Should you quit social media?
Day 293 / 365
I finally finished re-reading “Deep Work” by Carl Newport, and this time around I made sure to make notes of things from it that I can start applying in my life. One of the things mentioned in the book is that most of us can benefit from less social media.
The Any Benefit mentality
Whenever the idea of quitting social media is brought forward, there are always people who would protest. The most common excuses people would give would be
It helps me stay in touch with old friends..
Its a good way to refresh my mind…
and so on. Now you would agree that while these reasons might be valid, they are still minor pros. But people would still use social media, as they think that even if they are getting just a little bit out of it, then it is worth it. This is the Any Benefit mentality.
Social media is a tool. Every tool would have some benefit, it doesn’t mean that you would buy every tool right? No. You would carefully weigh the pros and cons of getting the tool, and only get it if the pros outweigh the cons. Sadly, we don’t see the cons of social media.
How to get off social media
Carl gives a little experiment that you can do to see which social media tools are actually of any worth to you. Put a 30-day ban to all apps that you use just to pass time, like Reddit, youtube, Instagram or Facebook. Also, make sure that you don’t announce this to your friends and family.
After the 30 days, review each and every app. If you think staying away from an app really made your life tough, get it back. But get rid of all others permanently.
This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here
Yesterday’s blog — How to make Ice Cream in World War II