...something else almost did. Read on to find out what! ;)
by Paul Ekwere
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I decided not to use Social Media for a week.
Crazy?..... maybe….. Impossible?...... nope! …. Cathartic? ……. Oh hell Yeah, without a doubt!
So what led me to this decision?.... I’m glad you asked! :)
Every day of our lives, we are inundated with an endless stream of notifications on our devices --- laptops, tablets and smartphones…. especially the smartphones!
Barely a minute passes by without the usual “X just liked your post on twitter”.....”Y and 63 others liked your picture on Instagram”...”Your post on 500px is now upcoming”.... “ Z mentioned you in a comment on Facebook”.... “John Doe and 9 others viewed your profile on LinkedIn”.
It’s great to be ‘in the know’ and keep up-to-date on what’s happening. It does however have it’s detrimental effects. It’s easy to get sucked into this modern day convention, always needing to know everything right now! With some it gets so bad that you could develop psychological and physiological health problems such as ‘Phantom Vibration Syndrome’ or ‘ringxiety’ --- a condition where the sufferer suffers a form of tactile or auditory hallucination caused by the false perception of one’s mobile phone (or other primary communication device) ringing or vibrating when it is not.
Yep! ‘Ringxiety’! --- it’s a real thing. Look it up. There’s loads of other really serious ailments that could come about from being addicted to mobile phones and the like. Another good example is ‘text neck’.
I suffer from neither of these conditions.
For me, the decision to not use social media for a while came from a much simpler thought process.
You may not suffer any ailment as a result of time spent on tablets and smartphones but therein lies the problem itself (I said it already and you didn’t even notice) ----- TIME!
Using the american populace as a benchmark for the rest of us, it is estimated that we spend about 20% of all online time on social media with Facebook accounting for 14% of that time.
The average person has 5 social media accounts and spends a lot of their day poring through, consuming and generating even more content.
All of this amounts to valuable time. Time that you can use to do a whole lot more and be productive.
My epiphany came over the weekend reading the new book by South African comedian and TV personality, Trevor Noah titled ‘Born a Crime’. (fascinating read by the way, I think everyone should read this book!)
Trevor tells the story of his life, growing up as a mixed race kid in apartheid South Africa and the numerous challenges he faced, one of which was ‘street hustling’. He talks about how much useful time he wasted waking up every morning, expending a lot of energy, making just enough money to get by, and spending it all again, pretty much dialing back to zero.
‘Time wasted’
He used a very ‘colourful’ metaphor though.
And that was it for me. Talking to a very good friend about this later that evening the decision was an easy one to make. “Let’s experiment. One week. No social media. You in?..... Cool!”
Day 1
3 am. At a bar with some friends. Stood in the queue to use the loo. This is boring. What do I do now? No real conscious thought. Just force of habit…. Phone comes out. Whats happening on my Instagram ?...Oops!... *closes Instagram app*... phone back in pocket.
Hmmmmm…. This is going to be harder than I thought.
Day 2
I don’t feel so good. I really, really do not feel good.
No, it’s not the social media thing, I could care less. I’m in a lot of pain. Physical pain. Please tell me it’s not that blasted pharyngitis again! I can’t do this right now.
6:15pm - confirmed. Doctor says it is pharyngitis…. Again! *sigh*
Day 3
In bed. Very sick. Hello painkillers.
Day 4
Still sick. Please go away.
Day 5
Netflix.
(Obviously) getting better.
Day 6
I'm back from work and my thumbs are itching. I've got quite a few notifications now on different social media platforms.
I've opened Instagram once and promptly shut it after remembering I'm not supposed to.
I'm still determined to prove to myself that you can live without some of these modern day accoutrements.
1 day to go Paulie … hang in there. Barely 24 hours to go!
Day 7
Gosh this house is a mess! Spring cleaning time. Funny, I’ve actually not missed social media that much. ….Okay, maybe just a little.
Day 8 (Freedom)!
Oh wait…
It’s 1:25 am? I can actually get back on social media now??? Meh! It can wait. Going to bed.
Yawn. 9:25am. Need to take my medication.
OK. 9:40am. So what did we miss?
- Facebook (23 notifications, 2 new friend requests)
- My Twitter (1 like, 1 mention, oh and some guy I know has joined twitter. Great. I needed to know that)
- LinkedIn (12 notifications: some people published posts, some people viewed my page, some people commented on posts I’ve previously commented on.)
- 500px (4 likes)
- My Instagram photography page (13 notifications in all, 2 comments, 3 new followers, a couple of likes)
- My Instagram art page (1 mention, 3 new followers, 1 like)
- Youtube (22 notifications)
(Oh yeah, Donald Trump got inaugurated on Friday)
10:12am well. Doesn’t seem like I missed that much after all.
Closing Statement
It’s funny how dependent we get on something without realizing it. Apart from being ill for the majority of my self-imposed social media exile, I did notice that personally, I had a lot more time to catch up with family, read books and even when not doing much, my thought process seemed to be a lot clearer with fewer distractions.
All-in-all, it’s really not a big deal not using social media for a while. You can actually survive with minimal to zero social media use. It is good for a lot of things.
Use it. But don’t let it use you!
I definitely recommend everyone tries this at some point. I guarantee you’ll be a lot better for it.
Just…. Don’t tell your friends.
Especially if they’re all sat round a table with you and have their phones on them!
______________________________
DISCLAIMER: Tell your boyfriend / girlfriend, husband / wife, parents, kids before you do stupid s**t like this. Also, ensure that you have a steady means of communication during this time. If your primary communication means with family and friends is WhatsApp, please keep using WhatsApp and ignore all others. I will not be held liable if your girlfriend dumps you, your wife files for divorce, or the police knocks at your door at 5 am on day 3 because you’ve been declared a ‘missing person’ by your loved ones!
Such an interesting piece Paul! I only wish you weren't sick through this - so that I could really get to see how you struggled through the whole process of staying off social media. Nonetheless, I have also learnt a new term; 'ringxiety'. Your article also reminds of this article I wrote over a year ago - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140806160129-48279591-digital-age-source-of-attention-deficit-by-eta-uso-jr
ReplyDeleteHaha! Thanks, I do wish I wasn't sick too!
DeleteI find it rather interesting that since the time you wrote that piece on LinkedIn, not much has changed. If anything over the last two years, our age demographic and the generations after are showing alarmingly increasing signs of social media addiction and the wanton exhibitionism and inescapable attention deficits that come with it. It's a case of being a bit more introspective and mindful of how we live our lives. The sad irony is, what time do you have to be melancholy and introspective when you're too busy being distracted?
Great piece. I should try this. Social media does take vital time out of our day and competes for attention with our significant other.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jonathan. Indeed it really does take a lot of our time, if we let it!
DeleteLet me know how it goes if you try it too. :)
Interesting Read Paul. I should try this. I am always almost on my phone
ReplyDeleteI think you'll find it quite an enlightening experience. Let me know how it goes if you do! :)
DeleteInteresting piece.
ReplyDeleteCheers +Sannomkingz
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