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Course: Social media literacy > Unit 3
Lesson 7: Take action! Take control of your social media useWhy shift your use of social media?
When we pay attention to one thing, we’re not paying attention to something else
Why shift your use of social media?
Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? Even when you were tired of it, even when thinking about it didn’t make you happy, it was still there. Maybe that made it harder to focus, like your brain was caught in a loop that you just wanted to escape from.
Social media is like a song that the smartest computers in the world are constantly making catchier. It can feel great to listen to, but it can also hijack our minds. It can pull some of us into loops of scrolling that last hours, even when we don’t want them to. Most importantly, by hijacking our attention it pulls our minds away from other things we could be focusing on—things that really matter.
When we pay attention to one thing, we’re not paying attention to something else.
If our free attention automatically moves to our social media, then we may miss when a friend needs us. We may miss a creative thought that could turn into something incredible. We may forget to follow through on the promises we make to ourselves. When we’re robbed of our attention, we lose the power to control our own destiny.
Our days, our weeks, our years, and ultimately our lives are made up of what we pay attention to, one moment at a time.
🤔 CONSIDER:
These stories are examples of experiences from young people who have shifted their use of social media. (You can find more at #MySocialTruth.)
- Why do you think changing their social media habits has had such a positive impact on them?
- How do you think changing the amount of time they spend on social media has affected what they have or haven’t been paying attention to?
While each of our experiences is different, these platforms are designed to compete for your attention and can hijack your behavior to accomplish their goals. Even if you feel that your time on social media is mostly well spent, it’s important to carefully consider the facts and take control of your usage in whatever way works best for you.
In the next article, you'll find a few important steps you can take right now to increase your well being and regain control.
Want to join the conversation?
i think teens like me should use social media for recent updates and social connections to a certain aspect.
we can use our social platforms more on laptops or computers and keep the notifications turned off.
in this way , we can purposefully consume data and use it for our mutual benefits and wellbeing.
This also saves our time and attention.(5 votes)
My 14-year-old daughter has changed her hair color 3 times. I discovered that her friends through social media have been encouraging her to do this. She thought doing this would bring her happiness, but she was wrong. I have advised her to love herself, be grateful for the hair color that God gave her, and stay away from social media, which would bring up the happiness that already exists inside herself(5 votes)
I don’t know if you’ll ever see this, but I’m going to say it anyway.
Thank God that you got your daughter off of social media. Social media has been determined through studies, to be one of the major reasons for suicide in young teenage girls because it’s instant feedback. When girls are feeling most shy, social media indoctrinates them and criticizes them into literal death.
God bless,
Jonah(1 vote)
- i think that people should spend less time on their phones throughout the day(2 votes)
- yeah that's the best approach(3 votes)
Can you control yourself from phone?(1 vote)