The Invisible Prison of Social Media

By Mahoor Zehra

Breathing, walking, talking, eating, sleeping… everything common between humans. Yet still far from them. Waking up every morning, checking for new messages, new updates, new likes, comments and shares, we’ve reached a wall. This wall represents the dead end of imagination. When we were gifted with this seemingly unparallel technology of connection, we didn’t know that that was the very thing we lose eventually. Social media was a way to connect with people all over the world to push globalization to a whole new level- how people continents apart are going to be talking as if in front to each other. No wonder this is a world changing, ground breaking creation! For better or worse though? Every tentative step we took to bring the far away people closer, we pushed the people nearby far away.

Going to grandma’s house has been replaced by “We can just call her”. “Talking to people brings anxiety. It’s easier to text.” “She looks so pretty in this picture. I wish I could be as pretty as her.” “His house is so fancy, of course he can flaunt it on social media.” “This person has such a catchy profile, he must be an interesting person. Let’s see.” These and many more things are the result of social media. We’ve lost real friends when we were talking to faceless people day and night. We lost social life on this ironically social media. The pure selfless friendship of yesterday is replaced by selfish and toxic ones. Why though? If we are free to put the phone down anytime then why is it so hard? Why is the time of creativity and learning replaced by endless hours of scrolling? Why have our attention spans and patience levels decreased so much? Why are we constantly checking our phones for new updates, likes and comments? Why are we so restless and distracted? Who are we desperately seeking validation from? 

These are all difficult questions. We don’t have any real answers for them. Our intelligence is rotting away. We are gifted with strong minds and creativity, which, if used properly, can create wonders. But sadly, with the phones in our hands, we’ve detached ourselves from our purpose and are just killing our time until death.  Studying/working, meals, sleep and repeat. This is dangerous. We have to change this as soon as we can. 

Have you noticed how we feel after a picnic in the lap of nature? A place where you finally put your phone in your pocket. A place where you actually observe your surroundings and appreciate the beauty and serenity? It calms us. Sometimes it spurs ideas to improve it, sometimes it sparks poetry - pushes us to think and to create. All this means that we still have a chance to fix everything- to cure this addiction. We can reverse it if we want to. If we want to, that is. How? Here are steps to gradually detach yourself from this magnetic screen: 

1. Start off with limiting screen time. If you start checking your screen time regularly, it will slowly decrease because you will get a clear idea of how many hours you spend on staring at this metal box. Seeing the numbers can shock you into action. 

2. Avoid posting regularly because it increases your need to be on the phone every day and also your dependence on external validation and thus decreases self-worth. 

3. Suppress the urge to constantly check your phone. “Nice outfit” isn’t something worthy of your immediate attention. You bought it because it was nice, now why are you waiting for other people to like it to decide if it was worth it? 

4. Turn off the notifications of all social media apps. You don’t need to check your phone on every ‘ping’ of a notification. 

5. Don’t judge yourself based on others’ comments about you. Nobody has lived your life. No one has the same perspective. You know what is good and what is bad. You don’t need others to say it to you. What may be a feat to you might be nothing for another. 

6. Delete useless social media apps one by one. Deleting all at once is a bit too harsh and can incite dangerous repercussions. We have to uproot this addiction step by step gradually. See through the façade of obsession if it is really important or not. Each app we remove is a victory to regain our focus and our time.

7. Don’t start clicking pictures everywhere. We ruin our most beautiful moments by this. Sometimes this camera becomes a wall between us and life. Look at sunsets with your own eyes. Watch the best part of the match without recording. Listen to your toddler speak for the first time without recording. The best sunsets, the eruption of applause, the first words are meant to be felt, not stored in pixels. The phone can never capture the warmth of a hug, the real colours of the sky, the music of laughter, the goosebumps of the moment. We have a great memory. We don’t need every second of our lives in the storage of our phones. Our grandparents remember when their children spoke for the first time, when they walked for the first time. And be honest, how many times do we look at our gallery anyway? 

8. Talk to your family and friends. Sitting along in the room won’t fix your social awkwardness. Make small talk with the kindest looking people so that they won’t laugh at you even if you become tongue-tied. If we can talk all day with faceless strangers on social media, we can also learn to speak to people in front of us. 

9. Try new hobbies. This will keep you busy and avoid the triggers like boredom, etc. It also makes you productive and resourceful person instead of a potato sack lying on his bed all day. 

10. Try to go out more often. If you feel the urge to scroll, just go out for a walk. Observe your surroundings. Listen to the birds’ chirp. Watch the sky turn from blue to black. Watch the children play in the park. Meditate. Read books. Carry a newspaper or a magazine with you on the train. These are things which you normally ignore but will grow to love if you pay attention. 

All this will help you regain your patience and attention span and clear the junk from your mind. This way our brains will be filled with things of value rather than meaningless content. We need to pull out of the clutches of social media before it is too late. It’s time to take back our minds, our focus and our lives.  The choice is ours- to scroll endlessly or to truly live.

By Mahoor Zehra