In a series of six posts, I’ve laid out how early Buddhist teachings can help us break free from our addiction to social media. These teachings come from the Vitakkasanthana Sutta, which provides five strategies for overcoming persistent and distracting thoughts.
I call this teaching “the Social Media Sutra” because it highlights how these ancient wisdoms can apply directly to our modern lives, particularly our obsessive use of social media. By “addiction,” I mean using social media compulsively despite its negative effects on ourselves and others. This aligns with the classic definition of addiction: engaging in harmful behavior that is difficult to control.
Addiction carries secondary consequences like feeling ashamed and secretive, or becoming anxious when trying to cut back. In the context of social media, many people also develop anger and outrage issues, which can be particularly troubling.
The Social Media Sutra offers five tools to counter these urges. The first strategy is to redirect your focus from harmful thoughts to more positive ones. The Buddha uses the metaphor of replacing a large peg with a smaller peg to illustrate this shift. Even though he doesn’t mention meditation, his advice can be applied to all areas of life, including our online activities.
Social media itself isn’t inherently bad, but our minds often engage with it addictively. This doesn’t just include Facebook or Twitter, but also activities like reading news articles or playing games online. The idea is to switch from an unhelpful urge to a more beneficial one. Mindfulness gives us the ability to choose, allowing us to observe our actions and make decisions that bring us happiness instead of misery.
Mindfulness can sometimes make us aware of uncomfortable truths, like our addictions or anger, causing us to blame ourselves. But instead of self-blame, we need to understand that addiction is just a natural outcome of certain conditions in our lives. Removing self-blame is a conscious choice we can make.
If you realize you’re doing something that’s making you unhappy, recognize it mindfully. Identify the harmful mental habit and consider how you can switch to a more positive activity. The Buddha used a practical example to illustrate this: using a small peg to dislodge a larger one. Just like this process, overcoming addictive behavior takes time and repeated effort.
Our addiction to social media often manifests as craving constant stimulation, attention, or feeling self-righteously angry. Each of these cravings can be managed by turning our focus to more positive activities.
For stimulation, take a mindful break and focus on physical sensations or your surroundings. This kind of conscious awareness can be more fulfilling than online distractions.
If you’re craving attention, it likely points to not feeling good about yourself. Offer yourself love, compassion, and appreciation. Tell yourself that you matter and that you can care for yourself.
Anger and outrage on social media can be countered by practicing empathy and compassion towards others. Recognize that others also seek happiness and suffer just like you do. This awareness can naturally lead to kinder interactions.
You can trust the power of mindfulness and compassion to make better choices. Sometimes, I remind myself to “Trust the Dharma”—trust that following mindful practices will bring better results than giving in to cravings. This simple reminder helps me put my phone down and make more mindful choices, even when I’m tempted to go online.
Thus, the first tool for dealing with unhelpful behaviors and mental habits related to social media is to switch our focus to more positive actions. Trust the present moment and yourself. Trust the power of empathetic connection and the Dharma. It works.