In the last two decades, we’ve seen an explosion in technology.
And while all technologies can be harnessed for good, there’s also a way to misuse any
tool.
I’m not arguing against the use of social media.
Med School Insiders, after all, has a presence on YouTube
Instagram, Facebook,
and Twitter.
On one hand, there are angry luddites condemning social media, and on the other hand, you have
addicted students who are oblivious to the detrimental effects of their social media
use.
As with most things in life, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
What’s going on guys, Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com.
After taking a brief peak at the literature, it is abundantly clear that social media addiction
is a serious problem.
And it’s not that surprising.
Some of the smartest minds are working at top tech companies, purposely designing products
to grab your attention and keep you on their platform.
After all, that translates to more revenue.
Until recently, I found it difficult to understand how social media addiction was a problem for
so many people.
Throughout college, medical school, and residency, I simply didn’t find myself using social
media much.
I was too busy, and Facebook just wasn’t that appealing to me.
But then, I started Med School Insiders, and in doing so, I created an Instagram, Twitter,
and downloaded the YouTube Studio and Google Analytics apps on my phone.
No longer in residency and with much more control over how I spent my time and used
my devices. I mean, let's be real it's tough to use social media while you're working in the hospital or operating room.
SoI found myself unhappy with the amount of time I spent on these apps, and more specifically the level
to which they distracted me from focusing on meaningful work.
It’s been demonstrated that the constant barrage on our attention from these distractions
slowly erodes our ability to focus and get meaningful work done.
I found my own capacity for deep work becoming fragmented.
Was I becoming addicted?
According to the literature, you may be addicted to social media if any of the following apply
to you: you’re preoccupied by social media, you use it to reduce negative feelings, you
gradually use it more and more in order to get the same pleasure from it, which is essentially
building tolerance, you suffer distress if you’re prohibited from using social media,
or you sacrifice other obligations or cause harm to other life areas because of your social
media use.
It’s ok, you’re not alone.
A lot of us are addicted to social media.
But fear not, I’ve got the antidote. Now this is how you can cure your addiction and yet still use social media.
I’ve heard multiple people recommend 30 day detoxes from social media.
As a physician, I detest the words “detox” and “cleanse”.
But that’s besides the point.
Quitting social media for 30 days to reset your relationship with your phone and computer
is not a bad idea — it’s just not that realistic. Instead, I suggest you do the
following. First, delete social media apps for only one day.
Staying away from social media for 30 days is setting the bar way too high.
To successfully implement behavior change, you have to start small, otherwise you’re
likely to cave in and fail on achieving your goal, regressing back to your initial state.
I recommend beginning this process with deleting Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and any other
social media apps you use from your phone for just one day.
For me, that also included the YouTube Studio app, where YouTubers check their stats, comments,
and other analytics.
Doing so will set the bar low enough that it is easy and feasible to achieve, but it
will also give you a taste of what life is like without constant dopamine snacks and
hits to your attention.
As someone who has done the 1 day delete, I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s
a nice change and helps the following tips fall into place. Number two, refine your inputs.
They say you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
I say you’re the average of all your inputs.
Now that you’ve taken a brief break away from social media, come back to it with a
fresh perspective and the ability to more accurately determine what is actually bringing you
value.
Ruthlessly unsubscribe and unfollow accounts on Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, Facebook,
Reddit, and any other sites that are distracting you and not providing value.
Remember, be aggressive.
And don’t worry, they’ll still be there later if you change your mind and want to resubscribe.
These platforms are ultimately tools and it comes down to how you use them.
I am an avid user of Reddit, but I’ve unsubscribed to most of the default subreddits, because
frankly, dank memes don’t bring me lasting happiness.
Personal finance, cycling, and medicine, on the other hand, teach me useful information.
I went over how I slashed 50% of my YouTube subscriptions and how I determine which channels
to follow on my personal vlog channel.
Link in the description below. Number three, reclaim your attention.
There is an art and science to setting up your phone for maximal productivity and minimal
distraction.
I’ll be going over a more in-depth guide in a future video.
For now, disable notifications for all social media apps.
That means no lock screen notifications, no badges, and no sounds.
This will prevent you from being distracted every time someone likes or comments on a
new post.
Taking this a step further, remove any distracting emails from your inbox.
I personally have a filter set up that automatically archives all emails from Facebook.
Requesting to receive fewer emails from Facebook was not effective at actually stopping attention
seeking spammy emails from blasting my inbox.
Shocking.
Number four, implement systems to block future you
This comes down to a few different tactics.
First, let’s talk about your phone, since that’s where most of our social media usage
time is based.
My go-to technique is completely free and surprisingly effective — move your phone
out of sight.
Sounds stupidly simple, right?
I am constantly amazed at how effective it is.
If I’m working, I now make sure I don’t leave my phone on the table or desk, as I’m
much more likely to mindlessly pick it up and check for new updates.
Instead, put it in another room or elsewhere out of your line of sight.
Second, block future you from using the app too much.
An easy first step is to move the apps off the home screen, so that finding them takes
additional work, which hopefully is enough of a friction point to make you aware and
provide you a brief moment to catch yourself if you’re acting impulsively.
Additionally, Android and iOS devices both come with features that can limit your usage
of certain apps.
On my iPhone, I use Screen Time to limit the amount of time I can spend on social media
and … other distracting apps
On my computer, I use an app called Focus that blocks all my browsers from visiting
any predefined set of distracting websites.
Focus is only available on Mac, but I’ve also heard great things about Freedom, which is available on windows.
The hardest part in any behavior change is just starting.
If you’re watching this video, this likely isn’t the first time that you’ve heard
of social media addiction and been encouraged to consider curbing your social media use.
I’m not saying you need to quit, but a controlled rather than compulsive relationship is going
to help you.
With this healthier approach, you won’t only be a more effective and productive student,
but you’ll also be happier and less stressed, as supported by the literature.
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