Nowadays it is unthinkable not to be part of some form of virtual social aggregation such as social media, considering that most mobile devices allow us to use them.
From social networks like Facebook or Instagram, to tools for enjoying videos like YouTube or TikTok, we often risk spending too much time on these platforms without realizing it.
Even just by opening our Facebook page, driven by curiosity to see what’s new, we could go from one news story to another and from one video to another, without realizing we’re sacrificing all our free time.
From the initial idea of checking our page for just 10 minutes, we end up spending an hour or two enjoying content that doesn’t even interest us.
If we are used to doing this every day we spend a good part of our free time in an activity which, in addition to being useless, can negatively influence our mood.
Personally, I had noticed that recently, especially in the evening, I was spending too much time on social media, in particular on Facebook and on Telegram chat, in search of news and to discuss the government’s latest misdeeds with friends, sacrificing reading, despite having lots of interesting books to read and the Kindle ulimited subscription.
When I renewed my subscription, even though I hadn’t read a single book in the previous three months, I realized that I had to make a change to my bad habits, reducing the time I spent on social media, and taking back my time to do the things I had predetermined.
According to this report from the Global Web Index(1) from a few years ago, in Italy we spend an average of 1 hour and 46 minutes on social media, while worldwide the average is 2 hours 23 minutes. In the United States it takes about 2 hours. If we take the time of the USA as a reference, which is somewhere in between, we can do some math.
2 hours a day is equivalent to 14 hours a week, which in a month is approximately 42 hours. In a year, however, they make 504 hours.
If we do a Google search we realize that with 500 hours we could have done a professional course and learned a new job and maybe even changed jobs to dedicate ourselves to something we like to do.
Or we could have used all that time to dedicate ourselves to studying one of our passions such as playing an instrument, learning a new language well to be able to travel around the world, doing all those activities that we always put off, such as painting, meditating, going for a run in the park , going to the gym or simply cultivating friendships by doing group activities.
Thinking about it, any activity that would have brought us a gain in knowledge, money or affection would still have been better than having spent all our time on social media just to have temporary entertainment.
We can therefore realize how much this activity takes away precious time from us.
Furthermore, in the evening, before going to bed, spending too much time in front of an LED screen that emits blue light can alter our cicardian rhythm, make us sleep badly and make us wake up more tired in the morning (2), also affecting our health.

Tools of mass distraction

Some time ago, all those media tools, such as TV, newspapers, radios, various forms of advertising, which strongly influence public opinion, were ironically defined as such, referring to the expression weapons of mass destruction. To get an idea of how much these tools influence public opinion, for example, it is enough to note how during elections it is easy to find on TV at any time of the day, debates, insights, interviews with political figures who in normal times rarely appear on video. But, on the contrary, it also often happens that when a decree that is resented by the majority of the population must be approved in Parliament, it is passed over quietly, in periods in which there is little attention on the part of the people, for example during the holidays summer, or on Christmas Day, or on other holidays when the population is normally distracted by other activities, such as holidays at the seaside, shopping, family dinners. All this is often associated with the media outcry given to the tragic event of the moment, for example a particularly brutal murder, an environmental catastrophe, a piece of gossip about characters particularly followed by the general public, in order to distract the population who perhaps is not involved in other distracting activities. Today social media are also part of these distraction tools, in fact these greatly influence people’s opinions and behaviors, both with regards to political choices, but also in everyday choices.

Evolution denied

All these tools, including social media, are almost always aimed at distracting us and preventing us from working on personal, awareness, spiritual and even economic growth. In fact, I believe that these areas are often linked to each other and if one of them is lacking, it most likely affects all the others. Simply put, if we don’t have enough money we are forced to use our time to work more and earn more, and we will no longer have time to dedicate to study and knowledge. But even if we are in a good economic condition we are probably influenced by these tools that have educated us on materiality and appearance by giving us many negative examples of celebrities and superficial people, and we will hardly undertake the path of personal growth. But at the same time, if we are well educated and also wealthy, the indoctrination suffered by the system and the constant distractions offered to us by these tools will not allow us to develop the right awareness, denying us a path to knowledge. Social media therefore adds to the sea of daily distractions that take away our time to think and dedicate ourselves to our personal growth. In fact, our day only consists of 24 hours and once we take away the time for work and the countless daily deadlines there is very little left to dedicate to ourselves. Furthermore, once home, tired and lacking energy, we will probably just look for other distractions to unwind, spending time on social media or watching a film or a football match.

Psychological addiction

It is well known that these tools cause psychological addiction(3). The contents offered by these tools activate our pleasure centers which lead to the continuous production of dopamine leading us to develop a psychological addiction which will lead us to spend even more time on them depriving us of our free time. In the long run this will lead us to neglect ourselves, our body, no longer doing physical activity, and our health, no longer caring about our diet, eating only fast foods, such as industrial ones, pre-cooked or ordered from restaurants, full of saturated fats, sugars and preservatives, and we will no longer even care about our psychological well-being, neglecting all those activities that regenerate us mentally.

Short reels to reach the general public

For some time now we have realized that many people do not watch videos that are too long, either due to lack of time, or because they are bored, or because they have too low an attention span. To capture their attention more, new platforms have been introduced that prefer shorter videos. Today, platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat and other similar ones are very popular. But watching short videos doesn’t necessarily save our time. In fact, the majority of users move from one content to another by scrolling on their smartphone, ending up spending more time watching these small videos rather than watching a longer one. In Italy, for example, there is a proliferation of silly and superficial videos that capture the attention of the majority of people.

Do the right prevention

Almost all of us are subscribed to YouTube channels, Facebook groups and WhatsApp groups or other applications. We often follow a certain channel because we are interested in the topics it covers or because they update us on certain topics, and perhaps because we learn something new through that content. We can also watch videos that last more than an hour if that topic is of interest to us and teaches us something. In this case we may feel like we have spent our time well. But if instead we realize that we have used our time on these tools without ultimately having learned anything and without having given added value to our day, we are probably just wasting that time and it would be appropriate to consider limiting their use to dedicate ourselves to more useful and beneficial activities. A nice walk in the woods, a run in our neighborhood or reading a good book would certainly make us feel much better. We could also think about finally dedicating ourselves to those activities that we have been putting off for a long time, such as studying a new language, taking a photography course, learning to cook our favorite dishes, going to the theater, learning to play an instrument, or even simply dedicate ourselves to activities that nourish us spiritually such as painting, sculpture, listening to good music, spending hours in good company.

Advantages of social media

All in all, social media also has a positive side. If we are part of a group that delves into a topic of interest to us, it can be useful to socialize with people and exchange our opinions with them, and learn new things. Furthermore, we could be offered the opportunity to learn about new realities that we were unaware of, groups of people who share our ideas, socialize with people thousands of kilometers away and possibly meet them at events, conferences, or other meeting opportunities. If we are part of that category that uses social media to promote their business, we could exploit their potential. In fact, there are many people who, thanks to social media, are able to increase their business by making themselves known to the general public. If we are unknown or novice artists, for example, thanks to these tools we could show our creations to a very large audience, which was very difficult until some time ago. Even if we are writers, content creators, musicians, we could publicize our book, video, or piece we performed, and get feedback from as many people as possible. For example, before launching a new brand, famous people create their own community on social media, so that when new products are launched everyone will be aware of them and will buy them.

To conclude

Using social media in moderation can have its benefits. We can stay in touch with distant people, share experiences, even learn new things or advertise our products and services. But spending too much time on social media, on the contrary, penalizes our social relationships with people close to us, takes away our free time and affects our habits. It would be appropriate to evaluate how much time we can afford to spend on these platforms to update ourselves on news and stay in touch with distant friends. If we have little free time during the day, let’s not spend more than an hour on social media and consider dedicating ourselves to other activities useful for our personal growth and our psycho-physical well-being. Our body, our mind and our mood will benefit from it.

(1)https://www.gwi.com/hubfs/Downloads/2019%20Q1%20Social%20Flagship%20Report.pdf?utm_campaign=Social%20report%20July%202019&utm_source=hs_automation&utm_medium=email&utm_content=74226065&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9rMGWK-kfHMASghGPyWNJzCxgCjvUEB_YnXZnbnLwMid_tpyYyVtK7JRw7wS0c53S8cvMWlrJ6cveUcxS1xwmBMyxUOuTVOnSQhEbeOY1muf2K6bQ&_hsmi=74226065
(2) https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/cultivating-health/blue-light-effects-on-your-eyes-sleep-and-health/2022/08
(3) https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/social-media-addiction/