Tiktok, Youtube shorts, Reels

[Closed]

How bad are they for those on the path to self-actualization/ enlightenment ?

 

[BipolarGrowth]

It depends how much it distracts from you doing the work. If you spend multiple hours per day on this, those hours could be used differently. I don’t see them as any worse than other general forms of distraction though, and entertainment itself is not a horrible thing if it’s not getting too much in the way of what you’re aiming for. 

Edited April 25, 2022 by BipolarGrowth

[Yarco]

Lower attention span and messed up dopamine/serotonin will destroy your ability to do any meaningful work, and severely limit success many other areas of your life. Not just spiritual / self actualization stuff. That's the least of your problems when you can't concentrate long enough to read the chapter of a book, or work at something for 8 hours.

[Kamo]

100% agree with the prior posts, It does fuck with attention span. The first time i downloaded tik tok i spent 3 hours and i couldnt believe myself! After that 3 hours I deleted it and never redownloaded it since. They are a complete distraction really, Delete tik tik, just exist with out that all together, stay away from shorts maybe let one slide every 3 hours or something like that if your using Youtube for high quality content. You can strategically use it for a timed "cool down, or break period" from your work if your disciplined enough to maintain time, and staying on track and not get sucked away by it. It can be helpful to have a good laugh here and there. But discipline is the key. Just dont let yourself get sucked into repeated videos. Same goes for scrolling social media. Generally observe yourself, your productivity, your habitual tendencies. Its pretty obvious the effects it can have if you find yourself spending more time on those things than spending it to grow/learn/train yourself while on this path.

[ZzzleepingBear]

About as bad as fast food is for sommeone who try to lose weight probably.

[caspex]

If you're on that level where consuming shorts/reels/tiktoks for you is a form of growth(as in coping, or distracting yourself to a point where you reach a low point and finally decide to grow.), it can be helpful.

You wouldn't be watching the shorts if there was no part of you that wanted to satisfy that craving. For self-actualization, you wouldn't be interested in it unless it was some form of burning karma. It's not really 'bad' for you in terms of growth, it's just a step of the way. It seems like a downhill road but for someone who needs that suffering to grow, it's necessary. It will suck you in, even if you consider yourself up there on the spiritual path. Why? Because there is something you need to learn, something you are still ignorant about in yourself that you need to fix, that's why you get easily addicted to it. After burning that karma, learning that lesson, you won't WANT to watch more than one, you wouldn't want to scroll because it just wouldn't be interesting. There is no need to restrain yourself then.

What it is bad for is achieving success, maintaining health, relationships, and stuff like that. You could argue it's bad for practicing embodiment of spiritual truths, but that is something you achieve further along the path. The reason you don't watch tiktoks/shorts/reels when you embody bliss/god/love is not because you restrain yourself but because you don't have that craving in you.

[Danioover9000]

@Kamo

On 26/04/2022 at 3:57 AM, Kamo said:

100% agree with the prior posts, It does fuck with attention span. The first time i downloaded tik tok i spent 3 hours and i couldnt believe myself! After that 3 hours I deleted it and never redownloaded it since. They are a complete distraction really, Delete tik tik, just exist with out that all together, stay away from shorts maybe let one slide every 3 hours or something like that if your using Youtube for high quality content. You can strategically use it for a timed "cool down, or break period" from your work if your disciplined enough to maintain time, and staying on track and not get sucked away by it. It can be helpful to have a good laugh here and there. But discipline is the key. Just dont let yourself get sucked into repeated videos. Same goes for scrolling social media. Generally observe yourself, your productivity, your habitual tendencies. Its pretty obvious the effects it can have if you find yourself spending more time on those things than spending it to grow/learn/train yourself while on this path.

   I also agree that tik tok, video shorts and reels erode attention span, in fact these are the elite extremes examples of what social media consumption, if not in moderation, not intentional and done in an unconscious manner, does to your focus.

   I am probably the only zoomer alive that consumes very little social media, other than Youtube educational content and wikipedia for bios.