Last semester I had a nagging question: If social media is delivering on its promises to create community, entertain me, and connect with others, why do I feel so terrible every time I use it? I eventually ended up with a guide for using social media more reasonably. Not only have the following facts and advice changed my life, but they can also help improve yours.
Here are ways social media negatively impacts your life, and how you can effectively, and practically, reduce that impact.
Short-Form vs. Long-Form Content: Know the Difference
Social media can be a lot like candy. It feels great in the moment, with easily digestible content that provides your brain with hit after hit of dopamine. In small amounts, it’s harmless, and a lot of fun. (Who doesn’t like the occasional sweet?) The problem lies in how much of it is consumed. Hours and hours of scrolling per day often ends in feeling unsatisfied with various aspects of life — whether from impossibly high standards set by perfectly curated accounts, or from the lack of accomplishment after another day lost in a flurry of shorts and reels. Short-form content almost paradoxically saps a large portion of our time, and often, we don’t notice until it’s too late.
What can be done to help differentiate between productive time spent online, and time wasted online? How can we tell when we’re being entertained versus when we’re being harmed when they look so similar?
Benefits of Long-Form Content: Engage Your Brain
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to separate the two. My biggest piece of advice is to seek out longer-form content. Instead of watching a short about a movie you’re interested in, see if you can swap it out for a longer analysis or critique. Better yet, swap it out for the movie itself and perform your own analysis with friends!
While it may seem counterintuitive to watch something longer to spend less time scrolling, longer-form content has a time limit. Imagine you’re watching a ten-minute video. After ten minutes, the “timer” is up — a built-in reminder that you’ve spent ten minutes online, and it’s time to switch to something else. Shorts, reels, and TikToks often have no safety net. Most apps are designed to distract you from how much time you’re spending and allow you to scroll endlessly and mindlessly.
The best way to remain responsible is to ensure your brain is engaged, and if it’s not, to have a system that reminds you when enough is enough. There are apps you can download that send reminders about how much time you’ve spent on particular apps or even block them if you struggle with self-discipline. All these methods are a good start to a happier mindset and healthier brain.
Identify (New) Alternatives: Build Resilience
While reducing social media use is beneficial, it’s even better to have activities to replace it. Videos and posts feel amazing in the short-term; however, exploring hobbies and interests in other ways creates a more satisfying, long-term experience and sense of accomplishment. Even if all your current hobbies require an internet connection, it’s never too late to learn something new.
Trying new things gives you an opportunity that shorts and reels don’t: the chance to fail. Failure is essential to building confidence. When we fail, and eventually overcome failure through repeated effort, we grow and accomplish goals, giving us a better sense of self. Failure fosters resilience, providing mental protection from and less anxiety about future failures. Heavy stuff for simply exploring hobbies, but learning new skills such as crocheting and painting have vastly improved my own self-confidence (especially since I’ve created more than my fair share of artistic “failures”).
Explore Hobbies: (Re)Discover Yourself
Rediscovering old interests has been monumental in my struggle to move away from short-form content as well.
Reading has always been a big part of my life. For the longest time, I used it as an escape, and one day, social media crept in and became the new escape due to its accessibility. I only had so many books, but the internet was endless. Unfortunately, I realized too late that I had traded the real deal for a cheap imitation. Reading, unlike watching, makes your brain work for its reward. Instead of watching characters being boiled down to their absolute basics in TikTok reenactments; books (and even movies and shows) often provide you with deeper nuance and themes for your brain to explore and provide material worth thinking about, rather than something quick and flashy meant to grab your attention just long enough to make it to the 30-second mark.
Effort often leads to satisfaction. When short-form content requires no effort, it robs our brains of a more extended form of happiness and peace of mind, trading it for an alternative that lacks substance and keeps our brains begging for more. It’s important to break out of this loop, as a continued cycle of unending discontent weakens our mental health and leads to deeper feelings of unimportance.
For me, reading was the solution to breaking this cycle, but there are many other options. Most libraries have amazing resources that are free and accessible — everything from physical books, e-books, and audio books to movies and TV shows (through physical copies and streaming). I learned recently that my local library even has musical instruments available for checkout. There are plenty of options out there to help entertain and fulfill you. It only requires reaching out to take what’s offered.
Accept Boredom: Make Real Connections
My final tip may be unconventional, but it’s a great way to bring connection back to real-world interactions. Avoid social media while you’re waiting. For example, if you find yourself waiting outside the classroom, it may seem natural to scroll through your phone when you have nothing to do; but there are benefits to letting your brain be bored instead.
Letting your mind wander increases creativity and clears your mind for the information it’s about to receive (at least in a classroom). It also makes you more likely to interact with people around you. The only way to make friends is to talk to people. When there are less distractions, people take more interest in what’s around them. The more people who avoid social media when out in the real-world, the more people there are to connect with in-person. It only takes one person to take the first step.
Use Technology: Don’t Let It Use You
The main takeaway is this: You matter, and by extension, your time matters. Most people I know would rather do anything than give for-profit companies their time, and ultimately, their lives. It’s not as simple as cutting out social media altogether, though.
Social media is a wonderful tool that has fostered creativity, provided community, and changed lives for the better. What’s truly important is to enjoy everything in moderation and make the most out of our technology use without turning it into a crutch or a detriment to our mental health. By practicing guidelines and self-discipline, we can use social media in a more positive way, and live healthier, more meaningful lives in the real world, too.
- How to Use Social Media – Without It Using You - February 26, 2025
