Social media is destroying young people’s lives
Hello friends!
Do you know that at present?
We touch our phones an average of 2,600 times.
In one day.
Not only this, according to research,
An average India after the Kovid-19 pandemic
There are 7 hours of screen time in a day.
That means we watch it for 7 hours every day.
Sometimes scrolling social media,
viewing posts on youtube,
Or watching movies on Netflix.
Anything.
If you’re wasting 7 hours on this,
It not only affects the rest of your life,
on your studies, job, business, hobbies,
But it also affects your mind.
If you snatch the phone from some people,
They start getting jealous.
They get restless.
And some people experience stress.
No doubt it has become an addiction.
But very few people talk about it.
So friends let’s know in today’s post
The science behind this addiction.
It affects your life,
and most importantly,
What could be the possible solutions?
“Sounds, animations, endless content, notifications…”
“It really became this constant bombardment
The highlight of everyone’s life.”
“Lifestyle matters,
You see, vacation spots matter,
fashion, manner of speaking,
ways of engagement.”
“Social Media Awards”
Activate the brain’s dopamine reward system.”
“I feel like we’re living inside a 2 billion Truman Show.”
“It’s a checkmate on humanity.”
You guys won’t believe
But social media addiction can actually be compared to
For addictions to cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and gambling.
It sounds really weird.
Because cocaine and social media are two completely different things.
Although they are very different,
But the addictions you’ve developed,
Comparable to a large extent.
For any addiction, your body follows a set pattern,
Known as the dopamine pattern.
First, let’s try to understand what dopamine is.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter
originates in our brain.
This is the chemical formula.
a benzene ring with two hydroxyl groups,
And an amine group is attached to the ethyl chain.
works with a neurotransmitter
Sending messages from one part of the brain to another.
act as a signal.
For example, oxytocin is known as the love hormone.
It is activated during bonding in relationships.
Serotonin is a mood stabilizer.
It keeps you emotionally stable.
What does dopamine do?
For a long time, scientists believed that
Dopamine is a pleasure chemical.
that when we are happy,
This is due to dopamine.
But this is not true.
According to the latest research,
Scientists believe that
the happiness we feel,
is not due to dopamine,
Rather it is because of endorphins.
Endorphins work as a pleasure booster
and pain relievers in our bodies.
Dopamine is actually associated with motivation and reward.
when our mind thinks that
We are about to participate in an activity where
We can be happy
Assuming this,
Our dopamine levels increase.
I explain this with an example.
Remember the time when you were little?
and waited for your father to come home,
You knew that your father would bring you chocolates.
But you did not know when your father would return.
Imagine that at the exact moment the phone rang,
And your father tells you when he will be at home.
You got a call from your father,
He’s gonna bring you your favorite chocolate,
Even if you haven’t eaten that chocolate yet,
But while waiting for his father to come home,
You start drooling for it.
because your brain knows
The taste of chocolate will be experienced later.
Chocolate is the reward, here.
A reward that you will get in the future.
But in anticipation of this,
While waiting for that chocolate,
Your dopamine levels increase.
This makes you feel excited and happy.
There is nothing wrong with this situation.
This is how the healthy body of a normal human works.
Dopamine plays an important role
In your inspiration, memory, and learning.
an optimal level of dopamine
Very healthy for your body.
But it should not be too much or too little.
Having trouble getting a reward
And your brain reduces dopamine transmission.
This takes it below the baseline.
And when you get exposure to the same thing over and over,
This creates a chronic dopamine deficit state in your brain.
When dopamine is consistently at low levels,
Because of this, you cannot experience pleasure on the same level.
You cannot experience happiness in the same way.
And so to have the same level of happiness,
You need even more stimuli.
This may sound a bit confusing now,
So I use another example.
Suppose you have received your chocolate,
The next day, your father brings you another chocolate,
And on the third day.
More chocolates come on the fourth and fifth days,
You get a chocolate every day,
And so on until the eighth day,
As long as your father calls you,
Would you have the same level of enthusiasm?
the legacy
you get the same happiness
Waiting for your father?
No.
You were getting chocolate for the last 7 days,
And so the novelty of chocolate took off.
In psychology, this concept is known as
the hedonic treadmill.
there is nothing in this world
that you can consume every day,
And get the same level of happiness.
Imagine that you have cleared the entrance exam of IIT.
The day the fruit will come,
The day you came to know that you have cleared IIT,
And you can go to IIT to study,
On that day you will start dancing happily.
You will call everyone and tell them the news.
You will be very happy when you wake up the next day.
You will be in a good mood for the whole day.
But imagine the scenario a month later.
Will you still be dancing after a month?
Because you have qualified for IIT?
No, you won’t do that.
And if people see you doing this,
People will call you crazy.
The day you came to know that you have got admission to IIT,
The day is when you are happiest.
If you are still swinging with the same joy after a month,
this is not normal.
The same thing can be said when you become an IAS officer.
or Prime Minister
It is like a treadmill.
You have to keep going
To maintain the same level of happiness.
One year after getting admission to IIT,
can be your dream
Be rich enough to eat once a month in a five-star hotel.
the first time you do this,
There will be so much excitement.
But once you get rich,
And eating in five-star hotels will become routine for you,
Then its novelty ends.
You have to try something new to get the same level of happiness.
You have to become richer.
Or you will have to fulfill a new dream.
The same thing is not limited to your life achievements.
This also applies to cigarettes and drugs.
Man consumes drugs for the first time,
even a small amount of drugs
Gives them a big blow.
This gives them great pleasure.
but eventually,
he needs to take more drugs
To get the same level of kick,
To get the same level of happiness.
And just like that,
He starts taking a few grams of medicines,
and then large quantities of drugs,
and become highly addicted to drugs.
Because of the joy, his mind was getting,
From the said amount of drugs,
Slowly it keeps on decreasing.
social media addiction
Works in the same way.
When you see a notification on your phone,
Your brain expects a reward.
Dopamine is released.
When someone likes your picture,
Or someone left a nice comment on your picture,
It makes you happy.
Here, you get an instant reward.
It’s like your mind is writing a diary entry,
“I am happy because of this.
I’ll do it again.”
But slowly the enthusiasm is waning.
only 100 likes
only 20 comments,
2 messy messages and 10 friend requests.
That’s not enough, you want more.
And slowly you start falling into the pit.
Here, you might be thinking,
Of all the examples I have now given,
neurological processes in them,
are identical.
So why aren’t we just as accustomed to everything?
Why don’t we get used to clearing IITs?
Why don’t we get used to making money?
Why do we get addicted to things like drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, and social media?
There are two main reasons for this guys,
The first is the ease of access,
And the second is speedy rewards.
How easily accessible are the events?
And how quickly are you rewarded for doing it?
These are the two risk factors
get used to something.
If you get chocolate easily and frequently,
You can definitely be addicted to chocolate too.
Sugar addiction is actually a thing.
But you may be crazy about clearing IIT,
Because there you don’t get any quick reward.
have to work for years
to get that reward.
You may be addicted to earning money,
When you have ease of access.
When you have an easy way to earn money.
And you’re getting a quick reward).
And you are making a lot of money very quickly.
The same is true of gambling addiction.
money of those who gamble
They waste their money in the casino,
They have ease of access.
They know that if they go to the casino,
They can win a lot of money.
So they have easy access to the methods.
And then they can get the reward immediately.
There are rewards soon.
That’s why it’s easy to get addicted to gambling.
But to start a business, or earn money slowly from a job,
It’s not that easy to get addicted to it,
it’s next to impossible because
There are no quick rewards or easy access.
Now let’s look at them from the perspective of social media.
social media and your phone
It is very easy to reach.
Be it Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram,
All you have to do is pick up your phone,
unlock your phone with a swipe,
And all three apps can be opened with one tap.
other things,
You also get quick rewards.
The number of likes you get on your post,
comments on that,
and messages from so many people,
he is on Facebook
and then the posts you see on
Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube,
the entertainment you get from it,
If it’s a comedy post that results in laughter,
is a reward.
Some time ago, I posted this,
youtube vs TikTok.
In this, I told you how the app TikTok,
Get easier access and instant rewards than
other social media platforms.
On TikTok, you don’t even need to search for posts.
You just need to swipe.
Even if you don’t swipe, the next post will play automatically.
And the reward is so immediate
With a new reward every 20 or 25 seconds.
So apps like TikTok,
very accustomed
Compared to Instagram or YouTube.
On YouTube, ease of access is a bit of a hindrance
Because often you have to search the post yourself.
And then you have to tap on Post to play it.
Posts on Tiktok start playing automatically
As soon as you open the app.
And it keeps swiping down automatically.
Compare this with other activities.
Suppose you want to read a book.
This requires patience.
Until you read a few pages of the book,
You will not be rewarded.
It takes a lot of time.
If you want to play outside.
You need to wear a T-shirt, a pair of shorts, shoes,
And then have to go outside.
physical exertion on your body
This further reduces the ease of access.
If you want to meet your friends,
You have to call them, make plans with them,
You have to get ready and then go out,
The ease of access is further reduced.
Do you know what is the most useless and dangerous thing, guys?
All social media companies have deliberately designed their app in this way.
He has studied extensively
To find out what attracts people more psychologically.
Things that make people more addicted.
Things will encourage people to use their apps more.
spend more time looking at the screen,
And so he used the findings to manipulate his apps.
These companies saw us as victims.
And set great traps for us.
These professionals charge huge amounts in salary,
He did many high-level psychological analyzes of people
and surveys to detect these triggers.
From the color scheme to the layout of the buttons in the app,
He has taken care of all this.
Before, when you scrolled through Facebook, the newsfeed would eventually expire,
After reading my friend’s post.
But now they have added infinite scrolling.
Now, you can continue scrolling,
And Facebook will keep showing you something or the other.
because their main purpose here
You have to force yourself to spend more and more time on Facebook.
Traditionally, we have always wanted to figure things out on our own.
meeting new people, going to new places,
learning new hobbies, gaining new knowledge,
But it takes patience to explore something new.
And it is taking time.
Ease of access and instant rewards
what you get from your phone,
is too much
That’s why it’s so easy to trust him.
social media addiction
is dangerous for your life,
For many reasons.
The first and simple reason is that
You will be wasting your time.
But this is only a superficial level reason.
At the same time, bigotry has also increased.
If an algorithm keeps showing you things you like,
Then your political views develop into an echo chamber.
If you like right-wing posts, you’ll only be shown right-wing posts.
If you like left-wing posts, that’s what you’ll be shown.
Second, it increases insecurity and depression.
When you look at people’s social media pages,
they look so beautiful,
When you see them through the filter.
teens then start to feel more and more anxious
And finally, get depressed.
Especially when they get comparatively fewer likes.
If you look at the Facebook ad,
Image created by Mark Zuckerberg
claiming that you are an introverted stranger
start talking to each other on Facebook,
They start sending messages and then exchange phone numbers,
see you in real life
They become good friends, and I think, they end up marrying each other.
Very good.
Facebook is such a wonder to humanity.
But Harari asked Zuckerberg,
If Facebook’s role is to connect people,
Or if Facebook is tasked with keeping people connected to Facebook.
“Practical question,
For a service provider like Facebook,
What is the goal?
I mean, are we trying to connect people,
So eventually they will leave the screen,
And go and play football.
There will be a model…”
what actually happens
your real-life friends become Facebook friends,
and you see their updates on Facebook and interact on Facebook,
Through comments and messages,
And finally, stop meeting people in real life.
How many of your Facebook friends have you met in real life?
Anyway, if we return to our original topic,
The problem is social media addiction.
if use
In D moderation,
Social media can be used for good.
I am not saying that you should stop using social media completely.
After all, you are seeing this post only through social media.
And my work is done entirely through social media.
But the question is,
How do we stop addiction?
The answer lies in two things, friends.
Ease of access and instant rewards.
If you want to quit any addiction,
So you have to reduce the ease of access.
And you have to exhaust the rewards early.
Today, it’s so easy to log into Facebook,
To pick up the phone, unlock it and tap on the Facebook icon.
But if it wasn’t that easy
Are You Really Using Facebook That Much?
A simple solution is to delete all social media apps from your phone.
I am not asking you to delete my account,
I am asking you to remove the apps.
If you want to use social media,
You can do this from your phone’s browser.
or on a laptop.
This will help by reducing the ease of access.
Now opening those apps will not be so easy.
In this way, your behavior will change.
If this sounds like too much to you,
One more thing you can do,
Notifications have to be turned off.
This will leave your brain not expecting a reward every minute or every hour.
You will open apps only when you want to.
Actually, the solution depends on your addiction level.
If you think you’re not used to it,
Turn off notifications.
If you feel that your addiction is becoming problematic,
Delete apps.
If you think you’re too addicted to it,
And you need to cut it significantly,
Then use these apps for private browsing only.
This means whenever you log in to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter,
You must enter your password each time.
This would hinder the ease of access even more.
simple logic,
The harder the action is for you,
The easier it is to break your addiction.
You will be able to quit the addiction.
The same thing applies to the phone as well.
do you know that on my phone,
The sound never turns on.
Despite the notification, there will be no sound alert.
Because I don’t want to be distracted by notifications,
To the extent that I ignore my work and look at the phone.
On average, a person unlocks his phone 110 times a day.
So when I’m going to watch it 110 times,
I will check the notification then.
The same logic can be used to rule out different types of addictions.
If none of the shops near you sell cigarettes,
And it becomes very difficult for you to buy cigarettes,
Or you don’t have money to buy it,
Obviously, it gets harder for you
To become addicted to smoking.
If you have no means to gamble,
There is no casino near you,
Obviously, you will not be addicted to gambling.
Friends, if you think that the things that I have told you in this post
are quite knowledgeable and will be useful in your life,
so I will ask you
View and join my course.
Yes, that is correct.
I have created a course on time management and productivity.
In this, I have talked about these things in detail.
such as delay.
and ways to combat it.
how you can increase your productivity in your studies, job or business,
and get more time in life
To do the things you love.
My purpose for making this course,
Bringing real change in your life.
But this cannot happen with one-sided post-lectures.
In this course, not only will you get to see this type of post,
Rather, an established curriculum would be
with classmates
and instructors for each group of classmates.
You will be given homework assignments to be done on a fixed timetable.
So that you can implement these changes in your life.
There will also be live interaction with me.
Where you can get your doubts resolved.
To organize it all,
I had to make a lot of effort.
That’s why I want you to go see it.
Its link is in the description below.
and the first thousand people
To click on the link and join the course,
There will be a special discount of 33%.
This exemption will be given to the first 1,000 people only.
not anymore.
I made this course with NAS Academy
And I want to share with you a little teaser.
“Life is like a treadmill, you know.
Life is like you don’t want to increase the speed of the treadmill
just go fast,
Because in the end, you’re going to fall off the treadmill.
I should mention that this course will be conducted in English.
I spoke in English
But it will also have Hindi subtitles.
I hope this post was informative as always.
And let’s meet in the course.
thank you so much!
