If AI is going to end the human race, at least social media has proven that we as humans deserve to be killed.
I’ve posted a lot of really novel hot takes on this blog saying that social media is bad for us. But despite my insistence, I’m no better than anyone else!
I have Instagram on my phone and I tell myself it’s strictly for when I story a new Splittingtens post.
But in the past 2 weeks I fell prey to the reels algorithm; specifically bloopers of Always Sunny and The Office. They’re so fucking funny. I tell myself that the 2 minute break at work or while I’m watching Harrison is WORTH IT to see Michael say “right over here, Jim“.
But then I close the app and feel the disappointment. “It’s happening again. But I can’t delete it! I have to be able to story my new Splittingtens posts!”.
That was a legitimate reason to keep the app on my phone.
Then the addiction hit a peak and I looked myself in the eye; “is it THAT hard to delete the app, reinstall it when I make a blog post, then delete it again?“
So I timed it. It took me TWENTY THREE SECONDS to delete the app from my phone and reinstall it. THAT was the big inconvenience that warranted keeping Instagram on my phone despite knowing the negative impact it was having on me.
That’s what these apps are designed to do. They hijack your brain and you fabricate a dozen reasons why it’s okay that you’re using them despite knowing that they’re not time well spent.
“But I don’t use them like that!” you say. Of course there are some people who only check on their computer, not their phone (this is the best solution in my opinion) or set usage limits. I have a 20 minute daily limit on my phone for Instagram which I never exceed. But still, the constant interruption, the nagging thought, is the real killer. I can feel when I’m not present, when I’m drawn to my phone for no apparent reason. And it’s not meaningfully harmful in any single instance, but in the aggregate, I’m a less attentive and more distracted.
The real test is this: Delete the app from your phone and see how many times over the following 24 hours you mindlessly open your home screen and go to click the empty spot where the app used to be. If it’s more than zero, then you’re in too deep.
Ask yourself, why do you still use these apps? Be honest with your answer. I’m not saying in a finger-wagging way, it’s more acknowledging that I wasn’t being honest with myself as to why I kept the app on my phone. And I imagine most people do the same.
The obvious irony here is that most of you reading this will have clicked to this post from my Instagram story. Some of you may even answer the question of why you keep the app with “I need to know when the next Splittingtens post drops“, and that is a valid. If that’s your answer, keep the app at all costs.
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