I’ve written a series of six posts explaining how early Buddhist scriptures can help us break free from social media addiction. These teachings come from the Vitakkasanthana Sutta, which offers five strategies for dealing with persistent thoughts and urges.
One key point is to follow these tools in order. If redirecting your mind to positive thoughts doesn’t work, focus on the drawbacks of addiction. If that still doesn’t help, the next step is to simply “ignore and forget” your obsessions, which we’ll explore today.
The guidance here is pretty direct. If negative thoughts linked to desire, hate, and delusion keep surfacing, just ignore and forget them. While this might sound easier said than done, it boils down to reducing temptation.
We’ll examine this on two levels: external activity and internal habits. First, we’ll discuss practical ways to change your habits to avoid social media temptation. Then, we’ll delve into adjusting how we experience and handle our thoughts.
To illustrate the concept, let’s consider managing a craving for potato chips. If they’re in your house, you’re more tempted to eat them. Keeping them out of sight reduces this temptation. Likewise, avoid the chip aisle at the grocery store. For social media, the same principle applies. Our devices provide constant temptation because we carry them everywhere and keep social media apps easily accessible.
To reduce this, try moving social media apps to the second or third screen of your phone, so accessing them requires more effort. Turn off the notification badges and sounds that draw you in. Control when you check your apps instead of letting them command your attention. This strategy helps put some control back in your hands and allows you to focus better.
Also, keep your phone out of sight some of the time. Charging your phone away from your bedside at night, for example, can help break the habit of checking it first thing in the morning. You could use an old-fashioned alarm clock instead. Turning your phone off while charging overnight adds another barrier, taking advantage of our natural laziness to prevent instant access.
When I charge my phone in another room, I’m more likely to meditate or read a book in the morning, which is a healthier way to start the day. Reading physical books helps train the mind to concentrate, unlike skimming short online posts. Books nourish the mind in ways that online content rarely does.
Create opportunities for phone-free time, like muting your phone during meals with family or friends. Some people even stack their phones at a restaurant table, with the first person to touch their phone paying for everyone’s meal—a great way to stay present and engaged.
Meditation retreats can also help you reconnect with being offline. Some retreats require you to hand in your phone, but you can create your own barriers by leaving it in your car or sealing it in an envelope with an encouraging message like “simplicity and presence.”
These are external strategies for reducing social media addiction, but there’s also an internal approach. This involves shifting how we pay attention. We typically focus narrowly, like a flashlight, on what’s directly in front of us, but we can also use a broader, more relaxed focus, like a lamp illuminating a whole room. This softer, open focus can help calm the mind and make it easier to let go of distracting thoughts and urges.
In meditation, a narrow focus can lead to boredom and distraction. If we broaden our focus, we notice more sensations and thoughts can pass through the mind without engaging us.
This approach helps with ignoring and forgetting persistent thoughts. When urges like the need to check social media arise, observing them without acting can help them fade away. This “urge surfing” acknowledges that urges build and pass like waves. By watching them, we realize they won’t overpower us.
In summary, we can minimize social media distraction by creating physical barriers and adjusting how we focus our attention. By ignoring and forgetting our urges, we can break free from addictive patterns and enjoy healthier, more fulfilling interactions.