The below question came from a class discussion, and I really enjoyed it because it is something that I have recently been doing quite a bit of research on personally. While I did respond to the discussion, it was not in the length that I would have wanted. So I summarized the two paragraphs here and shared it with class. Otherwise, my personal response is as follows below.

Do you think using cell phones too much is bad for our physical or mental health? Why or why not?

I think collectively, people have gotten to accustom to being chronically online. Personally, I believe that there are times that I come to realize I am obsessed with some internet personality, or I must contribute to my favorite page online or else I’m missing out. But eventually I realized that I substitute a lot of my time doing something meaningful with being online. The unfortunate part about all addictions as they are, is that they often start out harmless, without even noticing it. You might justify it in one way or another, but eventually it becomes compulsive, obsessive. To the point where you wake up and reach for that little black box, waiting to see what the algorithm has provided for you today. Many people unable to get out of bed before checking their social media likes and notifications.

When I realized that social media was becoming a problem for me, was when I started to fall down a rabbit hole of car crash accidents and near misses (really near deaths). I remember I liked a post about someone white lining and then I continued to get more and more really good white lining videos. Eventually, that became videos where they got into a crash, and like a jump scare, for its purpose, solely a wow effect I liked the video. Thinking to my self “That’s insane the wreck those guys got into”. Eventually, I like enough videos and my entire feed becomes white lining videos where they end in near death, and again I’m sucked into this routine or habit where I like the video purely based on the wow factor, and it feeds my response into the algorithm to send me more and more videos like this. Eventually it went from four door cars to motor cycles, getting in near death accidents, almost falling of bridges on the highway, getting slammed into by a speeding car that blew a red light and so on. Consuming this kind of content on a day to day basis really ended up affecting my mental health state, causing me to get intrusive thoughts on top of the ones that I already get, mostly related to the type of content that I consume.

When I finally realized what had been happening to my feed, it was almost too late. It got to the point where I would wake up in the morning and open my Instagram up, and boom a near death video of someone riding in a motorcycle. I had become utterly desensitized. I realized at that I need to stop using social media the way that I do. The truth is I hardly ever even post anything to it. On top of that, all of my friends I meet in person, on chat with them via text. Social Media is entirely useless for the point of keeping up with others. The most that it does for me is allow me to keep tabs on people I no longer associate with. Ultimately though, the final thing keeping me on social media really was the fear of missing out, or sometimes referred to as FOMO. I don’t think that I have a strong case of FOMO, but there are some niche internet personalities that I keep tabs on regularly, for almost purely content purposes. It is the same way with certain friends. Some people I know, just by mishap or something that I once did in life, and we made friends on social media and now I get to see life through your eyes. Ultimately, once you wean your self off of that last bit of FOMO, and you delete the last app from your phone, you’ll most likely find your self sitting alone one night with not much to do and left to a few decisions.

• See what others are doing.
• Do something your self.
• Call a friend and do something together.

Out of habit we all have come to the first option and see what others are doing, loading up our favorite social media app, and scrolling to their profile. But what a time suck, how much easier is it to call them up and go hey lets go get food, or lets go to the bar and grab a drink. Or even to think of that project that you’ve been putting off. Like prototyping that idea you had in your head. Or starting that hobby you always wanted to. Or going for a walk outside with your dog. If you can change your mindset to then be here and now, you’ve officially escaped the matrix. Soon, the last a bit of FOMO will leave your nervous systems, and your withdrawal symptoms will fade. With it will be new hobbies and activities. Given responsible usage, you could even maybe catch up with that favorite internet personality, or your distant friends on one of those social media apps. But for now, you’ve got full control over your actions and decisions.

Suggested Reading

Again, this decision wasn’t something that really happened overnight and it was something that built up for me as time went on and I learned more and more about internet addiction and the ways that I consume content. One of the books that I read that really helped me get a deep understanding of social media and the attention economy as a whole was How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. This book is one of the books that really sparked my awareness to my internet and social media consumption along with a number of other videos and essays on internet addiction.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/42771901

If you get the chance, I would give it a shot and see what correlations you make with the text as you read through it.

After Thoughts

While, I don’t really participate in social media as religiously as I had before. I would like to say that I do count this website as a form of social media. I get to post what I want here, as well as do what I want here. This website is a form of expression for me, and allows for me to post and share my content with the world and friends. Without this website, I’m not entirely sure that I could get rid of social media.

While I don’t honestly share this website with many people (truthfully this is mostly a blog about things I do at work) I do share tidbits of information here, and one day hope to post some more personal things onto it.

It is something that I am actively working towards. The difference though between this and a traditional social media website like Facebook or snapchat, is the fact that I cant see what others are doing. It is one sided. It wholly or partly, represents me as an individual, and my preferences.