I’ve been sharing posts that draw from early Buddhist scriptures to explain how we can break free from our addiction to social media. These teachings are found in the Vitakkasanthana Sutta, which offers five strategies for overcoming strong urges.
This week, we’re focusing on the second strategy, which involves examining the drawbacks of having a mind that’s out of control. The discourse illustrates this with a vivid, memorable image: “They should examine the drawbacks of those thoughts: ‘These thoughts are unskillful, blameworthy, and they result in suffering.’ Just as a young person adorned with decorations would be horrified if a snake or a dog’s corpse hung around their neck, so should we regard our negative thoughts.”
Applying this to social media, we recognize its disadvantages and our addiction to it. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are engineered to be addictive, hooking into our brain’s reward circuits to keep us coming back. They demand our constant attention with endless streams, autoplaying videos, and notifications.
There’s plenty of evidence showing the negative impacts of social media. For instance, a 2019 study found that heavy Facebook users have decision-making skills as poor as those addicted to cocaine or heroin. On average, people now spend around four hours daily on their phones, which leads to increased anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Social media often tricks us into feeling inadequate because people tend to show a falsely positive view of their lives.
Moreover, social media can influence our political decision-making without us even realizing it. As an example, Facebook found that a Russian agency had used a mindfulness page to interfere in US elections.
Personally, I found that social media consumed a significant amount of my time. I could easily spend hours in the morning reading news and browsing Twitter instead of engaging in more meaningful activities like walking, meditating, or working. This misuse of time is a significant drawback.
Other disadvantages include staying up too late staring at screens, reduced productivity, lack of attention to loved ones, online conflicts, and a diminished ability to focus. These issues are likely familiar to many of us.
Our addiction to social media persists because it promises happiness, even though it often delivers the opposite. This is akin to the Buddha’s teachings on cognitive distortions, where we mistakenly believe that things causing unhappiness will make us happy. This mindset is encapsulated in the acronym FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), highlighting our fear of missing important updates or connections if we cut back on social media.
However, when I reduced my social media use, I found that I was happier and more productive. I spent more time meditating, could focus on reading, and enjoyed the simplicity of life. Instead of experiencing FOMO, I felt JOMO (Joy of Missing Out).
This second strategy from the Vitakkasanthana Sutta encourages us to reflect on the negative aspects of our social media habits. It’s a way to view our urges more skeptically and see them as false promises that claim to bring happiness but actually make us unhappy.
The Buddha’s imagery of a corpse around the neck serves as a powerful reminder of the unwholesomeness of our addictions. Recognizing the good and wholesome aspects of our lives highlights the grossness of our negative habits. This recognition helps us align our actions with our true values and aspirations.
To effectively reduce our addiction, we should also engage in wholesome activities, such as being present, meditating, focusing on meaningful work, and enjoying simple pleasures. As we move away from social media, we can rediscover the joy of deeper engagement with books, music, and nature.
In conclusion, we’ve learned to see our addictive behaviors as something gross and incompatible with who we are and who we want to be. By recognizing and undermining these tendencies, we can become freer, happier, and more in control of our minds.