Did Simplifying My Life Cause Me To Become A Social Media Addict?

Photo by Lukas: https://www.pexels.com/photo/macbook-air-296076/

I could talk about the benefits of simple living forever.  Is there a downside I haven’t mentioned???

I’ve downsized my life.

This means less housework, less commitments, less debt, less errands to run, less bills to pay, and definitely less stress!

It also means more travel adventures, more job contentment, more time in nature, and more time on my passion projects (like this Blog!).

Simplifying my life has resulted in a lot of free time that I never had before.

Inadvertently, this has led to an addiction…Social media.

Simplified Socials

Like almost everything else in my life, I’ve already simplified my social media use.

I mindfully chose to keep Facebook (with Messenger), Pinterest, and YouTube.

I don’t participate on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or any of the other platforms out there.

I did this years ago. At the time it seemed quite reasonable. Social media usage wasn’t a problem for me back then.

So what the heck is happening to me now, that I can’t put it down?

And why do I even care?

Why Social Media Sucks

I don’t think I need to spend much time talking about this.

Social media wastes our time, is not good for our mental (or physical) health, and has become an addictive substitute for real life experiences.

We all know we spend too much time on our screens.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

This has become a real problem for me lately in the evenings.

I am not sure when the habit crept in, but every evening I seem to hop on social media and zone out.

Even when I have told myself I no longer want to do this. It is still happening.

How it used to be…

When I think back to the years before I simplified my life, my evenings were filled with activity because they had to be. I had things to get done and I often overcommitted myself.

I would spend my evenings doing things like:

• Laundry
• Housework
• Grocery shopping
• Unpack the winter clothes
• Food prep
• Paying bills
• Running errands
• More laundry
• Organizing the junk drawer
• Clean the basement
• Working late
• Traveling for work
• Mow the lawn
• Organize the pantry
• Clean the garage
• Weed the flower beds
• Clean the fridge
• More laundry

Pretty normal things.

The thought that I would have an entire evening to “while away” was unheard of.

So what’s changed?

A simplified life has eliminated or greatly reduced almost all of these activities.

My evenings are pretty uncommitted at this point.

That’s all well and good…but why have I filled my time with social media?

Why don’t I have a stack of books waiting to be read instead?

…Or a stack of puzzles waiting to be put together?

…Or spend more time going for a coffee with friends?

…Or just go visiting family?

Social Connections

Social media has become integrated into our lives.

We used to spend more time chatting on the phone or visiting to catch up with our friends and family. Now we hop on social media to see what everyone is up to.

It’s so easy to follow coworkers, old classmates, cousins, neighbors, and family members that I tend to keep in touch with more people than I would have if I had to call them up on the phone or stop by their houses for an in person visit.

This means more time on social media.

New Social Opportunities

The same social media platforms that make it easier to follow our friends and family have also made it easier to create new social connections with people we would never have otherwise met in real life.

This week I received mail from a new friend from California (whom I will probably never meet in real life). We traded some collage art.

She is one of hundred’s on a Facebook group I have joined. I had commented on one of her posts, and before I knew it we were offering to share art.

All social media platforms have made it easy to find your “tribe”…others who are interested in the things you are interested in.

It could be art, exercising, eating well, or stamp collecting.

You name it, and there is a group for it on Facebook, a board on Pinterest, or a YouTuber filming it that you can follow.

And we do.

We get messages and alerts letting us know when groups we have been following have been active and we tune in.

I have all my social media alerts turned off (that’s why I don’t reply to your Messenger until hours later…sorry friends) but new activity still shows up in my feeds.

Every time I login there are “unseen” posts and videos.

Keeping up with it all means more time on social media.

Memories

Gone are the days when you would sit down with a photo album and flip through the photos of your most recent trip.

Today, you pull out your phone and let your friends scroll through your photos.

Or you post them directly to Instagram, Facebook, or wherever.

Social media has become our “time capsule” and the way we manage the huge volumes of digital photos and videos that we all take.

Social media has made it super simple to both capture our memories for ourselves and to share them with others.

This isn’t a bad thing.

It does mean more time on social media, however.

Inspiration

I love learning about new things. YouTube and Pinterest are both a great sources of information, and that is why I choose to keep them when I was simplifying my use of social media.

This year I am focusing on learning more about art and artsy things.

I have been able to find watercolor tutorials, collage artists, and art journal inspiration by using social media.

Unfortunately, social media doesn’t come with a throttle. It just keeps feeding you inspiring ideas.

One after another.

Repeatedly.

Ideally, I would see a great tutorial and instead of just watching it I would put down my phone and go do it.

What tends to happen is that, as I am watching this great tutorial, another great tutorial pops up in the feed. Afraid that I will never see again, I click into it.

Repeatedly.

Now the inspiration of the first video is likely to get buried in the noise, as is the inspiration of any video I watch because there are too many.

I haven’t taken the time to follow through on any of them.

Instead of using the inspiration offered I am just spending more time on social media.

Monetization

When I joined Facebook businesses had websites. People had Facebook.

I don’t think there was such a thing as a Facebook ad or a Facebook group.

The only things I saw in my feed were from my friends. People that I had allowed in.

Today there are any number of uninvited “guests” in my feed.

• Ads to join a class or mastermind.
• “Recommended to me” groups that I might enjoy joining.
• Events in my area.
• Market place postings.

Businesses now use social media to market their products and services, and to make money.

This has impacted how we interact with our socials. There are more distractions, more eye candy, and more things than ever to click into.

They all keep us on social media longer.

The Algorithm

Social media algorithms have become very sophisticated and, if I may say so, quite aggressive.

They are designed to be addictive and give you that feel good hit of dopamine.

The social media giants don’t even try to hide it.

Everything from your “likes”, to your searches, to which videos you watch (and for how long) is tracked so that they can feed you information (they call it a feed for a reason) to keep you engaged.

Algorithms are ubiquitous, and they keep us on social media longer.

Time To Clear The Clutter

All of this has reminded me that even after I have simplified an area of life, it needs to be revisited from time to time.

Things change.

Writing this note has clarified to me exactly what is going on with me, and why I am spending so much more time on social media.

I have simplified enough areas of my life to know that understanding the problem is (more than) half of the solution.

I’m not really a social media addict.

I just need to clear the “clutter” around social media in my life.

Sometimes I am mindfully using social media, and sometimes I’m on autopilot.

There are many ways that social media enhances my life and what is important to me.

Lately, there are many more ways that social media is only acting as a distraction and not adding any value to my life.

It has made me feel like I am wasting every evening (because I am)!

Now is the time pare down the groups I have joined, take a few steps to clear the algorithms, and commit to using social media for good…and not evil. (Okay – that’s a little dramatic – even for me!)

Should you be taking a look at simplifying your socials too?