How to overcome social mediatis: a boom in the 21st century

Being addicted is no longer limited to drugs, alcohol, sex, or even being an obsessive cleaner. In this 21st century there is a new phenomenon that grows daily as technology expands its reach around the world. Crawling so stealthily one may not even notice or recognize his hold until it is too late. What’s that?

Social mediaitis!

OK … not a word or not? But by definition (or my definition) it means the inability to refrain from using social media at any given time, be it day or night, outside the home, inside or outside the home or workplace. We may even want to expand the definition even further to include the inability to leave the dreaded cell phone anywhere. Heaven forbidden!

I remember that once a good friend of mine in the United States was on her way to a very important meeting. He was already running late after getting up late, dressing late, drinking his coffee late, and running out of the house late. While on the subway, he realized that he had forgotten his phone at home. Now, instead of continuing the meeting, he went home. As he snatched his “priceless” phone from the coffee table, he realized that he would not only be late, but in a ridiculous and incomprehensible way. So instead of calling and saying it was incredibly late, she called in sick, coughing and spluttering on the phone like she was having a seizure. Fortunately for her, the meeting was reorganized and her business finally landed the contract.

The catch … the first thing he checked when he got his phone back was Instagram and Facebook. I’m still not sure if he entertained himself on YouTube, Snapchat, or Linked LinkedIn … but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt on those.

Social Mediaitis is so prevalent that we don’t even recognize it for what it is as we’ve become so addicted to having our phones that we even walk around with them in our hands or back pockets as a necessary fashion accessory. the Matrix life of the XXI century. I guess Neo knew what he was talking about!

Think, ten, twenty years ago, people spent time talking to each other. However, today, technology has provided a variety of ways for us to communicate with each other at the click of a button or broadcast live. Imagine, there is a selection of digital options for people to send and receive text messages, photos and videos, or surf online, every day, anytime, anywhere. And remember, age is not a factor. Today’s babies can decipher and use a tablet much faster than their own parents. Go figure.

But what is worse is that these distractions, especially in the workplace, can have an impact on the results of a company and cause a breakdown of social relationships, at home, on the street and in the workplace or even at school. While these interruptions create ineptitude at work and add costs to a company’s bottom line, the widespread and growing use of smartphones is creating a much more serious problem of disrupting social interaction. Can you imagine a scenario in which we all stop talking to each other and do it only through one device?

I was in a meeting a few years ago and in the middle of the team discussion, a phone vibrated somewhere. We all looked around as it was loud and annoying and the senior manager was about to say something of value and importance. Now, all the members of that meeting had received the memo that the same senior director had written that there were no telephones at team meetings. So what fun it was when, red-faced, he pulled the guilty contraption out of his own pocket, vibrating as if there was some kind of unknown pleasure associated with it. We still laugh to this day.

So how do you know they have Social Mediaitis?

According to psychologists Mark Griffiths and Daria Kuss, answering “yes” to some of these six questions means that one probably is, and that one would greatly benefit from a digital detox:

• Do you spend a lot of time, when you are not online, thinking about social networks or planning to use social networks?

• Do you feel the urge to use social media more and more over time?

• Do you use social networks to forget about personal problems?

• Do you often try to reduce your use of social media without success?

• Do you feel restless or worried if you can’t use social media?

• Do you use social media so much that it has had a negative impact on your job, relationship or studies?

If you have Social Mediaitis where it interferes with competition or value, then a digital detox is required. That is, be aware and live in the moment, get rid of all devices, especially those that allow easy access, experiment with leaving devices at home or in a bag and as in any addiction, the first step to change is awareness, so being in the present will help you recognize Social Mediaitis for what it is.

Even so, he is also aware that, despite how bad Social Mediaitis can be, it is also a phenomenal tool for conducting business that facilitates advertising, so a mental paradigm shift and being focused on that aspect will help drive the addiction to creating streams of income. and thus live real dreams. So to overcome the negative side of Social Mediaitis, it is about taking small steps, starting with an hour and moving on to longer times of detachment, especially when it comes to spouses, lovers, friends or coworkers.

And according to Griffiths and Kuss:

“While most of our social media behaviors may be annoying rather than dangerous, they are nonetheless indicative of a social problem. Action must be taken now, while the number of social media addicts is still small. No we should wait and see if it becomes an epidemic. “