Social Media Drug

Psychedelic drugs are harmful. They will take you to a higher emotional state for a certain period. Adrenaline gets pumped into the blood and that feels exhilarating. Once you get back to your normal "true" self, everything feels boring. You crave not for the drug but for the experience it gives. That is what happens with social media too. Here is how I tried to pull myself off the social media drug. How successful (or unsuccessful) was I?

I am no expert in explaining how social media works and how it affects you. I know it's bad for the most part. Social media was first created to connect people around the globe. It was in my school days when I signed up on Facebook and it was of course revolutionary. I got to talk to people who I hadn't spoken to for years. Adding to it, I got to make new friends. It was fun. It was exciting.

That high had to be taken up much higher. Hence came new social media strategies. Best of all was TikTok. Apps understood it worked and everyone got on the train. India banned TikTok, so everyone leaned on Instagram and Facebook. The chaos it created was amazing and deadly at the same time.

The drug of Instagram (which could be Facebook for you. I speak more of Instagram as I used it the most) is giving you short bursts of entertainment. Waiting for a bus? Let's look at some reels. Waiting for someone to join a virtual meet in the office? Let's scroll some reels. Does it feel boring on a weekend? Reels. Hell! I even scrolled reels while an office meeting was going on just because I felt bored for 2 seconds.

For most of the drugs, there is a trigger. For reels, everything was a trigger. I had a constant urge to open the app all the time. If I resisted, my hand literally started shaking. About a year ago, I tried uninstalling the app just for this reason. Three days later, I was back on the app because the urge was too high. Couldn't feel happy at all because the reels were not giving me the emotional bump.

I tried it again about a week ago. I tapped on the app and held it until the phone threw an option to uninstall. "Delete Instagram". My finger hovered on the button for a couple of seconds. It was as if I was ripping off a part of my daily routine; like brushing my teeth. I tapped on the button and the app vanished. It felt wrong. I guessed something huge might happen; like a phone crash, cause it's the first app I installed. It was almost surprising that my phone didn't explode. That button felt like a ticking time bomb (Maybe it is and I might've disengaged it. Who knows!)

For two days I felt great. I uninstalled it on a weekend, so I got to do many things. I was happy. On the third day, I went back to the office and the itch was back. My desk itself was a trigger. My fingers automatically searched for the app. Muscle memory. I felt confused for a split second when I couldn't find it. It was that bad. I started feeling the urge to install it back. The other me held strong though, cause he that what I'd done was right. I was happy and sad at the same time.

There was a lot of free time. Started reading more. Wrote better. Office tasks are executed well. It did feel amazing. While I was doing these, I used to look at others. Every single one was on their phone. It's not even to talk to friends or family. Just to look at memes or dance videos a random person created. Everyone is riding on that high. Everyone is literally deep into the addiction.

In the end, we are connected to our smartphones. Those devices are too powerful not to be used to it's potential. I don't say I am saved from the addiction. I've started using Youtube shorts. But it's much worse so I only do it for a short time. I am using it less and less deliberately every day. Let's hope I come back to my "true" self one step at a time.