I just didn't know how bad it was and I'm ready to admit that I was probably addicted to some types of Social Media. Like Instagram, Twitter (before it became "x"), and YouTube. I did not have a minute of boredom in my life. Whenever boredom snuck up, I would distract myself with my phone.
I would also distract myself with Netflix, Hoopla and Kanopy. Movies, documentaries and comic books. While I don't consider Netflix, Hoopla or Kanopy Social Media, they also have a way of sucking you into watching content for hours. They profile your viewing preferences and spam you with shows that you may enjoy, and they're getting better and better at doing this. I used to watch only full-length movies. 90 minutes and I was done. Then the series got my attention and I was hooked. Yes, I did Netflix marathons.
And, of course, my huge excuse for keeping my phone handy with me all the time was for "efficiency." So that I could look things up quickly and not "waste time." I could also justify hours of YouTube viewing by saying that most of the stuff I was watching was tutorials and educational content. Honestly, that may have been 50% of the content. The other 50% was most likely tech reviews, motorcycle videos and track and field events.
DETOXING
Clearly I wasn't the only one worried about the amount of time I was spending online. I borrow a lot of ebooks from the Toronto Public Library and a number of authors discussing the issues around the addiction to Social Media started to hit my radar. Not all the content was reasonable to follow. In some cases, smartphones are now part of the day job. That's how communication is achieved and so some tools, like Zoom or WhatsApp become work tools.
Some of the advice to keep your smartphone away as soon as you get home, the minute you step into the door, did not seem realistic. Employees on-call cannot do that. Indeed, much of the advice, many of the books had an academic feel to them and were mostly practical for white collar workers, specifically in the United States, who had a significant measure of control over their daily schedule.
But I did patch together pieces of advice (like Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism, or Tech Stress by Peper, Harvey and Faas) into a coherent program that seems to work for me.
From August 12, I stopped keeping my smartphone on my bedside table. It's an iPhone so it was on "do-not-disturb" all night. Also, no shiny iPads or other tablets to watch any media before I sleep.
I also uninstalled, from my iPhone, YouTube, Netflix, Hoopla and Instagram. Unfortunately, WhatsApp is a work tool so I just needed to be careful to Archive all the groups that were not useful. But I've kept Spotify, my workouts and my meditation are addicted to instrumental jazz - what can I say?
Then I unsubscribed from all the news and information websites that I had memberships in. Reddit for example, as well as all the online retail shopping websites. I didn't cancel my Amazon account, but I did disable all communication unrelated to purchases. I reduced the volume of information and spam emails from almost 30 daily, to about 5.
Between August 12 and September 12 I did not watch any Netflix movies or television shows.
And I'm still here.
This second month, September 12 to October 12 has been more of the same. The original intent was to slowly return to some amount of Social Media activity, not like before, but something sane. But I haven't determined what that looks like and so another month of no Netflix, no YouTube and no television. I don't miss Instagram and in fact wonder why I spent so much time following my favourite motorcyclists.
DISTRACTION
My use of Social Media was clearly to make sure that there was no downtime at all in my life. That there was no opportunity for boredom and that even when I was tired of working, and needed a break, rather than sit in stony silence or go for a walk, I'd switch on the smartphone and look for something amusing.
The result of that distraction was always more fatigue than when I started the break.
The perceived boredom wasn't really as bad as I'd thought and I'm now used to sitting down for a meal without touching my computer, my iPad or my phone. Just sitting and eating in silence. And if I absolutely have to do something, and I'm not in company, then I read a book, or write (with a pen and paper).
Those moments that I used to distract myself with Social Media have found purpose in better sleep and even when I'm going crazy because I have no energy to do anything, I can always jump on my motorcycle and go for a refreshing ride.
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