I know this isn't a problem I am alone in having, and that is why I want to talk about it. I have tried to stop my habit of mindlessly scrolling through social media, but it’s hard to break a habit so ingrained into my daily life. All of these social media apps I use are right at my finger tips; it’s all on my phone which makes it difficult to not access it. Sometimes I’ll delete the apps off my phone for a brief period of time to try to break my habit, but I don’t do it for long because more and more it seems like there are important things I need the apps for. Granted I could check things like Facebook on my laptop, but I would rather associate my laptop with work than social media.
Maybe the answer is that I am on my phone too much and need to get away from it. Maybe I should turn it off more, designate time to be phone free, or disconnect it from wifi and data. To be honest though, I could be a lot worse in regard to being on my phone. That’s not saying I couldn’t be better, but it’s also addressing that maybe my efforts could be focused elsewhere. Yes, there is always an extreme to an issue, but overall, I don’t think the main problem is that people are on their phones too much. Rather the issue lies in what people are doing on their phones.
To be honest I don’t think that social media or technology are the root problem. In fact, the real enemy is the first word in the title, Mindlessly. Being on my phone and on social media has helped keep me connected to people that I would have lost touch with if I didn’t have it. It also helps me stay up to date on what is going on in the world and when used critically can even help me understand what’s going on. Neither of these are the issue here, the issue is that I, and many others go on their phone and on autopilot go to Instagram, Facebook, or a different social media app. I actually just did it while writing that sentence. I didn’t mean to, I was actually just checking the time, but mindlessly I just pressed the buttons I always do. I took this moment though to look at my apps, and there are a few though that I really do only use mindlessly, and so in the spirit of this article I deleted them and hopefully I’ll keep them off my phone. Maybe the biggest battle is to just stay mindful of mindlessness.
Personally, I’ve noticed a trend. When I’m particularly busy or doing things with friends these mindless actions occur less and less. Maybe that’s the solution then; focus on doing other things that keep me busy and mindful rather than trying to not be mindless. It’s easy to blame the things in our lives for our problems, but maybe it’s time to look at ourselves instead.
