I’ve found myself in conversation with quite a few people who are looking to come to grips with social media, email usage, phone usage..
It seems we swing back and forth on our opinions on these things.
I recently saw a video that stated that men will spend a total of about 4 years of their life looking down at their phone, so, I guess this is a relevent conversation to have. Hard to know exact accuracy, but I can tell you from looking around, it’s going to come in pretty high.
We have an opportunity cost becoming apparent.
The biggest thing to understand is that it’s not you.
When they designed Facebook, instagram, and the rest of them, they designed the platforms around known emotional triggers and neurological responses.
The intent was to create that 4 year period that I just mentioned come into existence. Through designing the user experience effectively, you (and me, and a billion others) are literally drawn in, chemically.
We also need to understand that they are looking to make money. This means the advertisers are the customers, not you. You are the product.
So, what do we do? Here are a couple of ideas
- Assess where you’re at. This is key. On an iPhone, go to Settings -> Battery -> Scroll down to look at the app usage. Then switch to “time” with the little clock symbol. This will show you how much time you are spending on a 24hr or 7 day period.
- Decide on your reasons for playing the game. What’s the upside of staying involved?
- Set boundaries on all time-frames (daily, weekly, monthly, annually), where you have a break
- On your computer, if you have a habit that’s not serving you, use plugins: “Newsfeed Eradicator” is a great one for Facebook. There are many.
- Create a desired alternative habit and reward system (here). Maybe instead, you write a blog, do some mobility or go for a walk.
