Ads, Apps, and Attention
Hannah
Win Your Time Back from the Grasp of Social Media. Learn some strategies to reduce your screen time and live fully.
Today we’re going to go on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Passing guilty consciences, dopamine peaks, and a hopeful light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s start the ride with a most likely, uncomfortable truth: How much time do you spend on your phone? Are you checking social media every other minute? Scrolling for hours to distract yourself from important things? Or are you reaching for your phone as soon as there is a minute of standing still? I think we all know this moment: Being in the tram, looking at all the phones in people’s hands, and then guiltily looking back down at our device. There’s always this slight hint of guilt creeping in the back of our heads, just loud enough to make us feel bad but not too harsh so that we keep scrolling nonetheless!
Social Media’s battle for your Attention
When we reach the highest part of our rollercoaster and look down, we can see the intricate net social media has caught us in. While you might be thinking along the lines of: “Just stop staring at your phone, stupid self!” there is a nasty trick behind social media taking you prisoner. I’m sure you have heard of that already.
Interacting with social media means giving your brain a little dopamine-candy in the form of successful social interaction. Well, it’s just the same thing as with sugar, your brain wants more of that! So instinctively, you watch another TikTok, and another one, and just one more, and then you go on without really recognizing, and you think, “Just five more minutes, until the next full hour.” Suddenly it’s 15:17, and that means you can wait till the next hour is full, and… you get it.
(If you want to learn more about the effect social media has on our dopamine distribution, I found a lot of information here.
Algorithms are designed to keep our attention in their grasp. The non-profit corporation Harvard Business Publishing (HBP) has conducted a study for a better understanding of the fall into the social media rabbit hole. The conclusion? We are more likely to get stuck on social media when we have already consumed a small amount of content, and rather keep scrolling when we see similar content in a row. It’s quite easy for the algorithm to make use of that. Also, we are more likely to stop watching when getting distracted between small portions of social media. Effortlessly swiping up to see the next TikTok or autoplay one on YouTube—these are perfect designs to keep us locked in on the screen. In the end, the effects of timeless scrolling and countless dopamine-sweets are easy to conclude: Too much social media makes us feel lonely and depressed.
Not everything is bad!
So, after that very hopeless part of the ride, let’s get the spirits up again! Because it’s also true that social media is not all bad! It connects us with friends and family and gives us the chance to find people with similar interests or life experiences that we would have never known otherwise.
The internet holds so much knowledge and can offer us answers to… well, every question. “How should a cathedral organ sound so you can play pop music on it?”, “If I shave my golden retriever like a lion, will the other dogs respect him more?” And “Is whale sperm the reason why the ocean is so salty?” (When reading these in a forum, you definitely have scrolled too long… I fear I’m guilty as charged.)
Back to the topic! Enjoying the benefits of social media without falling into the negative aspects is not a simple task. Ads, apps, and algorithms are fighting for your attention. Let’s look at some tips!
Snacks it is
So, how to avoid getting stuck on social media and manoeuvring around all the influences you are confronted with online? To cite the words of Harvard Health Publishing: “When it comes to social media, think snack-sized portions” In their article, they mention a study suggesting that limiting the use of social media to 30 minutes a day reduces loneliness and depression significantly! I fear that is easier said than done!
But there are many tips and tricks to aid you in this endeavour. Start with the apps that you use the most and probably too much. Is it doom-scrolling on X (it still feels quite wrong not to call it Twitter any more…), is it ongoing comparison and perfect life illusions on Instagram, or senseless TikTok rabbit roles? In this case, it is actually your phone that can help you! Set times to remind you to put the phone away or restrict access to apps for certain periods. Disabling notifications or storing distracting apps in a separate folder can prevent you from opening social media in the first place. Or you can delete the app completely and only access your account online. To be successful, one thing is really important: admit to yourself where the problem lies, and then find the most effective way for you personally to solve it! Techniques might work for some people, but for others don’t.
So, I’m going to start with a personal example:
I often get stuck on YouTube and Pinterest, especially in the morning and evening. Reflecting on this bad habit, I found that it’s a way to distract myself from an unpleasant to-do list. I have implemented a new routine on my phone restricting the use of these apps in the morning. It works pretty well, and I get my chores done way quicker.
So, my next project is the evening; that’s going to be the harder one. I decided to replace the screen time in the evening with reading or drawing. In that way, I can stick to my routine of doing something calm right before bed, but in a healthier way. For the times I need something to distract me while doing something mindless (the dishes for example), I now rather listen to audiobooks than play a YouTube video (I have found my love for the tree investigators again—a huge recommendation, especially when you understand German).
Step by step, my solution worked something like this:
1. Reflect on your screen time. Which apps are a problem, and when do you use them?
2. Why are you using the apps, or what is going on in your head?
3. Find an alternative. News can be found in podcasts instead of endless posts, a new hobby can distract from the daily routine, and crosswords or Sudoku can fill little periods of waiting time.
4. Implement hurdles into your social media routines, set apps on timeout, delete them, or disable notifications.
In Conclusion
We profit from the opportunities the Internet gives us every day. But to enjoy the benefits, we need to get ahead of the bad effects and fight the algorithms of TikTok, Instagram, and co. So when you come off our imaginary rollercoaster ride, take time to reflect and make a battle plan! Because one thing is essential: Consume content because you’re interested in it, not because some algorithm decided you should see it before the next ad pops up!
All photo rights by International Campus GmbH.