Lost In Digitization

Along with my bread, martini and chocolate obsession (amongst other things), I have yet another, more cunning vice…screen time.  I’m ashamed to report that the first thing I do when I wake up and the last thing I do before I shut my eyes is go on my phone. It is a revolving door of Instagram, Facebook, and finally, the holy-fucking-grail, TikTok.  I mindlessly scroll, sometimes for hours, not even registering the amount of time I am wasting on these absolute mind sucks.  In hindsight, these apps have control over my mind and have created a full-on addiction of sorts.

Since this blog is about me pointing out my many flaws and keeping me accountable, let’s talk about my own screen time.  I am MORTIFIED to admit this, but I am averaging a total of 7.5 hours of screen time EACH DAY and around 4 of those hours are spent on social media. 

Even after realizing that ⅓ of my life is spent on this seemingly innocent device, I STILL find it difficult to put the damn phone down.  After this startling revelation, I have become much more mindful of my own screen time which, in turn, has made me even more anxious about the amount of time I am wasting on it.  Oh, the joys of mental illness.  

But let’s face it, for many people, your phone acts as your trusted sidekick when you are out at a work event and Brad from marketing tries to push his latest NFT pyramid scheme onto you. It’s also a hell of a lot safer than ordering your third vodka tonic in order to numb out his bullshit sales pitch.  

An Insidious Interface

I guess I can find solace in the fact that I am not alone in my obsessive need to scroll.  In 2022, an estimated 330 million people will suffer from some form of social media addiction.    It’s hard to blame anyone who is afflicted by this seemingly harmless distraction since social media is easily accessible to practically everyone in the Western hemisphere.  In fact, the instant gratification of a “like'' or a “comment” produces a dopamine hit similar to snorting a line of cocaine.  

The reward center of our brain lights up like the fucking Fourth of July when it receives positive feedback from a social media post, which, as a result, perpetuates and feeds the vicious cycle.  While some of you might not think that social media addiction is a real affliction, rehabilitation centers are starting to offer programs for it.  I am sure Betty Ford is rolling over in her grave missing out on a piece of this lucrative pie.  I have seen firsthand how it takes more than just “putting down the phone” to curb the compulsion.   Rehab might be my next logical step after all.

Gen Z Is NOT To Blame

I have heard COUNTLESS people talk about how Gen Z is the “screen time generation” in a negative way.  While they, on average, spend the most time on social media, millennials and baby boomers are not too far behind.  

Gen Z spends an average of 3 hours on social media each day, followed by millennials at 2.5 hours, Gen X at 2 hours, and finally baby boomers at 1.25 hours. Again, these are all averages and obviously differ depending on the individual, but we are ALL guilty of social media indulgence at one time or another.  So get off your high horse and stop being a judgmental asshole by blaming the younger generation.  Millennials created Myspace, so if anything, we started this mess.

If we are being really honest with ourselves, our social media pages are (typically) platforms where we talk exclusively about our personal accomplishments with the best pictures to show for it.  Your Aunt Susan is not going to talk about her son’s third DUI arrest or her husband’s affair with his secretary, but she will have no problem showing you an obscene amount of photos from her grandson’s 23-month birthday party.  Just say he’s two years old for Christ’s sake.  

However, the guilty always throw the first stone.  Fuck it, I do this.  I much more prefer sharing positive updates on my life as opposed to the mental breakdown I had last week.  I ‘rebranded’ myself (even though I didn’t even have a brand to begin with) last year with self-curated photos.  I intentionally left out the photos of my bloated stomach from suffering severe constipation and my acne-ridden face when I was battling a hormonal imbalance.  It’s fake as fuck, but no one wants to highlight their bad days, even though it’s what makes us human.

Don’t Be A Slave To Social Media

Comparing social media addiction to shooting up heroin or guzzling a bottle of Jim Dean at 7am might seem incomparable.  However, the long term effects of screen time can cause irreparable harm to your mental health.  

While too much screen time can cause damage to your eyesight (Myopia) and make you more susceptible to chronic health conditions like type-2 diabetes and cancer, I will be focusing on the detrimental effects it has on the brain.  

Surprisingly, since becoming more mindful of my own relationship with social media, my anxiety has increased tenfold.  I quickly realized that my self-doubt and thoughts of inadequacy became paralyzing when I constantly compared myself to my colleague’s highlight reels.  To make matters worse, OCD only intensifies the addiction. I realized I needed to habitually check Facebook and Instagram before bed or I wouldn’t fall asleep.   

If that wasn’t enough, your smart phone has the potential to shrink parts of your brain that are instrumental in maintaining attention. Neuroplasticity, or your brain's ability to change in response to experience, is linked to loss of cognitive ability which, in turn, can cause memory loss, slower informational processing and weaker impulse control.  While this is unsettling for adults, it is even more disturbing for children whose brains are not fully developed until the age of 25.  In fact, major tech founders, such as Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, went so far as to ban social media from their own children for its damaging effects on the brain. 

Digital, Digital Detox

According to experts, adults should limit their personal screen usage (apart from work) to no more than 2 hours a day.  While that might seem like an impossible feat for many, the following are some quick and tangible tips to help curb the urge to swipe. 

TIME OUT

The easiest and most effective option, especially for people with little-to-know self control like myself, is to set a social media timer on your phone.  Currently, my daily Instagram and Facebook time is 30 minutes, collectively.  After the 30 minutes is up, I am done for the day. 

Another technique is to turn off your smartphone at least one hour before bedtime.  Countless studies have shown that social media not only affects sleeping hours due to physical addiction, but the blue light also blocks melatonin, a sleep hormone.  By turning off your phone 1-2 hours prior to bedtime, your body has the chance to naturally fall asleep on its own.

BLOCK OUT THE NOISE

Before starting my digital detox, I realized I was following tons of accounts that I no longer connected with and strangers who made me feel worse about myself.   In hopes to reduce the constant self-imposed comparisons on my feed, I unfollowed every person I had not talked to in the past year and accounts that left me feeling inadequate.  Now, every post that comes up in my newsfeed is positive and uplifting that add to my life.  Ignorance truly is bliss sometimes.

This goes for family members as well.  If your crazy Uncle Joe is constantly spouting racist, conspiracy theories on Facebook, feel free to shamelessly block that SOB.

While social media can be seen as a gift to connect people from all over the world, if not used with caution, it can quickly turn into a psychological shit storm on your mental health.  Next time you hop on over to Instagram, do as Walter White says when someone tries to cross him.