The Occupied Mind
How social media such as instagram has been affecting me.
Aloha! It has been quite long since last time I wrote here.
Covid19 has been with us on earth for the past few months and no one is sure when this virus will disappear from earth. Things are now tough for many; those who lost their loved ones, suffered from this virus, lost jobs, got salary cut or got their plans cancelled.
2020 has been quite a thing so far. Hang on, things will get better, this all shall pass — inshaaAllah.
My mind has been occupied by many scattered matters that affect on my productivity, time management, and quality of life in general; a reason for me to take a hiatus from social media, particularly Instagram.
I would say the team behind Instagram has been successfully creating a habit-forming product; a product that becomes part of one’s life that bring dependence even addiction to it. I can’t help but to check my instagram whenever I have 2-minute queue, directly after I wake up, while eating meals, even in the middle of work. I got addicted to it that I definitely need to cut the ties for a while.
There are three main reasons that urge me to get out of my personal instagram for a while;
- My addiction with social media has been hindering me from being able to perform deep work as my attention span is getting shorter. It becomes difficult for me to focus on reading books or get my attention focused on one thing since my brain and eyes have been accustomed to something fast, scattered, and dynamic like scrolling on instagram feeds/stories.
- My time has been wasted on scattered information from the instagram feeds or stories. The contents in this platform is never-ending, there will always be other contents upon contents, jumping from one profile to other profiles. When I realize, boom! 45 minutes just passed. My average time used on instagram was 3 hours/day. Imagine what else better thing I can do with those 3hours/day, 21hours/week?
Meaning I used 4 days each month on instagram. Crazy. - Unconscious comparisons.
Deep down inside, I cannot resist the fact that I keep comparing myself with others regardless how much I don’t want do so. Comparison on social media is truly not apple-to-apple; it is unfair to compare my real life with others’ life-hilights. Well, we only showcase our ups on instagram, don’t we?
On the other hand, I have this FOMO feeling that I try to cope with. I have this worry of not knowing what’s going on with my friends, getting missed with the latest trends or news or even the worry of being socially forgotten #sillyworry.
I would totally agree that social media platform such as Instagram has been giving positive impacts on lives; social media marketing, celebrity-gram, knowledge and information get easily shared.
Nevertheless, I am rest assured to take a long break from my personal instagram account. Redefine what truly matters to me and focus on them. Protecting my mind from being occupied by things that actually do not matter.
What social media such as instagram is for you, a friend or a foe?
