In a series of six posts, I explain how we can break free from our addiction to social media using teachings from the early Buddhist scriptures. These teachings are in the Vitakkasanthana Sutta, which outlines five strategies to overcome compelling thoughts and urges.
“Vitakkasanthana Sutta” translates to “the Discourse on Quieting Thinking,” but I’ll call it “the Social Media Sutra” as it’s catchier and relevant to our lives today.
Let’s talk about the fifth and final strategy the Buddha offers, which might surprise you: sheer willpower. With clenched teeth and a tongue pressed against the roof of the mouth, the practitioner should forcefully control their mind. This sounds harsh and the imagery is quite intense, but it reflects the need to be strict with ourselves sometimes.
However, this method is a last resort, only to be used when other methods have failed. I’ve personally found this useful late at night when browsing the internet. Though the content might be interesting and informative, it robs me of sleep. I suddenly feel a sense of disgust with what I’m doing and shut my laptop, which overpowers my craving.
That said, the whole concept of willpower can be misleading. When I close my laptop out of disgust, it’s not purely willpower; it just happens. Fortunately, there are better ways to overcome your urges—sneakier ways. One effective strategy is using willpower when you’re not actively craving. This means making decisions that limit the ability of your urges to control you.
For instance, deleting social media apps from your phone makes it harder to access them. Using parental safety settings to block sites like Twitter or Facebook can completely prevent access. Browser plugins can also limit your time on social media. If you want to take it further, deleting your social media accounts altogether is a strong use of willpower, though it can be challenging.
I deleted my Instagram account as I wasn’t getting the validation I craved, and it made me unhappy. I also deleted my Facebook account due to privacy concerns and unproductive arguments, among other issues. Research shows quitting social media makes us happier, but addiction and the lies our minds tell us make it difficult.
After deleting Facebook and Instagram, I was left with Twitter. However, Twitter often made me feel outraged and consumed a lot of my time. Checking it in the morning could eat up forty minutes to an hour easily. The endless scrolling and interesting links kept me hooked.
So, here’s a final willpower trick that worked for me: creating a barrier to make it hard to access your account. For example, lock yourself out by changing your password to something nonsensical and not saving it. Though you can theoretically regain access through a password reset, this extra step acts as enough of a deterrent.
Currently, I have no active social media accounts, which has greatly improved my well-being and freed up time. Locking myself out of accounts was like locking a powerful urge in a room—it prevented it from controlling me.
In summary, 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 series on using Dharma to overcome social media addiction. I’m grateful to explore and share these teachings with you, and I appreciate the opportunity provided by Tricycle magazine.
May we all continue progressing towards mindfulness, compassion, and joy by overcoming obstacles in our lives.