Social Media is the new smoking!

Welcome to the Fast Moving Consumer Content era…

I have always worked in technology. From IoT, biotech, Web Dev, to IT consulting.

I am fascinated by their potential and by how they will build our world of tomorrow.

I believe they will drastically improve our lives. Technophilia? No doubt!

While I can’t hide my enthusiasm for tech, I would like to share my concerns about social media. But most importantly the place it takes in our daily lives.

We spend almost 2 hours per day on the 5 major social media platforms only.

This is the exact same amount of time we spend eating, drinking, socializing and doing laundry combined. Exaggerated? Not when you know people spend over 4 hours a day on their smartphone.

If the past century was based on Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), we are now in the Fast Moving Consumer Content (FMCC) era. Our consumerism shifted to a new addiction. And just as every addiction... it can’t be harmless!

A new addiction!

According to some recent researches, one in three people felt worse after visiting Facebook and more dissatisfied with their lives. Generally speaking, we can say social media is not always good for you. But can we compare this addiction to smoking?

At the end of the day, social media is another addiction to distract our brains from what it is lacking. Not convinced? Continue reading!

Why do people smoke? 

1. Social status
2. Reduce stress
3.  Take a break
4. Meet people
5. Kill time

Do you see any similar reasons with scrolling down on your newsfeed? The gesture is different but the addiction is similar. You are just staring at your phone instead of blowing smoke.

So let’s consider both habits are bad for you. You can easily find nicotine patch, electronic cigarettes, or even quit-smoking app. But what about social media addiction?

One day, scrolling your newsfeed will become banned in public places just as smoking.

It is already the case in some restaurants. Imagine a world where people would just have a normal conversation and actually enjoy the food. This is taking place right now! Perhaps public transport will do the same, then parks and shopping mall. But you don’t have to wait this moment to quit. 

Digital Minimalism

Minimalism is a lifestyle that helps you question what things add value to your life. Then you just make room for what really matter.

Minimalism is not subtraction for the sake of subtraction.

Minimalism is subtraction for the sake of focus

So the question now is: how can you improve your life by getting rid of low-value distraction?

POMO

The Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is in other words a social anxiety caused by the desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing. The word initially came from the millennials and was introduced lately to the Oxford English Dictionary as the addiction represents a real epidemic today.

But have you ever considered what could be the negative impact of missing out activities that do actually bring value to your real world?

Go work and be productive, exercise or meditate, get in touch with your loved ones, learn a new language, volunteer in a social project... This is so much more rewarding and truly contribute to your personal development.

So be Proud Of Missing Out what doesn’t add value to your life!

If one only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier than other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are. Montesquieu

Best is better than good

We have been educated to earn money, save it and spend it wisely. Unfortunately you cannot earn time, but you can choose how to consume it.

Everything we buy is at the end of the day an exchange for our time. So be aware of its scarcity because this is the ultimate commodity!

The bad news is time flies.

The good news is you are the pilot.

Altshuler

Reducing your online activity is a good start but not enough! You can always justify yourself and say these activities bring significant value to your life. But ask yourself whether you are really spending your time efficiently. What is you ROTS (return on time spent)?

Are you getting a good value or the best value from the time flying? 

Less is more

Did you ever wonder why 20% of what you were doing actually impacted 80% of the outcomes? This common rule of thumb is known as the law of Pareto and it is true for almost everything in life, including your online presence.

Less is more when more is too much!

Take an evening at home and open your various account. Look at the newsfeeds. What shouldn’t be there? Delete it! Unfollow people and pages who don’t bring you real value. Mute them, block them, don’t allow them to catch your attention. Focus on the 20% of content that you will be able to leverage.

Focusing is about saying No.

Jobs

7 small things you should do right now!

1. Go F***ing work! Try this chrome extension to be sure you won’t lose time on useless websites during office hours. Temptation to take a break is big. And usually you deserve it. But take a real one! Go for a walk, have a quick talk or stretch for a while.
2. Bye facebook! Go to settings, turn notifications off (the more the better). The biggest social media on earth is working hard so you will spend more time scrolling your newsfeed. You usually go to facebook for a quick check up but end up spending 20 minutes doing nothing really… So, the best is to simply not open facebook at all.
3. Forget messenger! If it can wait, send an email. If not, call the person! Period. If people get upset because you don’t answer quickly, explain them why you do it. Nothing personal! It is just you being normal.
4. Get rid of Whatsapp groups! This is a great example of FOMO! You are certainly a member of several chat groups. But did you ever thought of the value they actually had for you? Do you really need them to be a better person or is it just to stay in touch in case of maybe something would eventually concern you? FOMO! Did you just say: "...but they are important to me, it’s just my closest friends and family"? Cute! The world always had friends and family before. Were they unhappier? No!
5. Schedule what’s necessary! If you really need to post on social media, just schedule your week on Sunday night with Buffer. It is easy, it is free and you will be able to make space in your mind during the week.
6. Emojis. Seriously? If we extrapolate data, you will spend more than 5 years of your entire life on social media. Imagine you could save let’s say just 1 second for every interaction you have. This would be the time you spend thinking about the perfect emoji and actually typing it. As you can imagine, this must be considerable in a lifetime. Don’t you have better things to do?
7. Why do you go live? Ok now stop reading and think for a while. Why do you go live? What is the personal value you get from this? To share your “moments”. Come on! Who on earth care about this? Plus you usually do this on special occasion, right? Then why don’t you enjoy the special occasion instead of sharing it? Altruism? Nope! Narcisism!

This is nothing revolutionary. The first step is being conscious of all this.

I personally implemented these small things into my life and I can already feel its impact on my productivity. I just minimized what didn’t had a significant value for me.

The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination.

Carl Rogers,  On Becoming a Person (1961)

I would be glad to share my future steps with you in the coming months. But now I am out for a ride!

Minimalistically yours, 

Olivier

Sources

• https://www.bbc.com/news/education-38392802
• https://theroamingmind.com/2017/03/06/social-media-is-the-new-smoking/
• https://calnewport.com/blog/2016/12/18/on-digital-minimalism/
• https://www.theminimalists.com/
• https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
• https://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_christakis_the_hidden_influence_of_social_networks
• https://mediakix.com/2016/12/how-much-time-is-spent-on-social-media-lifetime/#gs.MF8zjsc