Social media may have brought many technological advances. However, it also caused addiction in those who used it excessively. Dr. Cal Newport and Dr. Andrew Huberman provided methods to combat social media addiction in a recent Huberman Clips video on YouTube.
Huberman recounts that when he and his podcast team traveled to Australia, one of his close friends, Rob Mohr, ordered them to delete social media apps from their phones. He explains how tough it was to let go of these apps. Huberman was anxious because this challenge was more difficult than he had anticipated.
“It’s so interesting the way that brain can adapt—the friction leaving something behind, the friction coming back to it. And I think people listening to this, I raise this because, I think, of course, many people listening are, you know, have work they really need to focus on. They may be having issues with productivity and burnout, etc.”
Huberman adds that social media on an individual’s phone fills a gap, leading to procrastination on important tasks. This leads to commitment concerns about a certain job or project they need to focus on.
Dr. Cal Newport says that an individual spends all of their energy scrolling through their phone rather than paying attention to an ongoing task. He explains how social media fills the void in their lives. However, per Huberman, this negative impact existed before social media.
“Social media, and before this, it was other things, right, there was other intoxicants or other sorts of distractions. It’s a way for some people of, essentially, putting a screen over that, like gaping void. And it like, just makes it bearable enough that you can kind of go on with life. And so it is true, if you just rip it out, you see the void.”
Dr. Cal also recalls research he performed in which participants were encouraged to delete their social media accounts for a duration of one month. The American author also describes how he performed this study for a mixed audience consisting of people of all ages.
Dr. Newport discusses how individuals who completed the challenge saw life from a completely new perspective. They reported to Dr. Cal that they were able to return to libraries, hang out with friends, have beverages and pleasant activities, and generally reclaim their social lives. The American author became fascinated by his own study, which demonstrated how social media tends to imitate certain events but not as closely as they do in real life.
Previously, Huberman discussed his experience with his podcast producer, Rob Mohr, who told them to delete their social media. He goes on to explain how it was an effective technique to get over the addiction.
Dr. Andrew Huberman reveals another solution to tackle social media addiction
There are several social media networks, including Facebook, Instagram, and Discord. Each of them, however, has unique ways for a user to get addicted to them. According to Dr. Andrew Huberman, restricting screen time can help reduce addiction. The act of installing and uninstalling the applications made it simpler for them to break free from their dependency on them.
To regulate their usage, contemporary phones also allow users to modify their screen time while using a specific app. Dr. Andrew was particularly concerned because this addiction could harm a user’s brain in several ways. Social media has become so ingrained in one’s life that it is tough to let go of it; however, with enough determination, one can overcome the addiction.
