In late 2019, I recorded a series of talks for “Tricycle” magazine, discussing how Buddhist tools can help overcome social media and internet addiction. These talks were not posted online until January of the following year, so I turned my notes into a series of six articles—an introduction plus one article for each of the five tools.
I’ve added more details to these articles than were in the talks. You always realize things you missed out once a talk is done! Here are links to each part: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.
I must confess, I’ve had my bouts with social media addiction. Given how my teaching often requires online presence, I got pulled into spending too much time on social media. Like most people, I carry a phone—a device rarely used for calls but more as a portal to endless distractions.
Spending lots of time online with this device led me to waste hours on the internet. My work suffered, and often I’d stay up late reading interesting articles about science and psychology. The reading material was great, but I couldn’t stop, and this habit deprived me of sleep. While I’ve always been a book lover, I found I couldn’t focus on reading anymore. Without the deep immersion that books offer, life felt more shallow.
There were bonus problems too—like getting into online disputes, which caused anger and anxiety. Logging into social media, my heart would race, anxious about my posts’ likes and shares. These are forms of suffering.
Not fond of suffering, I wondered how my Buddhist practice could help with online addiction. So, I’m sharing tools that I found useful, hoping they might help you too if you have similar issues.
By the time I wrote these articles, I had mostly overcome my addictions. Although I occasionally struggled with too much time on Twitter, practicing these techniques helped me disengage from it.
But first, what do I mean by social media addiction? It’s not just enjoying social media; it’s compulsively using it despite knowing its harmful effects on us and others. This compulsion means feeling out of control and ashamed, often leading us to hide just how addicted we are.
When I mention “social media,” I’m broadly referring to platforms like Facebook or Twitter. What I discuss might also apply to those hooked on online games or constantly checking the news.
Of course, Buddha didn’t talk about the internet or social media. But he did teach a lot about managing compulsive behaviors. One particular discourse, the Vitakkasanthana Sutta—translatable as the “Discourse on Quieting Thinking”—is particularly relevant here.
In this context, “thinking” includes both inner dialogue and urges. Often, the urge comes without verbal thoughts—like picking up your phone to check an app without thinking about it. The Vitakkasanthana Sutta is thus about letting go of these unhelpful urges.
Many people apply this discourse to meditation, but its principles can be used in everyday life, including while on social media. You might even think of the Vitakkasanthana Sutta as the Social Media Sutra.
The discourse outlines five tools, suggesting that if the first doesn’t work, you try the next one, and so on. Each tool comes with an illustration—some are more helpful than others.
These five approaches provide a robust set of tools for overcoming addictive behaviors and the accompanying anger and anxiety. I’ll explain each, mentioning what Buddha said and how to make the tools practical.
That’s it for today. I hope you enjoy this series.
Notice any addictive behaviors around your social media use. What suffering do they cause? How does your compulsion manifest? 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 temporarily, how do you feel—joyful, relieved, anxious?
We could look at this as a limited-time experiment where we gradually reduce our social media use. I believe that applying this simple idea, though requiring willpower, will definitely reduce our social media usage.
Bodhipaksa has published a series of six posts with mindful and compassionate tools for overcoming social media addiction. This approach is a great way to apply ancient teachings to modern problems, showing the continued relevance of Dhamma.
Respectfully, I have a question. The translation of vitakka as ‘thinking’ doesn’t align with my understanding. In Abhidhamma, vitakka conveys ‘initial application,’ while sustained thinking is ‘vicara.’ Could you clarify this?
With metta,
Thitadhammo
Hi, Thitadhammo.
I know some interpret vitakka and vicara as forms of attention. I prefer the suttas for guidance rather than the Abhidhamma. Mainly, I use the terms this way because that’s how I was taught, and it fits my meditation experience.
According to the suttas, both factors are present in the first jhana and vanish in the second. There’s a stable, joyful meditative state with some limited thinking (first jhana) and a state where thinking ceases (second jhana). This corresponds to what’s called “noble silence.”
The Buddha’s Kolita Sutta discusses this: “What is noble silence? It’s when a monk, with the cessation of vitakka and vicara, enters the second jhana, experiencing rapture, pleasure, and concentration without vitakka and vicara—this is noble silence.”
If vitakka and vicara in this context are forms of attention, their role in jhana becomes confusing. Attention, stable in jhana, doesn’t vanish.
In the Vitakkasanthana Sutta, vitakka seems tied to thought. In the Culavedalla Sutta, Dhammadinna explains, “Having vitakka’d and vicara’d, one speaks.” Here, thoughts lead to speech, not merely attention.
Some, like Sujato, translate vitakka and vicara as placing and maintaining attention. However, it seems more straightforward if they refer to thinking, leading to speech.
I acknowledge that if you’ve held another view for a long time, evidence might not be persuasive, though!
Best,