In a series of posts, I explain how we can free ourselves from social media addiction using teachings from early Buddhist scriptures, specifically the Vitakkasanthana Sutta. This ancient text outlines five strategies to overcome compelling urges.
This week’s focus is on the second strategy, which involves examining the drawbacks of having an uncontrollable mind. There’s a vivid image in the discourse where it says we should see these unskillful thoughts as blameworthy and leading to suffering. If someone had a dead snake, dog, or human corpse hung around their neck, they’d be horrified and disgusted—a stark comparison to how we should feel about our unskillful thoughts.
The applicability of this tool to social media is clear. We need to recognize the disadvantages and addictive nature of platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which are designed to hook us by tapping into our brain’s reward circuits. They keep us coming back for more, craving likes, and new updates through features like endless scrolling and autoplay videos.
There’s substantial evidence of the negative effects of social media. Heavy usage can impair decision-making to levels comparable to addiction to drugs like cocaine or heroin. The average person spends about four hours a day on their phone, leading to anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Social media tricks us into believing others are happier and more successful, further diminishing our own happiness and life satisfaction.
Additionally, there’s a significant impact on our productivity and personal relationships. We waste a lot of time on social media, time that could be spent on more enriching activities like walking, meditating, or working. This “opportunity cost” is one of the many drawbacks.
The concept of addiction includes the false promise of happiness, which aligns with Buddha’s teachings on cognitive distortions, or vipallasa. These distortions make us believe that impermanent and unskillful things can bring us happiness. This is also encapsulated in the term FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out. Initially, I worried about losing touch with friends and family by deleting my social media accounts, but I found the opposite to be true. Less time on social media brought me more joy, productivity, and the ability to focus fully on other activities, like reading and meditating.
The second tool from the Vitakkasanthana Sutta helps us critically examine our desires to use social media. We start seeing these urges for what they are—false promises that don’t deliver true happiness. They distract us from meaningful activities and relationships.
Returning to the Buddha’s imagery, think of how disgusting it would be to have a rotting corpse draped around your neck. That’s the kind of revulsion we should feel towards our social media addiction. But we should also recognize the wholesome parts of our lives, and hold onto those.
Reflecting on these drawbacks can help us see online addiction as incongruent with who we are and who we want to be. Balancing our recognition of these issues with the pursuit of more wholesome activities can help us break free.
To aid in this effort, try these practical steps: log off social media regularly, move app icons to harder-to-reach places, replace social media time with wholesome activities, and schedule “Freedom Days” where you avoid social media entirely. Reflect on the benefits of these changes to stay motivated.
By recognizing the downsides and actively seeking out more fulfilling habits, you can create a sense of “disgust” for the unskillful behaviors and develop a stronger attraction to what truly brings you peace and joy.