In late 2019, I recorded some talks for “Tricycle” magazine about using tools from Buddhism to help overcome social media and internet addiction. These talks were published online in January of the following year. In the meantime, I turned my notes into a series of six articles—this introduction and one article for each of the five tools discussed.
I’ve added more details than in my talks because you always realize what you could have said after the fact. Here are links to all five parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.
I admit, I’ve been addicted to social media. Due to my teaching work, I spend a lot of time online, which has led me to get caught up in social media. Like most folks, I carry a device with me that we call a “phone,” although I seldom use it for calls. It’s more like a window to a world full of distractions.
Spending so much time online and having a device that allows instant access, I often ended up spending excessive time on the internet. This affected my work and sleep as I stayed up late reading engaging articles mainly on science and psychology. While the content was good, I couldn’t stop, leading to a lack of sleep. Even though I’ve always loved reading books, I found it hard to focus on them, making life feel more shallow without that deep immersion.
Sometimes, I faced extra issues like getting into online disputes, which not only made me angry but also anxious. My heart would pound when logging into my social media accounts, anxious to see if my posts were liked or shared. This craving for attention is yet another form of suffering.
Not liking to suffer, I asked myself how my Buddhist practice could help with online addiction. I’m sharing some tools that have helped me, hoping they could help you with similar issues. By the time I wrote these articles, I had mostly managed my addictions, though I still struggled with spending too much time on Twitter. However, practicing these techniques eventually helped me disengage from Twitter as well.
So, what do I mean by social media addiction? It’s not just enjoying social media but using it compulsively despite its harmful effects. This compulsion makes us feel out of control and often leads to shame and dishonesty about our usage.
When I talk about “social media,” I’m including a broad range of online activities, not just sites like Facebook or Twitter. This includes online games and compulsively checking the news.
The Buddha didn’t specifically address the internet or social media but had a lot to say about overcoming compulsive thoughts and behavior. One particular discourse, the Vitakkasanthana Sutta, which I translate as the “Discourse on Quieting Thinking,” offers rich tools for this.
In this discourse, “thinking” involves not just our inner dialogue but also the urges connected to those thoughts. Sometimes, these urges prompt actions without any conscious thought, like picking up your phone and opening a social media app.
Essentially, this discourse is about letting go of unhelpful urges and habits. While many think the Vitakkasanthana focuses on meditation, it doesn’t specifically mention it. The principles can apply to any context, including our social media use.
The discourse outlines five tools to deal with unhelpful urges. If the first doesn’t work, you move to the next one, and so on.
Each tool comes with an illustration—some are quite engaging and instructive, though some less so. These tools collectively offer an impressive arsenal for overcoming addictive behaviors and the negative emotions that come with them. I’ll explore each in-depth, explain what the Buddha said, and make these tools practical.
That’s all for today. I hope you enjoy this series of posts.
Read about the first tool, Pivoting Toward the Skillful. Notice any addictive behaviors around your social media use. What kind of suffering do they cause? How does this compulsion show up in your life? Can you experiment with giving up social media for a day or two? If not, what’s stopping you? If you do give it up for a short period, what’s your experience—joy, relief, craving, anxiety?
We can approach this by setting specific time limits on social media use and gradually reducing that time. Applying this simple method, which does require willpower, can indeed reduce our time spent on social media.