conscious living
Life Skills
Mindfulness
Social Media
Consuming Social Media
1.2.16
How do you consume social media? Are you discerning, or do you let it consume you? It's easy to get sucked in, especially as most of us have a screen constantly within arm's reach. Five minutes until your train arrives? Scroll, Like, scroll. Sitting in the waiting room at the dentist? Double tap, (love heart), @somebody.
A study at the University of Virginia found that 50-75% of us prefer to receive electric shocks to sitting in silence by themselves for 15 mins. Are we so easily bored, that we prefer negative stimulation to no stimulation? In our society overloaded with distractions, have we lost the ability to use our imagination and entertain ourselves?
Content on social media is consumer-modified. You choose who you follow. Your likes, shares, clicks and user habits are tracked by each platform, which then tailors the content of your feed according to your particular interests. All this customisation means that your feed is a smorgasbord of everything you like, tempting you into a bottomless binge of content over-consumption. Is this too much of a good thing?
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| Mmm raw desserts. Even something this good needs moderation. Image courtesy of Pana Chocolate |
Social media is neither good nor bad - it is simply a tool. Like all tools, it enhances certain aspects of us and our abilities. A hammer allows us to hit things harder. A calculator helps us do math. Social media is undeniably powerful. What role do you allow it to play in your everyday? Is it a habit, a time-waster, an addiction? Do you use it to organise events and bring people together? To further particular career or personal goals? Or is it mindless scrolling to avoid having to think for onself?
Asking ourselves these question; essentially being mindful of how we use social media, is key to using it effectively. If your mind is constantly crowded with other people's content, what happens to the contents of your own mind?
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