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, outlining five strategies for overcoming persistent trains of thought and associated urges.
The Vitakkasanthana Sutta, literally “the Discourse on Quieting Thinking,” is referred to here as “the Social Media Sutra” to emphasize its relevance to our modern lives. Now, let’s discuss the fifth and final strategy, which might surprise you: sheer willpower.
The final tool the Buddha offers involves using willpower, described as clenching your teeth and pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth while you mentally “squeeze, squash, and torture” negative thoughts until they disappear. Although this method sounds harsh and somewhat violent, it is suggested as a last resort when other techniques fail.
Sometimes I’ve found willpower helpful, especially when surfing the internet late at night. Although the content might be informative, it prevents me from getting enough sleep. At those moments, a sudden surge of disgust helps me overpower the urge, and I close my laptop immediately. However, this reaction isn’t purely due to willpower; it just happens spontaneously, breaking the compulsive behavior.
Fortunately, there are more effective and less intense ways to manage urges. One approach is to use willpower when you aren’t actively experiencing a craving. For instance, deleting social media apps from your phone makes it harder to access those services. You could also use your phone’s parental controls to block social media sites entirely or install browser plugins that limit your time on these platforms.
A more extreme measure is deleting your social media accounts. This takes significant willpower, but it can be very effective. For example, I deleted my Instagram account because I craved validation and wasn’t getting it, which left me feeling disappointed. I also deleted my Facebook account, which I found frustrating due to negative interactions and privacy concerns.
Research shows that quitting social media can make us happier, but addiction and mental justifications can make it hard to take this step. My final social media account was Twitter, which I found time-consuming and often filled with outrage. To break free, I used a more forceful version of limiting temptation: I locked myself out of my Twitter account by changing the password to something I wouldn’t remember and not saving it. This barrier made it difficult to log back in, effectively keeping me off the platform.
This approach successfully cut my last ties with social media, creating strong barriers against my addictive urges. To summarize, we’ve explored five tools from the Vitakkasanthana Sutta to help free our minds from obsessive thinking and compulsive urges. Thank you for joining me in this journey to use the Dharma to overcome social media addiction. May we continue to progress in living with mindfulness, compassion, and joy.