In the world of instant notification and clickbait headlines, every story wants attention. The social media engine thrives on engagements to power their growth and economy. Though cliche, we are all users rather than customers. The addictive nature of social media has been discussed extensively and the implications far-reaching. My decision to write about this title today stems from my interaction and observation especially from the place of prioritisation for self-awareness.
Social media has become a big bug for a lot of people. To ask oneself questions about when the platform is not serving you, you need to first understand the value of your engagement. Experiencing FOMOs, hurrying to check notifications, hopping from one influencer baits tweet to the other, enraged by every news, having 2 cents to drop on every random topic, and getting overwhelmed in arguments that serve no purpose, can lead to impairment in other parts of one’s life as attention span became severed. Some of which include; inability to complete tasks because of excess time wasted scrolling across the timelines.
As a conscious user, one thing is clear, you are better off adjusting your life to accommodate social media than trying to totally avoid it because of the possibilities and the opportunities in it. One cannot let the distraction be the basis of our judgment while we close the doors of opportunity to ourselves. You will miss more job opportunities staying away because your presence in the mind of people also matters. Thus it is instructive to note some key things to do while you develop a conscious use of it.
Like I always maintain, the status game is temporary and for losers, these are the crucial foundational period of our life and we should take opportunities to learn wealth-building skills seriously. Part of which is finding ourselves and majority of which required a self-paced programme, comfort in solitude, a lot of journaling, self-dialogue, and reading. The adrenalin rush that comes from devotion to social media mentions and timeline laughter here and there takes away the awareness of one’s true self and a serious moment of introspection. Engagement, follower counts are vanity metrics that have the capacity to create a false sense of purpose and achievement if not carefully managed. So it is important to sometimes ask yourself if your comment or quote is necessary on that tweet/post while also deliberately reducing your screen time.
In the midst of this noise, what brand would come to mind if anyone sees your handle, as network and referrals remain one of the biggest gifts of the platforms? Ask yourself questions on areas of competence and interest that could attract opportunities for you. If Twitter and Instagram are to be taken away today, who would you be? This matters as people move on in life and time passes us by. After all, we have seen the effect of the Twitter ban on businesses. Spending time alone to figure out what motivates you involves tinkering and trying to find what the sweet spots are, some of which we lose in the internalisation of other people’s projection.
Having a social media break should become a thing. I personally have a habit of not checking my phone when I am going out or on a walk. These are little moments to create for yourself alone. Unabated consumption of thoughts and expression of other people’s thoughts could influence us either positively or negatively by overshadowing our unique traits. Are you disagreeing with a view based on your own research knowledge or based on awareness of another thought of other people that you align with? Reading physical books without my devices nearby for an hour or more has proven to be really helpful in my own.
Additional activities could be timeline cleansing, without the risk of getting into an echo chamber where only your worldview is constantly recycled. This might affect our ability to remain open-minded to new ideas, causes us to demonize people we don’t agree with, and in some cases, believing our own fantasies.
I hope today’s piece motivates you to do some honest work on your true self this week and lastly, finish that course on your coursera.😁
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Taking social media breaks can be tough especially when you’re more or less addicted. Allocating time to social media and not trying to exceed the time really helps. Also overconsumption of social media erodes one’s thinking and personal thoughts. This is great writing Bro. Rildwan. 😌
I really enjoyed reading this. I make conscious effort to reduce my screen time its not easy but it honestly starts from being aware.