In a series of six posts, I explain how we can free ourselves from our addiction to social media using teachings from early Buddhist scriptures. These teachings are found in the Vitakkasanthana Sutta, which outlines five strategies for overcoming compelling trains of thought and the urges that accompany them. I call it “the Social Media Sutra” because it’s catchy and reminds us that these teachings can be directly applied to our lives.
Now, let’s talk about the fifth and final tool, which might surprise you: sheer willpower. The Buddha suggests using willpower as a last resort, to be employed only when other methods have failed. Practitioners are encouraged to “squeeze, squash, and torture” the mind to overcome bad thoughts. It’s a forceful method, akin to a strong man overpowering a weaker one. Though it’s harsh, sometimes being strict with ourselves is necessary.
I’ve found this useful at times. For instance, late at night, I might be reading interesting articles online, depriving myself of sleep. Suddenly, I get a surge of disgust for what I’m doing and almost slam my laptop shut. This burst of healthy distaste temporarily overpowers my craving, ending my compulsive surfing.
Even though the concept of willpower is controversial and not always reliable, there are more effective and “sneaky” ways to overcome urges by using willpower when you’re not actively caught up in craving. Making decisions that limit the ability of our tendencies to control us is key. For example, deleting social media apps from your phone makes it harder to access those services. You could also use parental safety settings to block sites entirely or use browser plugins that limit your time on social media.
Going a step further, you could delete your social media accounts. This takes a lot of willpower. I did this with Instagram because I found myself craving validation through likes and comments but not getting it. I also deleted my Facebook account due to privacy concerns, political propaganda, and the decline in the quality of interactions.
Research shows that quitting social media makes us happier, but addiction and the lies our minds tell us make it hard to quit. Lies like how essential social media is for happiness even though these platforms haven’t always existed and we got by fine without them.
The only social media I had left was Twitter, which also became problematic. Twitter is full of outrage, which affected my well-being. It’s also a big time-suck; I could spend hours scrolling.
So, I tried a final willpower trick: locking myself out of my account. By changing my password to something random and not saving it, I created an extra barrier to access my account. This simple trick kept me off Twitter for months.
To summarize, we’ve explored the Vitakkasanthana Sutta’s five tools to help free our minds from obsessive thinking and compulsive urges. Thank you for joining me on this journey of using the Dharma to overcome social media addiction. There’s nothing I enjoy more than sharing the Dharma, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to explore this practice together.
May we all make progress in overcoming the obstacles that prevent us from living with mindfulness, compassion, and joy.