Possibly an article like this from a person whose social media posts get millions of impressions would surprise you. Even though I use social media for business, I perform a digital fast for personal use of social media, especially Facebook and Instagram.
My problem is the problem of millions. We know that 70% of the population in America has social media accounts. Addiction to Social Media and Attachment Styles was discussed in a systematic literature review published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.
As pointed out by researchers in this paper titled, Effects of Social Media on Mental Health: A Review, “the imbalance created by the excessive usage of social media is a significant concern for parents, researchers and, society regarding the mental health of individuals”.
Unfortunately, I suffered from the side effects of social media a lot. As a matter of fact, my mental health was at stake due to addiction. But fortunately, I discovered the problem early and made quick decisions. So I stopped it before being a more significant problem.
It was terrible to be ruled by assumptions and false beliefs. It was worse to be consumed by the troubles of strangers in virtual settings.
In my case, I needed to break a non-serving habit. However, as confirmed by scientists, it is difficult to give up a habit of giving dopamine to our brain, even if we know it is terrible for us. So instead, it is much easier to replace it with another dopamine-producing habit that is valuable and healthy.
This is a personal story with hard-learned lessons reflecting facts from my professional journey.
Before going into details of my exciting story, I support the use of social media and technology tools for business. I am a technologist by profession. Social media tools have their places and many great use cases for business. They work for various people differently. However, the problem happens when these tools start ruling our lives. I had to make tough decisions to stop trading off my health, fitness, and valuable time.
You can read the full article on Medium
Social Media Fast Was The Best Decision For My Mental Health And Well-Being
You can also read it from News Break free
A Disciplined Social Media Fast Was The Best Decision For My Mental Health And Well-Being
About The Author
I am a technologist, published author, editor, blogger, digital marketing strategist, and content developer with four decades of industry experience. I write articles for Medium, News Break, and Vocal Media. On Medium, I established ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION-Curated, ILLUMINATION’ S MIRROR, ILLUMINATION Book Chapter, Technology Hits, and SYNERGY publications supporting 10,000+ writers and serving 137,000+ readers on Medium. You can Join my publications requesting access here.
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