5 things I did not know about social media

727.

Last week alone I picked up my phone seven hundred and twenty seven times. It is here at the heart of my utter shock and embarrassment that I will unload the many things I did not know about social media.

My 727 pick ups equates to 83–122 pick ups per day. Whether I am reaching for a message, a news flash or, more commonly, a ‘quick’ refresh of my instagram feed; all of these supposedly ‘brief’ engagements add up and my phone never fails to remind me.

I have always tried to be conscious when it came to my usage. Ever since my 14-year-old self saw the powerful video, shared by Gary Turk, titled — ‘Look Up’ . It sheds light on how our phones lull us into a false sense of consciousness; making us feel social whilst being innately unsociable.

I watched a video recently called ‘Millennials in the Workplace’ where Simon Sinek discussed the impact of social media on young people. Sinek highlighted the role of dopamine in young peoples engagement with their devices. He drew on the simple fact that when we interact with social media and our phones the hormone is released -which feels great- and so we form repetitive behaviours. Let your mind wonder back to my 727 pick-ups last week…

He builds on this, stating that we turn to our devices like alcoholics turn to the bottle. Hold the potential eye roll and consider the foundation of his point. The release of dopamine also occurs within the consumption of alcohol and gambling both of which have age restrictions to sheild us from their addictive nature. However, social media and the ability to own a phone does not and yet, as Sinek suggests, the addictive nature is identical.

‘Alcohol isn’t bad, too much alcohol is bad’ — Simon Sinek

With the help of the material shared by Sinek and Turk I have formulated a list of things I have come to learn about social media.

All of the things I did not know about social media:

1. Social media is addictive — utilise ‘screen-time’ and set some boundaries. Restrict the amount of notifications you receive and when you can receive them.
2. The ultimate filter — just because you aren’t seeing dog ears or doodles doesn’t mean that something is ‘unfiltered’ we love to share the best parts of our life; don’t fall into the trap of believing everyone other than you has their life together.
3. Social media is like a bustling city — by 11:20AM I have already received 55 notifications if all of those were as intrusive as your morning alarm clock they would cease to exist… reduce the virtual disruptions and pay more attention to real ones.
4. A modern release — more people are growing up with low self-esteem and high anxiety, we use our devices as a safe-haven/distraction rather than staring our problems in the face.
5. Social media doesn’t mean social — as we spend more and more time on our devices we slip into feeling incredibly social, ‘in the know’ and up to date with those around us. But in truth we know very little about anything real and begin to struggle to form deep and meaningful conversations.

All of these points highlight a vicious cycle.

Social media is addictive, it pulls you in with mulitple notifications — constant reminders that it’s still there. You then interact and cookies come into play; highlighting baskets you haven’t checked out yet or 150 things you don’t need but your searches suggest you want.

Social media is designed to re-write all we once knew about what it means to be social. To be social, today, is to send a quick message with the appropriate emoticons. It is not to pick up the phone and call or send a card. To be social is to use social media. And the platforms lean into this.

*ping*

Instagram: ‘Someone you follow has posted for the first time in a while’

*ping*

LinkedIn: ‘Keep it going, Bethany. Share another post with your network’

*ping*

Facebook: ‘Its [enter name] birthday today. Wish them well’

*ping*

Twitter: ‘See what you’ve missed’, ‘Recommended for you’

The intention of this blog post is not to demonise social media for in most cases it does bring many of us closer together; it defeats geographical distance and in the current climate helps us feel united against adverse times. It’s intension was to highlight what I did not know about social media and more specifically what I didn’t know about my own use of social media.