Dilemma after watching “The Social Dilemma”

I am a victim to the endless scrolling on social media or any media streaming platform and even though I choose to curb my itch to open social media I end up becoming a victim again of endless scrolling. I don’t even realize that 2 hours have gone by and I have done nothing but stuck my ass to my bed or chair and just scrolled content that sometimes puts me in a bad mood.

Well, I feel that time is precious as we all already know. I’ll be honest here, as every birthday passes by rather than getting excited about my birthday dress and the party that I’m about to have, I get scared. The feeling of getting older has already kicked in on me. I retrospect every year and as I get older I don’t want to be the one who has done nothing but uselessly wasted her time. I don’t want that just for me but also for everyone reading this as well.

Life is short. Well, we don’t realize this until we have crossed some age and I guess I’ve come to that age. I don’t know if it’s too early or late but I’m glad I’ve got this epiphany. Now that I feel I’ve kinda evolved, let me tell you even scrolling content for 2mins on social media feels so toxic to me and it feels like when there are better things to do in life, why am I doing this?!

Some people might think, “Oh god, has she become old already?!”, but if something is beneficial and is helping you improve your lifestyle and your peace of mind, I don’t think there should be an age for it.

Like for example, I do not smoke but I hold nothing against people who do it. There are tons of people who sweet-talk me into smoking but I do believe and it is a fact that it is completely unhealthy for your life and the momentary high on Nicotine is going to cost your life.

Well, some people have a counter point on it. They give me examples of many people who have smoked all their life and still have managed to live a longer and full-filling life. Example, Churchill or Shah Rukh Khan. Be that as it may, if something is dangerous and can cost not just your life but the peace of mind of your surroundings and your loved ones as well, then I think we are better off of it.

Every one is not Shah Rukh Khan as there is only one Badshah.

Evading from the topic of discussion has totally become my unconscious forte these days. Coming back to content consumption and how it affects one’s life.

Well, let me not rat out the content on social media about the social media to you but go ahead and share my personal experience and the benefits I have faced.

About three months ago, just about when I started to work from the office I used to sit right behind my boss. Our backs were facing each other and we had large screen desktops other than our Macbooks.

While I was working at home, I always used to put some podcast, music, drama or some movie on my TV or on another tab on my laptop and listen to it and work which actually reduced my focus on my work and it so ended that I did neither of those two things properly. Nor did I consume the entire content of the podcast nor did I finish my task with finesse. There used to always be bugs because my mind wasn’t fixated on just one thing.

I vividly remember one incident during my college days where I gave a speech on why Monotasking is better than Multitasking and to sound cool between my peers I included all the toughest words in the dictionary and I did look cool. So cool that my peers sat stone-cold understanding not even the tiniest of context.

Well, all that came to my head alarmingly and I realized you need to focus on one thing. Getting back to the point, it so happened that my habits in the lockdown of consuming too much content, short content which actually reduces your attention span, had reduced my ability to focus on my task and deliver my task with finesse.

I naturally continued the same habit while I was going to the office as well, opening one tab on my desktop for the actual code and another tab of some content on the background or some social media to keep scrolling.

One day, on one of many one-on-ones with my manager, he observed this situation of two-legs-on-two-different-boats from behind his desk and helped me understand that might be causing an impairment to my focus.

Watching too many reels, shorts or any video that plays only in seconds or shorter minutes can actually reduce your attention span and you might be restless, impatient when things take too long.

So I heeded to what he said and I tried it. I tried doing one task at a time. I will not lie, it was difficult in the beginning. To not hear anything happening in the background and to just focus on one thing at one time. I was surprised by my ability to not be able to do just one task. I felt like I have fallen into this pit-hole where content had shattered my concentration and if I allow this to keep going, one day, it might cost my job as well.

That’s when I reminisced about my speech from college and decided to do just one task at a time. As I am writing this blog for you guys, I am only writing this blog and doing nothing else. For a split second, I did put my TV on but then switched it off.

The progress was unbelievable. My features went bug-free, I started to have a sense of accomplishment, my frame of mind was clear, my focus got improved, my patience towards slower things increased and all in all, I became a calmer person.

All this is not just by doing one thing at a time but also reducing your screen time and time spent on social media as well.

It’s okay if you do not know what’s happening in your friend, ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend or current boyfriend/girlfriend, your ex’s current friend, your crush’s life, and it just increases negativity if they do something you cannot. Their lives just look prettier like a bed of roses and this has opened to so much delusion among people on assuming that it is their real life.

Honestly, I follow not more than 200 people on my instagram and they are just my closest circle of people. I do not hesitate to unfollow if I feel the person is cluttering my mind. Back when I was in college, I was very jealous of a person’s life and what they portrayed on social media seemed all too good to be true.

Everyday I felt horrible that I don’t have such a life and felt like my life was a hell-hole. I felt I am worth nothing and am not able to do anything this person does.

One day, it reached a point from being just a joke to actually starting to influence my life. That’s when I decided to do the toughest thing. I unfollowed them. Actually, I have to credit another friend of mine who pushed me into doing so.

Even though I knew this person was making me feel negative and miserable, I didn’t want to unfollow the person because I was scared I would no longer get updates of the person’s life but then after unfollowing them, it just felt clean. Clean as if a big clutter has been broomed out of mind and not knowing is bliss. As the famous saying goes, “Ignorance is bliss”.

I decided that day that if I ever follow this person again, it’ll be when I’m fully ready to consume any thing that they post, would accept my life and would make peace that they’re living a better life than mine.

Well, that’s a feather on the cap.

Taking phones to the bathroom is where I draw the line and would at least want to finish my job with peace.

We do need it (social media). Might be a good thing like reminiscence for my father when he found his old college days photos from one of his friends profile, like my mother who connected with her long-lost friend who we all thought had lost contact, like how I am still connected to my school friends and am able to find out all the events of their life and they, mine.

But you need to know when to draw the line.

I hope we all save the rest of our lives for better use and I do not want to know the trending dance step or the trending reel of the month.

The only place you can keep scrolling is when you have to read this blog :P

Happy Reading

Bhavna Haritsa.