Coming to terms with my social media addiction.
Watching this video was eye opening. I never knew how addicted I was to social media til I watched this video.
I know it's kinda ironic that I'm posting this on a social media site. But Steemit is different, for now at least. It hasn't had the years of engineering and hacking of human psychology to get us addicted to it like a facebook or a reddit. Its dopamine hitting tendencies aren't as well made. It's so easy to quit this site, we've seen a lot of people to do it. I myself have been gone for months away from it.
I feel a palpable itch when I'm not checking my Facebook feed within 15 mins. When I'm doing Brazilian Jiujitsu or doing deep work then I can ignore it but most of the time it's a weird itch that's gnaws at me. Most of the time, nothing has happened in my feed but I keep wondering if anyone has liked my clever status or tweet, or some drama in my social circle has unfolded.
Now I could go cold turkey but business has to go on and social media marketing is part of a modern business DNA. The main thing I think I should do is to be aware of the addiction and be proactive in reducing its effects. I am also trying to look at these things as "digital drugs." I believe that one can you use drugs such as alcohol and coffee in moderation. If I treat these things as digital drugs then I will give it the caution it deserves.
Few solutions I'm trying out:
Putting it in the last page of my phone in a folder name "addictive" along with instagram, twitter and reddit.
Another solution is buying an alarm clock so I can sleep without my phone in my room. I will keep my room electronic-device-free for a month to see how I feel.
I think it's time that we come to terms with our relationships with our devices and apps. As most things emerging from new technologies these things are great servants but poor masters.