Social media might be sucking up your precious time without you knowing...

Facebook claims that it has approximately 3 billion active users on their platform at the time of writing. That's almost half of the worlds population. TikTok, recently recorded roughly 1 billion active users. Not to mention the number of users on Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, WhatsApp etc.As more people continue to use social media platforms, the more the numbers continue to augment. This shows that social media has become or is becoming an integral part of the lives of almost everyone.Some people use social media for different purposes like building brands, marketing products to potential customers, receiving news updates, acquiring partnership deals.Yeah, I know right, I too just use it for memes. I mean, who has that energy to start selling stuff to friends on Facebook when there are lots of funny posts to scroll through, pictures to like and comment on? In fact when I'm done scrolling, I'll open my WhatsApp to check if there are new status updates, steal the funny ones and post them on other social platforms so that I can equally get a few like emojis too.According to this survey, one of the main reason why people use social media is to tackle boredom. The same survey also concludes that the average daily time a user spends on social media is 2 hours and 27 minutes. Mine used to be somewhere between 3 - 4 hours. Yeah, that's a lot of time especially when you're not doing anything productive.In fact, if we do the math correctly, we'll realize that 3 hours a day adds up to 90 hours a month which adds up to 1080 hours (one and a half months) a year.So if you're like me, it means every year, you "loose" one and a half months to social media alone. Just think about that for a second. And if that means nothing to you, Ermm... I'll suggest you probably should stop reading this post and open your Facebook.But if this is surprising to you, well that's not the case to the social media companies because they have designed their platforms to be addictive. Very addictive.TikTok for example ensures that its videos are kept short so as to keep users more engaged. While keeping it short, they'll also recommend you lots and lots of other videos similar to the ones you've previously watched, which will most likely draw your attention to them.Facebook on the other hand, offers instant gratification in the form of likes, views and comments to your posts, virtual friends, well targeted content based on the content you previously had more engagements to and more. All these things keep your dopamine hormone levels up, forcing you to spend more time on the platform.You might unfortunately not realize how much time you spend on these platforms because, just like me, you'd probably use it for a short period of time, say 5 - 10 mins and then switch to other tasks and then switch back when you get bored and so on till the day is over. But you might not realize that those short periods of time adds up.If you don't believe me, then tryout this little experiment. Install an app like, Digital Wellbeing which records the amount of time you spend on your mobile apps. Then make sure to use your phone as you normally would without the recorder. At the end of the week, look at the statistics the recorder will present to you. Believe me, the results will startle you.Of course social media is very useful. It helps us to quickly keep up with families and friends. However, there's a very high probability of overuse, since it was designed that way anyways.In this post, I'm not trying to bring you to a conclusion of whether social media is good or bad. I believe we all have the cognitive ability to discern what we regard as good or bad for us. I just want to draw your attention to how much time you might be spending on social media without realizing. Maybe regaining this time could help you read new books, learn new skills, begin new trades, grow your spirituality, and more.I hope you found this post insightful. I'd equally love to learn from you. So please feel free to email me your opinions, views or feedback at: blog-info@celsoppe.com.Till I come your way again, adieu.

2022-04-16