Is Social Media Running Your Life
How many hours are you on your social media apps every week? As someone who is an advice social media user, I can tell you that as of last week, I had a total of 58 hours and 49 minutes spent on my social media apps, and I spent 31 hours and 39 of those minutes on TikTok. Social media is something that can be addicting to people, and especially for my peers, because social media has become one of those things that unless you’re scrolling social media constantly, sometimes you won’t keep up with the new and trending songs, dances, videos or memes. Sometimes people fall into the deadly trap of just sitting down to watch a few videos then you get started on your work, but you end up being on your phone for hours and forgetting to get started on your assignments.
After sending out a survey to the students of Western Wyoming Community College, 27.8% of students admit that they are addicted to social media, 33.3% of students say that they’re not sure if they’re addicted or not, and 38.9% say that they’re not addicted to social media at all. After doing some digging, I came across an article by The New York Times, it stated:
“David Greenfield, a psychologist and founder of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction in West Hartford, Conn., said the devices lure users with some powerful tactics. One is “intermittent reinforcement,” which creates the idea that a user could get a reward at any time. But when the reward comes is unpredictable. “Just like a slot machine,” he said. As with a slot machine, users are beckoned with lights and sounds but, even more powerful, information and reward tailored to a user’s interests and tastes.”
So, what can we do to change our habits, or how do manage it a little better if we’re so prone to just scroll on our phones when we have downtime? One way is placing limits through your settings about how much time you can spend on them. Another is turning off the push notifications on those apps help you not pay attention to them, so that way if something was to normally pop up and distract you, you won’t have that distraction. If none of those things are helping, you can always just delete the apps for a while so you can focus on yourself and your schooling. That might not be the most fun thing in the world, but you will thank yourself if you do that.
If you would like to read more of the article written by The New York Times, the article is linked below!
The New York Times: Is Social Media Addictive? Here’s What the Science Says.
