Why?

There is no denying it. We live in an era of social media and it has become an essential part of our lives. We scroll through the newsfeeds when we wake up and go to sleep. We need it as a platform to increase business at work or to connect to friends. It is how we get customized information and communicate our ideas to the world. But are there limits? Is customized information really a good thing? Is it truly essential or can we find a way around it? That is what I am setting out to learn for the next two months and beyond.

After watching Netflix‘s The Social Dilemma, I knew I made the right choice to leave. Here are my top 5 reasons:

1. Follow the money (Economics)

Facebook makes over $1 billion per quarter in advertising revenue. Advertiser approach Facebook and other personalities on social media, based on how many users or followers they have. This is important for one reason: more followers equals more people who will see their ads and buy their stuff. What does this mean to you — the average person with an account? You are just a number; a binary number to be exact.

According to Dr. Cal Newport, social media companies “offer you glittery treats (information) in exchange for minutes of your attention and bites of personal data which can then be packaged and sold.” Social media companies also hire attention engineers whose everyday job is to create new ways to get and keep you hooked to their platform. One way they do this is to customize the algorithm linked to your newsfeed, based on pages and posts you like, so you stay online longer.

Because addiction maximizes the profit margin. So, it isn’t really your fault that you keep logging in and scrolling for hours. Someone behind the scenes is working very hard to make sure you are logging in. Knowing this can help you figure out when it is time for you to take a break. After all, “knowledge is power.”

Positive side: Social media’s structure is a fantastic way to advertise if you are starting a blog, website, or small business. It will advertise to a specific niche — people you would never be able to reach. For example, I run two Facebook business pages. One page, a non-profit human rights organization, grew dramatically within one month. And the other Facebook page, for this website, is steadily growing through advertising to people who like curtain topics.

2. Missing Out & friends (Socially)

Most would argue that leaving social media will mean they will miss out on current hot topics and have a chance to connect with their friends. While social media was built on these concepts of friends and global connections, when you get to over 100+ friends your newsfeed naturally must be selective.

Social media’s solution is to customize your newsfeed using algorithms based on pages and posts you like, as mentioned above. But this has a downside especially when your account is many years old. For example, if you are a Democrat and always like progressive links and posts, your newsfeed will eventually get rid of posts by your republican friends. Limiting the diversity of opinions and friends on your feed.

You can also choose your newsfeed based on “most recent” or “top stories”. “Most recent” posts depend on time, so older posts will require you to scroll more and more to reach them. “Top stories” depends on how many likes a post receives — i.e. you will only see what is popular. Google search also does a similar thing.

The results you get can differ based on if you are logged on to your google account or not. What you see and what your friend sees can be completely different. There are media and news networks you can follow of honest reporting on current topics. Hence, while you believe you are seeing every source and that you are in control of your information, the truth is rather the opposite.

3. Moving on (Evolutionary)

Before the industrial revolution, after reaching adulthood, people would find a spouse nearby and settle down right near their family. But after the creation of big cities and more technology, people started moving to new places for opportunities like jobs, marriage, and school. When they move, they would naturally restart their lives. Only keeping in touch with those close to them by calling, visiting, or writing.

The advancement of mail, phones, computers, and eventually social media completely changed that. On the positive side, it connected people with family and old friends they would rarely get to communicate with or see face to face. But connections on social media lack important qualities that make a real friendship.

You share images and comments online but don’t have real conversations in depth (conversations that only talking on the phone or face-to-face can provide). Because there is more to people than images or political opinions. And people change with time and so do you. Especially on Social media as years go by and you acquire more friends than you can keep up with.

Social media has created emotional and cognitive dissonance. For example, when you see something you don’t agree with, like how political or religious a friend is on their posts, you get angry but have no right to say anything. You can either get into a “Social media argument” keep quiet or block them.

It becomes an invisible rope binding your hopes to that ex or crush by scrolling through their pictures and commenting on their posts. An invisible and useless rope that ties your emotions to someone you believe should mature and become a productive part of society but, be honest with yourself, you don’t know them well enough to say anything. Is that really a friendship? Or a false illusion of one?

4. Feeds off your current state (Emotionally)

Research about the influence of Social media on people’s emotional states varies constantly. While it hasn’t been proven to directly cause unhappiness and loneliness, it is said to help increase unhappiness and escalates depression. I have noticed that it feeds off your current state of satisfaction with your life, your mental state, and challenges your comfort level.

It can increase anger and irritation when you see your so-called “friends” post personal beliefs and options that don’t make sense or you disagree with. It can make you feel lonelier when you see pictures of couples and friends together, esp. if you are already feeling lonely.

It increases jealousy and resentment towards “friends” if you only see their happy posts because you don’t know their struggles, weaknesses, and failures. But, of course, there is a lot you don’t know about them and it is frankly not your place to say anything sometimes. And it can cause an addiction that can take a lot of attention and time away from your real life.

On the positive side: Social media can make people happy, and ward off pain and stress as it provides entertainment, creates connections, and increases political engagement.

5. Not productive (Personally)

The market values what is rare and valuable. And it dismisses things that are easy to replicate and result in an insignificant amount of value. This means social media is good for encouraging people to share and like posts (create awareness) but it doesn’t inevitably create results.

I find that people who are constantly on Social media do not act even though they have the burning energy to do something about it. Being angry about what you see on Social media doesn’t necessarily mean you will talk it out with that person, call your congress, or donate to that charity. The emotion passes instead of being used for something productive. Because we have come to believe that is enough, completely satisfied with just posting about it.

With the added time I have now, I started writing well-thought-out articles on medium instead of scrolling through social media.

Conclusion

Social media have a good side. But as the Social Dilemma documentary showed, there is a psychological manipulation that incentivizes any of us to continue scrolling. By taking a conscious break, be it one weekend or 5 years, we are able to regain control of our actions and time.

5 Surprising Simple Reasons You Need To Do Regular Social Media Detox To Be Consistently Happier