Benefits of quitting social media. (Part 2)

Welcome Back! For the convenience of the readers this article has been divided into two parts. In the first part of the article I’ve vividly discussed the benefits that were received by multiple people after quitting social media. If you haven’t checked it out, please do. (Benefits of quitting Social media.) In this one, I’m just going to continue from where I left.

4. Retained Focus.

Cal Newport, the author of the book Deep Work, mentions about the quality of our focus, which is degrading with each passing day. Our focus and attention is now more fragmented than ever, which is inappropriate for the tasks that require deep concentration to get accomplished.

Has it ever happened to you that you’re somewhere engrossed with your thoughts and suddenly you start feeling the urge to use your mobile ? Or maybe you are sitting in a movie theatre and as soon as a boring scene pops up, your hand automatically starts reaching for your phone ? Similarly, have you observed that your learning and memory power have gradually decreased in the past few years. You may think that this is because of your age and busy lifestyle, but in reality it is because of your mobile habits.

A study was conducted, which highlighted the relation between the response and reward neurological systems that exist in our brains. A rat was placed in cage which had pre-installed levers inside it. As soon as the lever was pushed, food came out for the rat to eat. Researchers connected electrodes to the Rat’s brain, so as to see how it’s brain responds to this activity. At first, it took some time for the rat to learn how to use the lever, but when it observed that with each push it is receiving an reward, i.e food, he started it doing it repeatitively. Meanwhile, it’s brain kept lighting up with constants hits of dopamine (the pleasure causing chemicals in our body). After some time, the researchers stopped feeding him with the food. However, this did not stop the rat from pushing the lever, and on top of that it’s dopamine originating areas of brain kept lighting up several hours even after the completion of the experiment.

We human being carry a similar lever with us all the time. You guessed it right ! Our smartphones are like the lever, and on the other hand we are the rats. We push that lever again and again just to receive some little treats of amusement and consume high amounts of dopamine. Each time we pull out our phone to check a message, the dopamine originating areas of our brain start lighting, however, if there is no message or notifications on our phone our brain starts to seek those little bites of dopamine and consequently we end up browsing social media. With each scroll on our Instagram or Facebook account we receive these small treats of intermittent gratification, which resultantly tends to not only decrease our focus and attention span but also our critical thinking abilities, since unconsciously we trained our brain to seek out for these little treats of joy, every few seconds. Now, when you quit using social media, the cycle is somewhat broken, and after some time your brain starts to regain it’s original form.

5. Goodbye Negativity

I don’t think anyone reading this would be oblivious to the negativity and toxicity that social media spreads. However, things start to become absolutely unbearable when this negativity starts to interfere in our personal lives.

Now some people may wonder that despite the availability of such immense amount of resources, why do human beings still suffer from the mental sicknesses. Well the answer is simple. Back in the 90s when there was no such thing as social media, people did not compare themselves to anyone, and even if they did, it was not much impactful, however, with the arrival of social media in our lives, we literally compare ourselves all the time. Sometimes the object of comparison is our “Body” and the other times it is our “Financial status”. Though the list for the objects of comparison is infinite, these two are the most commonly compared things.

As a result of this comparison, huge negativity breeds in our brain, which also starts to interfere in other spheres of our life. It not only hampers our brain’s health but also harms our sleep cycle. Eventually, all these things team up to cause irritation and frustrations amongst people. No wonder why people in the 21st century are much more desperate for attention and support than they were a few decades ago.

Quitting social media may not solve all your problems, but you certainly won’t be comparing yourself with everyone all the time, which eventually, may help your brain to soothe down and think about the existing problems rather than finding new ones.

6. Unleashes our true potential.

So, I joined Facebook in the June of 2011, and I used it everyday till the June of 2020, spending a minimum of one hour and a maximum of three hours per day. So technically I may have spent around 1000+ hours on social media. Let’s take 1200 hours for safety. 1200 hours of checking out, liking, and commenting on other people’s activities and achievements. 1200 hours of mindless scrolling like a robot. And then to add the cherry on top, I joined Instagram and Twitter in 2016, as if I was not doing bad enough.

Just imagine, what all things I could have learned, achieved, and accomplish in those 1200 hours. I wouldn’t be remorseful, if I had spent that time in watching movies, because with movies at least you come out with a message and sometimes apply them in your life.

I don’t know how many conversations I may have made with people around and how many books I may have read, if I had not spent my precious time on social media.

Now I understand that many of you might be thinking that even if I had no social media, my life certainly wouldn’t look like La La Land. True! But one thing that I can say for sure is that the trajectory of my life would certainly be a lot different from what it is today.

Now, ever since I stopped using the social media platforms, I’ve got loads of time and potential to spend somewhere else. And so now when I compare myself with my past self, I certainly have seen a lots of improvement. I have started reading books on self improvement, I have achieved better communication skills, and furthermore, the best thing is that now I have high hopes for my future. As far as my potential is concerned, I surely have found a lot of things about my brain’s capability and got some really great results out of it.

So, I want you all to ask the same question to yourself : How many hours have I spent on social media till now, and what all things I could have achieved if had spent it wisely ?

I’m sure you it will help you !