That's Unhealthy: Social Media Bad Habits

There are many articles that talk about how social media has had detrimental effects on people. Some of these include being bullied online, the comparison trap, and "doing it for the Gram".

I was having a conversation with someone the other day, and she asked why I did not view her IG Stories from the last several days. Those that know me, know I do a lot of lurking (meaning seeing the posts made by others, but not always liking or commenting on them) and post regularly. I responding by saying that I hadn't seen them and had not really been that interactive on social media. She continues to talk and makes a comment about how she does more IG Stories than Reels or Posts, because she can see exactly who has viewed the Stories. Without hesitation, I heard a voice that said "That's unhealthy".

In the moment, I was not sure whether I should repeat the information that I was just told or let the other person continue to speak. I chose the latter because the individual was attempting to make a point. A point that I knew was bad mentally and sometimes physically, because of the previous research and articles that I had read about how using social media in the wrong way can impact us all negatively.

The conversation continued, and eventually I mentioned that the person should back away from the social media. In response, I got the strangest of looks for saying that followed by a monologue of why she would not be doing that. Thing is, other people can see the detriment and the impact that it is having, but because she had a blind spot for that area, she could not see that and got offended.

Here are some of the negative sides of having an unhealthy relationship with social media, regardless of the platform.

Calling Out Those Who Don't Look

Just because somebody is not seeing your content, does not mean they are bad or do not care about your content. As someone that is a content creator, I know that content may not always hit it big in the beginning, but then a trend comes along and then your content gets more in engagement after being posted 60-90 days than it did within the first 60 days. There's no need to call someone out because they did not like or support your content. Sometimes the algorithm will not push your content to a large audience until it hits a certain threshold or matches relevant keywords or hashtags. Other times, your content will not make it big at all because what you have posted results in you being shadow banned.

Applying Law 8 of The 48 Laws of Power to this, people that are truly interested in your content will like, comment, subscribe, follow, and all the other Call To Actions. You will not have to ask, beg, or plead to do so. Same thing also applies to the quality of the content that you create. Bad content does not draw people in or encourage them to watch more of your content.

Not Knowing When To Stop

While is great to stay up to date with others, one thing that I have realized that is that staying up to date means that you do not get other things done. Running a business, accomplishing life goals, traveling... all of these are better uses of your time.

TikTok has caught on and knows how detrimental social media can be. One thing that I appreciate about it that other platforms do not do, is that after you have been on the app for a certain amount of time, between 1 to 2 hours, that the app will insert a video mentioning that you have been scrolling a while and probably should take a break.

There have been times where I was aimlessly scrolling on TikTok. After about 30 minutes to an hour, a video comes up mentioning that you have been scrolling for a while and suggests that you take a break. I also notice that other platforms like those from Meta and YouTube, do not have anything like this integrated into their apps. Why? Because they know that the more you are on their app, the more revenue that they will make from ads and products that are being advertised to you. Also because you provide them with more information about the content that you would like to see shown to you.

For me this is an immediate reality check and makes me pause to think what else I could be doing with my time instead of continuously scrolling on the app. When you get to a point where you are just scrolling, you really want to ask yourself how can you use your time differently and more strategically. In my opinion, social media and watching TV are some of the most wasteful activities that we have in our current lives.

Studies that have been done, have concluded that being and staying on social media apps, provide a dopamine hit. Dopamine is the “feel good” hormone. Thus activities that trigger it, you want to often do.

Doing It For the Gram

One thing that I have seen over time, is that some well known celebrities have this well known facade that they portray online. Then something major happens, and their popularity drops faster than a meteor out of the sky.

When you do or say things just for the popularity, and not because you have a genuine interest or expertise in the topic, eventually you drop the ball. The ball gets dropped because you have to continuously come up with new content to stay relevant and to keep your audience engaged.

As a content creator, this can be a time consuming task. That’s why those that follow me, see content about the projects that I am working on, the thoughts that I have about a particular subject, or jumping on a popular trend. In other words, show people who you are, and not have a facade or made up persona that people see online, that isn’t the real you. It will get exhausting fast.

Conclusion

Create good content, and follow those that create that interests you. Do not let others feel ashamed or coerce you into engaging with their content. That’s how you end up with content that you are not really interested in, showing up and adding noise to your feed. This noise is digital clutter, and digital clutter is like the clutter you see people on “Hoarders” have in their house. Difficult to move around and hazardous to your health to be in that environment.