that 24% of teens go online almost constantly,
and many studies show that our current social media conception can lead us to depression, addiction,
self-doubt, and unhappiness just because we spend a lot of time admiring people’s lives instead of
investing in our own lives.

Let’s take Facebook as an example. Facebook is the biggest social media and used by the most
people in the world. It has 1.13 billion daily active users and if it represents a country, it will be the most
populated country in the world. More importantly, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg said that on
average, people would spend about 50 minutes a day on Facebook, Instagram, and also the messenger
platform. Well, 50 minutes a day does not sound like much. However, we should understand that there
are only 24 hours a day, and an average person sleeps about 8 hours, and this means that one-sixteenth
of an average person’s waking time is spent on Facebook. Spending 50 minutes a day on Facebook will
accumulate and become an extremely time-consuming activity that will eat up most of our life. Do you
know that studies have shown that people read only about 19 minutes a day on average and most
people spend only about 17 minutes in sports or exercise each day? It is unacceptable to see people
spend more time on Facebook than they do on exercise and reading for improvement. And this is one of
the main concerns and the reasons social media addiction has quickly becoming a hot topic lately. If we
overspend our time on social media like on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, we may have become a
social media addict, it is just that we did not know about it.

What is Social Media Addiction

Social media addiction is a term that is often used to refer to someone who spends too much
time on social media like Facebook and Twitter or other forms of social media. As a result, it affects the
person’s daily life. Although there is no official medical recognition on social media addiction as a
disease, the negative habit of excessive use of social media has become a subject of much discussion
and research. Addiction simply means a compulsive behavior that leads to negative effects. And in this
case, social media addiction is referring to someone who has a compulsive use of social media. For
example, people who constantly check updates on Facebook or “stalking” other people for hours.
However, it is difficult to tell if someone is a social media addict. If you spend a few hours into social
media checking updates and reading random tweets on Twitter, does that make you an addict?

Some people claimed that they spend time on social media to read the news and to find
entertainment to kill time; they are not addicted to it. So how can we tell if someone is an addict? At
Harvard University, researchers have performed MRI scan on people’s brains to see what happened
when they talk about themselves, which is an essential part of what most people do in social media. The
result showed that self-disclosure communication creates pleasure in the brain. In conclusion, it makes
people happy and high when they talk and think about themselves. There is no direct conclusion in
determining if someone is a social media addict, however, many physicians have observed similar
symptoms such as depression, anxiety, psychological disorders, and more are the proofs of social media
addiction.

Some researchers agreed that social media addiction is similar to cell phone and internet
addiction disorder. These types of disorders are not new, and people have started talking about it since
decades ago. Even back then, people have said that the heavy usage of internet and cell phone may
cause serious problems to work performance and negatively impact one’s life, but there is no official
mentioning that social media addiction is a type of disorder. There are reasons why people are regarding
social media addiction as a type of disorder, just like addiction to a cell phone, the internet, and even
alcohol. Every once in a while, when we check updates on social media, or after we have posted
something, we want to know who will react to our post. And whenever people give us a “like” or
commented something on our post, it makes us feel great. We will feel that we are not alone, we are
being connected and someone cares about us. More importantly, if people “like” or “share” what we
have posted, we feel happy as if people agree with what we have posted, and they like it. When this
happens, our brain cells stimulate dopamine, a chemical released by our neurons to signal other nerve
cells that will make us feel good and happy. This is one of the core reasons causing the addiction. These
rewards and the pleasure we receive from using social media will condition and program our mind to
crave for more. If it continues over the long term, it will quickly become our habit and the disorder will
eventually take place.

How Social Media Affects Our Life?

 Social media has grown and become a big part of our daily life these days. People just cannot
ignore the power of social media today. Even big companies are utilizing the power of social media to
create their marketing channel to influence their audience. The problem is that without control, social
media can overtake and control our life rather than we control them. Most people underestimated how
social media can influence and affect their lives until it is too late to notice the effect and to change.

For example, in cyberbullying, people can say anything they want and still get away on the
internet, they use the electronic communication to send messages in an intimidating or threatening
nature. Cyberbullying can be a serious issue where the victim can experience a huge amount of stress
that leads to a decline in mental health. There are also cases where cyberbullying has led to suicide
cases and caused death.

What do you think would happen if you stare at your computer screen or your cell phone for a
long period? You will feel tired and stressed. Plus, when you are checking social media, you are
constantly switching from one task to another because there are so many things to check out and to see.
This information overload will wear out your brain power and make you feel fatigue. Every time your
brain thinks, you use your willpower and energy. And when you spend most of your time on social
media, you are spending your energy there. Instead of using your downtime to rest, you use it to check
updates on social media. As a result, your brain uses the energy to process information and stresses you
out. Besides, if checking social media is the first and the last thing you did before bed, this routine will
disturb your sleep and cause you to suffer side-effects from sleep deprivation.

Another common way how social media can affect your life is through peer pressure. People are
afraid to miss out and they love to compare themselves with other people. You want to become part of
the community and part of the group, this is why you are using the social network in the first place. As
human nature, you will want to compare yourself with other and this will cause peer pressure. You want
to be like everyone else. When you see your friends sharing their latest vacation in Paris, you want to do
the same too. Over compare will create anxiety and give rise to the negative feelings such as jealousy.
This can evolve into a more serious issue and cause mental health disorder.

Ways to Overcome Social Media Addiction

If you think that you spend too much of your precious time on social media or perhaps you are
addicted to it, not to worry because there are ways to get rid of the bad behavioral issue. Like all other
illnesses and problems, there are cures and solutions to social media addiction. The key is to have the
commitment to follow some rules and make social media a tool that you can control rather than let it
control your life. According to my research here are some ways to overcome social media addiction:

1. Limit the Time. There are apps that help you limit the time spent on different apps on your
mobile. They send an alert when you exceed the time set for using a particular app. It is a
good idea to download such an app to limit your social media usage. You can decrease this
time gradually.
2. Stop the Notifications. Turn off the notifications for all your social media platforms on your
phone. When you know you won’t be notified about any new update, you will not wait for
your phone to beep or have the urge to constantly view the notification. There will be no
disturbance and you will be able to concentrate better on the task at hand.
 3. Delete the App. It is suggested to delete few social media apps from your phone and stay
active only on few of them. Also, don’t place these apps on your home screen. This simple
trick can also go a long way in overcoming your social media addiction.
4. Spend Time with Family and Friends. Keep your phone aside when you are with your family
and friends. Talk to them, indulge in activities you enjoy and listen to all that they have to
say. Plan to spend more and more time with them as you try to overcome your social media
addiction. This can serve as a good distraction from the false world you have created for
yourself.
5. Indulge in Your Favorite Activity. Identify the activities you love the most. It may be dancing,
gardening, singing, jogging or anything else, for that matter. Engage in these activities for an
hour or so each day to keep your mind off social media.

Social media addicts display compulsive behavior. They often disconnect from the real world
and become socially isolated. It is important to recognize this problem and overcome it to lead a happy
and healthy life. I believe that we can use these amazing creative platforms to benefit the world and
avoid negative impacts that it causes. Think about the message you’re putting out there, try to read the
message underneath the post, reach out beyond the screen, and always be reminded that social media
isn’t the real world, it’s a tool that can be used for the inane or for the beautiful, and then when we
learn to control social media rather than it controlling us, we can create a new world, we can change
and improve with social media.