I know it’s a little whacky for me to be saying this since I am the creator of this blog, but oh my gosh, I realllllllllly dislike technology + social media.
Well, actually, let me rephrase that.
I love technology in a sense that it opens up opportunities for us to communicate, share, create, learn, shop etc. Social media is awesome in a sense that it allows me to be here, doing what I love–writing, creating, and impacting.
>> I hate what these things are doing to society. <<
Social media sets really unrealistic expectations of who we should be and how we should do things and live our lives. This issue is the biggest for me because I think it's the ugliest, more destructive, yet most powerful impact social media has on us.
We scroll through our feed, we see celebrities and influencers and models. And they all fit this mold. They look a certain way. They live a certain way. We see these famous people, living the good life, making a lot of money – and they’re all the same,
I say this is the most powerful impact social media has on us because in those moments our subconscious mind starts to compare us to these people. We aren’t as pretty as them, as rich as them, as happy as them. We start to judge ourselves. We start to highlight the things we DON’T have in comparison to someone on the internet. And this happens almost automatically for most people.
With how involved we are with social media, we are creating a culture that makes it standard and normal to compare ourselves to others on the internet and let that define our happiness. Yikes.
Aside from that, it’s damaging to human communication. I know you can tell me about a time you and a friend were sitting in the same room, not speaking (for however long) and just individually scrolling. HOW LAME IS THIS?
I could go on forever on how much I think social media and technology has been hurting society. But instead I’m going to give you some practical tips to just moderate the situation.
- Do. Not. Disturb. I was a phone-on-vibrate girl for most of my life. A little over a year ago, I made the switch to DND and it’s made a WORLD of a difference. DND helps you break the habit of checking your phone. When you’re not getting notified or pinged every two seconds it really makes a difference.
- Take email off your phone. I mean, seriously – why do we want to work away from work? Don’t add any other incentive or platform for you to aimlessly hangout on your smartphone. Your response can wait until the morning.
- Buy a real alarm clock. I know this one sounds silly, but think about it – most of us wake up from our phone alarms. Then we hit snooze. Then we wake up and lie in bed for a few more minutes scrolling. Or scrolling right before bed. We literally go to sleep and wake up on our cell phones. Plug that shit in downstairs and give yourself time to wake up, have your coffee, and meditate BEFORE you scroll through Facebook.
- Get in the habit of going places without your phone. I don’t bring my phone along with me every errand I run, I don’t bring it on bike rides, I don’t bring it where I know I won’t need it. As funny as it sounds, it’s a win for me when I forget my phone, or even misplace it, because that tells me I’m breaking the attachment from it.
I hope you take these tips and implement them into your lifestyle.
Unplugging can leave room for so many other awesome things.
Don’t get wrapped up in the scroll, get wrapped up in real life experience.
