Social Media - Yes Or No?

[Harver]

First of all I would agree that mainstream social media applications like Facebook,Youtube and Twitter are basically tools which can be used for higher or lower purposes. However, I don't (or seldom) use sites like ask.fm, snapchat etc. as I feel these are purely trivial and excessive bloat. On Facebook (even after some previous cutbacks - particularly on followed 'liked' pages) I still get a lot of garbage. However, from my own experience there seems to be less spam/meaningless posts on Twitter than on Facebook, perhaps it's because you can just follow your interests and it isn't unnatural (unlike fb) not to  follow your friends with their garbage.

My key point is, it's not what your following but your attitude towards what you are following; does it control you or are you controlling it? I get a very high amount of notifications and msgs (can get up to 30 notifcations a day), but over time (whilst there's still much more room for improvement) I've let go of a nuertoic need to check them straight away. I almost always leave going through my feeds until the end of day (and even then sometimes I don't bother). It's important to make it's only for relaxation, not out of some nuerotic need to read every single status from the past 72 hours.

I suppose it fits into the wider theme of keeping a balance in life, allowing time for both the more trivial/'fun' things and making sure you (to quote leo gura) "get shit done". I would disagree that there needs to be a zero tolerance approach to social media, or even the most trivial content on those platforms. Remove all the 'fun' and you will eventually crack, and then that will be counterproductive towards your higher activities. Though I suppose with most of the masses the pendeulum is swung the other way.

 

[Myke]

On February 10, 2016 at 1:01 PM, Avi said:

I've noticed that every time I go on Facebook I become extremely frustrated, agitated, and annoyed by everything that is on my feed. I'm trying to delve into why this is so. Does anyone else feel like that?

I would have to imagine this is a common experience for those of us who use Facebook or any other social media.  I know at times I can definitely relate.  I even for many years considered myself a plagued by Anger, because it felt like it came from no where, and the source was always external. It was always outside of me. I felt like commenting because you used the word 'extremely,' and I relate to the feeling of being overwhelmed by an emotion like frustration.

 Transmuting emotions was a concept I got from a Ken Wilber article and it helped immensely with anger, frustration, annoyance, any negative emotion that I felt was being caused by someone else.  It's a fairly simple practice that you incorporate, on the spot, anytime you are feeling one of these emotions. Obviously you will still encounter people and situations that make you angry, even if you successfully gave up social media until death, there's no escaping that.  You can however learn to literally turn those situations into opportunities to deepen your understanding of your own psyche.  

[thortho]

Well, without Facebook I'd probably lose a lot of contact with some of my friends (they live in one country, I moved away to another one). So, I like it when they're posting pictures of their kids, small updates on their own lives, that sort of thing (and I suppose they feel similarily about the stuff I post) - that way, we can spend a lot less time catching up and recounting the last year or however long it's been, whenever I'm back in the old country, and more time just being together.

It's been handy here in the new country, too - for e.g. a group of co-workers organising an outing (since we all work shifts, it can be a bit of a jigsaw finding a time when everyone in "the gang" is available at the same time), as well as getting heads-up on interesting concerts that aren't otherwise advertised heavily, that kind of thing.

[Guest]

I've been wondering the same thing for years. This week, I fixed the problem. Here's how: I have two laptops, one of which I very rarely use. I've got an app on my browser called StayFocusd, which limits my daily time to 1 minute. If I need more than that, I have to take my spare laptop out the cupboard, boot it up, log in, log in to facebook... I can't tell you how much wasted time this has saved me this week! What's interesting is I've noticed how facebook have hacked my subconscious - I navigate to their site, am reminded by my app I've blocked it, and then reflect on how I never actually decided to check it in the first place! Scary. I say, fuck them, take control!

[Damoon]

Leo should get into this stuff , I don't know if he has a video on abusing of social networks 

[Yellow]

On 2/8/2016 at 11:08 AM, Paul Thomas said:

Hey, I'm confused if I should quit social media such as Facebook or Whatsapp cause I feel like many of my time goes away by hanging out there and just doing crap stuff. What would you do to fix this issue? Any suggestions?

If you feel you are spending too much time on Facebook I would recommend you just stop logging in. You will definitly get alot more out of the time you save than the things you will be missing out on (which is probably close to nothing).

I just don't understand how people can get addicted to Facebook. Most of what is posted there is pictures of other peoples kids (which all look the same and are only interesting to the parents) and "status updates" where people tell you about their boring lives.

[tuckerwphotography]

I deleted all my social media accounts 1.5 years ago and haven't regretted it for a minute. I find I keep in better touch with my friends, texting and calling them directly rather than passively "catching up" via scrolling on their feeds. I have endless more time on my hands which I can pour into learning new subjects, reading, contemplating, being in nature. 

It's an individual decision for everyone to make on their own, but for me it's been a life changer. 

[Applegarden]

Quit facebook, keep whatsapp.