Social Media Use Disorders

The perils of an always-online society

A little over a month ago, Ted Gioia, another Substack user, posted this thought provoking essay about short form video and digital services which has been living rent free in my head since I read it… I’m linking it here inline as any attempt to summarize it would fall short of the original…

How to Break Free from Dopamine Culture

I highly suggest you review his full-form writing [click Read more above] for how to take steps away from your own potential social media addictions before continuing to read the rest of my post. If you choose to not read his post and want the short version, here is a summary of his 5 suggestions:

You don’t need to get rid of your phone—but you would be wise to minimize your reliance on scrolling and swiping interfaces. (limit or get rid of infinite scroll activities - facebook, instagram, tiktok, etc.)

Go out into the world and rediscover what real applications looked like before we had digital apps. (I really liked his idea to gamify this into merit badges! Essentially to treat doing real-world activities like getting scouting badges.)

Pursue immersive experiences in music (and other things). (Replace chunks of time you spend scrolling with longer-form activity to widen your attention span again! The author suggested songs which are 10+ minutes long as one example.)

Celebrate rituals—both family and personal rituals, as well as larger communal rituals. (In-person events escape quantification for their impact on the feeling of connectedness - have a birthday party — or do a birthday dinner, don’t just send an animated birthday cake GIF.)

Only connect. (I get deep existential vibes thinking about this suggestion. The purpose of being is to connect - with others, with the earth, with the universe.)

… Onward to my thoughts…

In the previously cited Surgeon General Loneliness Epidemic Advisory publication from 2023, “social media” was mentioned 15 times, and none of them were for a positive effect on loneliness or socialization. Instead, several mentions pointed to the increasing trends of people of all ages saying they are on social media “almost constantly”. The following quote from that advisory may even understate the issue, even though it is black and white that this social media use is an addiction.

Among teens ages 13 to 17 years, 95% report using social media as of 2022,
with more than half reporting it would be hard to give up social media.

One PEW Research Citation in that advisory related specifically to research on persons under age 18, but older than 13. From that research, 1 in 5 teens say they use YouTube ‘almost constantly’. 54% of teens say it would be hard to give up social media. 95% of teens have a smartphone - making access to social media be persistent at all times.

So what is the aim of Toward Wellth in addressing this issue?

It starts with alternative programming — principally the programming which teaches how to break and make habits, by breaking old cycles and making new cycles.
While I’d highly suggest reading James Clear’s 2013 book Atomic Habits, the TL;DR is as follows:

Thinking through small steps to make social media use more difficult, you can start by putting on daily time limits (Screen Time on iPhone).

One other method that aligns to make it invisible is to place your phone into an out-of-sight area for a period of time each day.

To make it unattractive, simply read more about it, think about your own use, journal about the negative impact social media is having on other areas of your life, and seeking support from friends and family when you let them know you’re actively addressing the issue.

Toward Wellth will continue to promote the creation of new habits that can use the time previously spent in ‘mindless scrolling’ or otherwise isolating activities. The goal is to promote more social interaction and promote community.

I continue to keep thinking of ways that a ‘reward’ might be given for patrons who choose to lock up their phones as they arrive or otherwise commit to decreasing the number of screens being viewed in the space. It’s incumbent on Toward Wellth to provide programming, social opportunities, and more attractive alternatives than what’s available on infinite scroll apps. Happy to take suggestions on how this might be accomplished!