Chapter 5

Becoming a Social Media Minimalist

For many people, social media is the greatest digital time-waster…

Over time, social media has become a digital time-waster for most people and any attempt to embrace digital minimalism and curtail or eliminate digital clutters will necessarily involve restricting the use of social media platforms. In this chapter, we are going to be looking at how to drastically reduce or eliminate the use of social media platforms.

A Case Against the Social Media

The global impact of the social media is alarming, and it requires urgent attention if we don’t want to continue to pay with our attention and time.

Social media was meant to serve as an alternative to our physical-social life; however, it has done more damage than good. Social media has taken up our time, separate us from our values, make us less grateful, and help spread fake news. The use of social media has made it difficult for us to get our daily activities done on time.

It has even gone far in affecting the quality of our output. Many people are now glued to their screens because of social media.

It is probably not an exaggeration if we say, a sizable percentage of internet users are now addicted to social media. Many people find it extremely difficult to stop checking their phones for updates from the social media platforms.

Sadly, all these negative effects are not by accidents. The social media giants have spent billions of dollars building their products in such a way that it can imprison your attention.

The is so serious that “Google, Twitter and Facebook workers who helped make technology so addictive are disconnecting themselves from the internet.^[1]”

Another serious effect of social media is that it has family relationships in peril. This may sound untrue, but if we look more carefully and reflect deeply, we will know that this is true. Many relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children have been badly damaged because one of them cannot stop looking at his or her social media account, even when something really important is being discussed. Many husbands and wives have also started illicit sexual relationships through social media platforms.

In addition, social media has created a more sad and ungrateful society. It has done this because it has made it easy for people to compare their lives with others. Unfortunately, many people exhibit fake life on social media.

Social media has also made us less human because many people are now ready to do anything to gain social media followers or acceptance. People are ready to take a selfie on a cliff or railroad so as to get social views. Really sad!

To put it simply, social media has shackled our attention, waste our time, and make us less productive and happy.

However, please note that this not to say that social media is without benefits. Sincerely, social media has brought the human race a lot of good. Nevertheless, more often than not, to enjoy these goodies that social media has brought, you have to use the platforms like a professional. You have to use it with some level of discipline and purpose. Unguided use of social media is sure to waste your time and shackle your attention.

If social media is bringing you more unhappiness, loneliness, jealousy, misery and/or also squandering your time, you might consider dropping it off and getting a better life by following the steps mentioned below.

Ways to Forgo the Social Media

1. Keeping Mementos Not Pictures

Since when have you taken a drive down to visit a family member or an old friend? Can that be attributed to your busy schedule, or is it because there is a regular supply of their new pictures on their social media page you can Like and comment on?

Social media has lead to an explosion in taking of personal pictures, and in faking of actual life conditions. Many people are gauged to be alive, well, and happy by their friends and family only because their pictures are regular on social media and not because they have visited them recently.

Social media brings the images and description (which might not be true in most cases) of the world so close to you that you stop feeling the need to go out and check. It has crushed the sweet essence of meeting people and visiting places into a few careful snaps uploaded by someone for the scrolling pleasure of others. How sad!

What keepsake or tangible memories of people and places have you accumulated over the last few years except for pictures and videos? Was that how life used to be for you? One of the downsides of social media is that it has kept us more physically apart under the facade of bringing us closer together.

Are pictures or videos sufficiently strong enough to serve as a whole replacement for your arm to be across your old friend’s back as you walked across a famous country meadow? Or are videos capable of replacing the knick-knack you may bring back from a historical tour that you will forever see on your office table?

In one of the several studies published by Dr. Brian Primack, director of the Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health at the University of Pittsburgh, he found out that people who checked social media the most frequently had almost three times the risk of depression, compared with people who checked less often^[2].

This study posits that social media is clearly not an alternative to keeping real nearby friends and maintaining that relationship physically. For if we are to judge by the thousands of “friends” each one of us have on social media, depression should have gone into clinical extinction by now. And yet, it is clearly becoming obvious through studies like this that people who use less of social media are less prone to depression.

Reconsider your addiction to waving at friends on Messenger and find time for them in real life. Encourage them to do the same to you too. Ask anyone who really lived before the coming of the social networks how life was and you will probably get an answer like “We definitely scrolled through each other’s heart, but it was certainly not through a Facebook Newsfeed on a screen”.

2. Be Enjoying the Moment, Not Recording the Moment

Savor every moment you can without the intruding barrier of your mobile phone. We know you will feel a lesser need to do this so often if there is no social network to dump the videos  afterwards. That’s why we believe social media is already denying you a better life in an aspect you have not given much thought to. Social media has denied the opportunity to witness a scene for the delight of it. Have you been to a community event and all you were waiting for is when you will be able to capture a soundbite with your phone and post it to social media?

Learn to start living a life without doing a video of everything you have done, participated in, or witnessed. Do you know what you are missing when you flipped out your phone, waiting to video the “right moment” of everything? Well, you have just missed that moment!

Ridiculous examples of this behavior already getting common is of people filming scenes about others’ misfortune or accidents without rendering any help, even when it is within their power to do so. We say social media is killing empathy, at least on the part of the people who make this kind of videos. And nothing is their motivation except their addiction to record every moment rather than watch and act on it. An addiction that wouldn’t have been commonplace if not for the vain-glory promised them by social media. Arrgh!

In a sad twist, the recorders are also getting harmed or killed by the scores. A study of various news reports in 2018 revealed that between October 2011 to November 2017, there were 259 selfie deaths in 137 incidents reported globally, with the highest reported in India followed by Russia, United States, and Pakistan^[3]. Causes of death ostensibly include trying to get themselves captured within the scene of a highly dangerous environment they are trying to record or snap.

All in all, know that all dynamics of humanity unfold at all times right in front of a person’s eyes. You are doing yourself a great disservice, or putting yourself in a grave danger by placing the barrier of your phone between you and moments that may never happen again!

3. Start Mellowing, Stop Reacting on Social Media

Your power isn’t necessarily found on your keyboard, as you would have discovered if you have taken time to study the end of every thread you have ever commented on: everybody says theirs, probably feels good and nothing gets done. Yet your time and energy have gone with the bytes in the wind.

We think you will probably find the social media instantly boring and quickly drop it off your life if the chance to react to posts is suddenly removed from all social networks. Among the bigger drain of productivity out there is the energy and time we are all expending daily on reacting to each others posts on social media – most times unnecessarily. And we keep expending it. Sad!

According to Facebook itself, as at 2013, it was getting 4.5 billion likes daily^[4]. For a daily statistics like this one coming from a single social media network – among many others – detailing the social media obsession of a world that is probably less than 8 billion in population as of 2020, it is a frightening figure.

If the hours that are being wasted globally on writing comments and giving Likes and other such reactions on social media is diverted to productive activities, there will probably be another industrial revolution soon!

Consider logging out of any of your social media accounts once comments and Likes start pouring in for a post you love too, lest you get yourself irretrievably engaged in the time drain of adding your own reactions and checking on others. Never forget that posts already born will survive without your reactions. Log out and live better.

4. Let Your Hands be Engaged in Something Else

Have you tended a potted plant long enough and watched it bloom? You would have noticed that there is life and goodness in the skill from the hands. How about investing your hands in skills like woodworking, gardening or knitting rather than using it to scroll mindlessly through the various social media pages day after day?

Our hands are meant to be far more useful than what we are limitedly applying it to. And yet, social media as it currently is has been designed to engage the full use of our hands. Unless you earn your daily bread by being on social media, we bet your fingers will be better engaged stroking the hair of a small orphan than scrolling on social media.

According to Maryville University’s website, in an article addressing the recent general increase in ergonomic health problems arising from our increasingly sedentary lifestyles and jobs:

“82 percent of work and study hours are spent being sedentary” ^[5].

Consider what may be the percentage of that 82% we spend solely on social media everyday!

5. Blocking or Unfollowing the People You Enjoy Most on Social Media

This may sound extreme, but it may be the only way to end any social media addiction that has rendered you unproductive. Social media networks are fueled by people; people we all go online to gawk at for hours.

We tend to spend disproportionate time watching and reacting to the contents of only a few accounts (among hundreds or thousands) we are following on social media; these favorite accounts are the major reason we are logged on most of the time.

For people like this, the disappearance of their favorite accounts from their preferred social media network(s) will instantly render that social media network meaningless to them. This shows how much people’s attachment to a few specific social media accounts can be.

Try unfollowing or blocking the people you enjoy most on social media, and you might start reclaiming back your productive time. Think about this: Can spending hours watching blinking cats, among many other addictive online trivia, be considered a productive way of using our time when there are so many issues of living to fix offline?

6. Blocking Your Internet or Social Media App for Some Time

You might need to block your own internet for a period to better appreciate the real world. Social media used to be just a sector in the circumference of the internet. But today, almost the entire internet is intertwined with one social media network or another – So there is really nowhere of note where you can really do without them. However, there is a better life out there involving real people and tangible places that the superficialness of social media is denying you. It’s a sad reality that your connection to the wealth of knowledge the internet offers might also be subjecting you to a poverty of experience.

Many around the world are already aware of this problem, and several software and web tools have been developed to help people take control. An example of such a tool is the Freedom App (reach them on freedom.to), a paid blocking tool that can help block internet connection for your browser and phone for a set period of time. In addition, you can use Freedom app to block social media apps and websites.

Alternatively, there are also other types of apps you can install that will help you to keep track of what you have been doing online and how much time they are taking away from you; a popular example of this is Self Control (selfcontrolapp.com). Note that some are for free while some are not, but they may help you have a taste of what a better life there is outside the internet and social media; A life of the real, fascinating world.

7. Uninstall all Social Media Apps On Your Phone

Most users access social media apps through their phones. This means that if you prevent yourself from using social media on your phone, there is a likelihood that your social media use will fall considerably.

Don’t be scared to give the entire tips a try. It’s worth a dare!

Tip: Maintaining your abstention from social media might be difficult if you don’t fill the free time (that arises as a result of abstaining from social media) with something worthwhile. Please go to Chapter 8 of this guide to learn how to fill your free time with rewarding skills.

Just How Much Time Should You Spend on Social Media As a Digital Minimalist?

Sincerely, you should spend no time. Unless your job dictates otherwise, we believe you should not be spending time every day on social media if you truly want to live a digital minimalist lifestyle. However, if need be, you may choose to spend a few times a week on social media. But make sure it is not more than two or three times a week and also make sure that each social media session doesn’t last more than 30 minutes.

How to Live a Simplified Online Life and Avoid Social Media Without Offending Your Friends

We believe it is possible to live a simplified online life and avoid or restrict social media without offending your friends if you make efforts to carry your friends along.

Let your friends know that you love to spend more time doing offline activities than doing online activities. Let them know that you prefer to pay them a visit than to just chat with them on social media.

Let them know that you prefer that you go hunting with them than playing a video game with them.

Let them know that you prefer you take a stroll with them than watching a film or a television show with them.

Let your friends know your values, and you will see that it is quite easy to live a simplified online life without offending them.

How to Stay Informed While Staying Off Social Media

Many people claim that they use the social media to stay current about happenings around the world. To these kinds of people, please note that social media platforms are not news media outlets, and it is crucial you don’t treat them as such.

Any news worth spreading will be carried by reputable media outlets in the world, and we will recommend you go to these outlets for your news. Depending on the type of news you are interested in, you can go to local media outlets or international media outlets.

In addition, it is likely that you will end up hearing important and urgent news from your friends and family members even if you don’t use social media or go to news sites.

So, to stay informed while staying off social media, we will recommend you do the following:

1. Read news from a reputable source

Read local and international news two days a week (or every other day). If you want to read the news every day, then make sure you only read it once (in the morning, afternoon, or evening).

In addition, don’t read the news when you are most productive. Your productive time should be used for more important activities.

2. Ask questions from experts

There are people who are very current about the current issues in the world. This class of people can save you time and give you a summary of the current issues in the world within a short period of time.

However, we will recommend you exercise care when discussing with this class of people. It is easy to fall into arguments when discussing different issues with this class of people.

3. Visit family members and friends

Visiting family members and friends offers you the opportunity to learn new things and stay informed. Usually, when we visit our family members and friends, we get to know more about new occurrences in our town, city, or the world at large.

How to Stay Productive and Avoid Wasting Time If You Still Want to Use the Social Media

Probably, the best thing to do to maintain a high level of digital minimalism is to delete and terminate your social media account(s). However, not many people can do this. If for one reason or the other, you can’t terminate your social media accounts, you can try some of the ideas below to put your use of social media in check.

 1. Login with purpose

As a rule, only log into your social media account when you have a very crucial thing to do and log out immediately after you finish doing this crucial thing.

Remember that logging in to your account without a crucial reason will only waste the time that should be used doing productive things.

2. Manage your online time

We will recommend you track the time you spend on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, and others. From experience, you will find out that, in most cases, you spend more time on social media than expected, especially when you are reacting to group discussions. Tracking your time will allow you to know how you are spending your time, and this will make it easy to manage your time effectively and efficiently. Time tracking apps like RescueTime can be used to track your time on the internet.

 3. Find alternative

Consider finding an alternative to some of your social media activities. For example, you can switch from having online friends to having real physical friends. Adopting this method may help you reduce your social media usage.

4. Maintain not more than one social media account

By this, we mean you should not be active in more than one social media platform. For example, you may have an account on Twitter or Facebook, but not both. Doing this enables you to reduce the need to go online to check your social media account.

5. Block notification

Block your social media network notifications. Social media notifications may be difficult to ignore, and blocking them may be a smart way to protect yourself.

6. Use blocking apps

You can use blocking apps to temporarily or permanently block a social media network app or website. This should help if you find it very difficult to avoid checking your social media account when you don’t want to.

Please go to Chapter 7 of this guide to find the list of apps you can use to block your access to social media networks.

Tip: If you want to take your digital minimalism to the next level and want to delete all or some of your social media accounts, please follow the steps below.

To delete Facebook account:

1. Please read the article found here to delete your Facebook account

To delete your Pinterest account:

1. Please read the article found here to delete your Pinterest account.

To delete your Twitter account

1. Please read the article found here to delete your Twitter account.

To delete your Instagram account

1. Please read the article found here to delete your Instagram account.

Conclusion

Social media platforms should not be a monster wasting your time and shackling your attention. We believe that if you follow the recommendations mentioned in this guide, you are on your way to becoming a social media minimalist.

References

1. “‘Our Minds Can Be Hijacked’: The Tech Insiders Who Fear A Smartphone Dystopia”. The Guardian, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphone-addiction-silicon-valley-dystopia. Accessed 22 Jan 2021.
2. Primack et al. (July 2018). Association between Social Media Use and Depression among U.S. Young Adults – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4853817/ (Retrieved 22-1-2021)
3. Bansal, Agam; et al (July 2018). Selfies: A boon or bane? – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6131996/ (Retrieved 22-1-2021)
4. Facebook (May 2013) – https://facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151908376831729&id=20531316728&set=a.10151908376636729&refid=13&__tn__=%2B%3E (Retrieved 22-1-2021)
5. A Guide to Creating an Ergonomic Workstation for Studying. – https://online.maryville.edu/blog/a-guide-to-creating-an-ergonomic-workstation-for-studying/  (Retrieved 22-1-2021)