ON SOCIAL MEDIA
This Philosopher-in-Residence couldn’t allow the current ScreenFree Series of blogs to draw to a close without devoting some time to the most lonely of social activities, social media. Ubiquitous since, well, most of us aren’t quite sure, as it seems hard to remember now quite when it last was that we routinely and meaningfully managed our lives without its involvement.
Now, I can’t pretend to be viewing this topic through a completely clear lens. Our ScreenFree SuperPlanners project has been campaigning for a few years now to plant polite suggestions in your minds about activities to boost your mood and occupy your time which don’t involve staring at a screen. We do recognise that the internet is useful for many and a vital connection for others, hence why many people first come across Make Me A Plan via our website or social media.
BUT. In an ever-busy, noisy world, it’s easy for digital disturbance to become the norm. You’ve heard of the terms scroll-hole or doomscrolling: mindless, sprawling scrolling without purpose. Usually ending in you feeling more slumped and sullen than when you started. This isn’t something to wisecrack with your mates about. This is your life (sans red book). I’ve never met anyone who said that social media was more important than their child/mental health/nearest and dearest/physical health. Yet, I’ve met loads of people who routinely spend more time on social media than they do talking to their mother or engaging in exercise. This needs to stop.
Current methods reinforce the presence of social media. Monitoring screentime using an app on your smartphone just concretes the “need” to rely on devices. If you are serious about retrieving yourself from the doom and gloom of social media, why not start monitoring more meaningful, inspiring metrics? Minutes spent reading a book, chatting to your friends IRL, doing yoga, writing poetry: whatever it may be. Try that as the habit and take the focus away from devices. You’ll probably still visit social media, but if you are aiming to spend say 20 minutes in a day reading a book, your brain will gear towards that goal and as long as you choose a book you like, the reward of enjoying those 20 minutes, couple with the achievement of reaching a target with little effort, will naturally seize back some of the minutes that would have otherwise been lost to social media.
Try it – you will like it.
Next fortnight I’ll be writing On The Hundred, which I promise won’t just be cricket. Please get in touch with any particular aspects of this subject you’d like me to write about.
In the meantime,
Happy Planning
PS If you want some other free tips for your business life, check out the Working Well blog – out fortnightly on Wednesdays, courtesy of Make Me A Plan’s Productivity Expert, Penny Le Kelly. Browse the latest edition here: