ScrollCure

The last thing you want while quitting social networks is to deepen the emotional hooks created by these platforms in your brain and for your inbox to light up like a Christmas tree with all the endearing messages of encouragement coming in from friends & strangers alike.

I get where the idea comes from. Most people believe making a public declaration of the beginning of their recovery will keep them socially accountable like it usually does in the case of other addictions like drugs, alcohol and smoking.

It a mechanism based on shame & guilt, where it would be too shameful for you to break from a social vow you’ve committed to even if it is a bunch of strangers online that you’ve never met or never will meet ever. You’d feel guilty on a personal level & even more guilty telling your close ones that you broke a promise you made.

i. The problem with using the same method for digital addiction is that unlike other addictions where you’re intervening a substance addiction with a social mechanism, in the case of digital addictions, the cause of the addiction & the medium of intervention are one and the same.

When you post online that you’re about to quit a certain platform, friends will tell you they’ll miss you and send you emojis. Strangers will tell you how brave you are for taking this decision and how they need to follow your path soon.

The messages will be overwhelmingly positive and it would be the most traction you will have received in a long time for something you’ve posted.

All those emotions will latch on to your emotional state which is already shaky & disoriented while you’re quitting the app because let’s face it, you’re quitting from a point of despair. This will cause a high first & will be followed by a subsequent come down. You want to avoid that.

To imagine it in an analogy, it would be like trying to quit alcohol by going on a weekend bender.

ii. Messages and comments are one of the strongest hooks that keep you returning to your devices. There is a reason why the brightest red color has been assigned to messages & notifications.

It is evolutionarily engraved in us to cherish & crave for social connection. It is very difficult to stay away from your device when you know a bunch of messages are waiting in your Inbox or a bunch of conversations are half-completed in your chats.

Even after deleting your apps or platforms, you’ll be wondering if someone has commented on your last post, if your post has received any up-votes, if someone has tried reaching out by messaging and you will get the urge to visit the problem platform again.

The voice inside your mind will go: “I’ve quit it. One last time won’t hurt”

Iii. Unlike substance addictions, digital technology is something that is completely enmeshed in our work & personal lives today and something that we are reliant on for day to day functioning.

You can go go to work tomorrow without indulging in alcohol or junk food but you cannot work without replying to a bunch of emails, attending a few online meeting and answering calls i.e. without using your phone or laptop.

For substances, the drug in question is physical & foreign which need to be purchased, transported, deposited or sanctified in your home. For digital addictions, the drug is on you every given moment of the day & the Internet is ethereal and omnipresent.

Unlike substance addictions where the act of indulgence is more physical and conscious where you feel an urge & act upon it, even if it’s against your desire to, in the case of digital addictions, it takes a single, unconscious touch, scroll or swipe to stray & relapse.

This makes digital addiction a different specie of addiction altogether with it’s different interventions & remedies.

The chances that you’ll fail or relapse in digital addiction is higher in digital addictions and you do not want to create a habit of failing on your social declarations because over time you will become apathetic to this method of intervention. Neither do you want to lie and secretly continue to use the apps and have it weigh on your conscience.

Next time you decide to quit, just do it in the most nonchalant way. Don’t tell your friends, don’t make a post, don’t make a declaration, don’t message anyone. Shut that voice in you head that is daydreaming looking back at things cinematically.

Instead just delete your profiles & treat it like a skill that you’re learning. Expect to fail & rise over time, repeatedly. Set the goal to be more mindful over-time. Trust me, you will have your moment of fame when you adhere to digital minimalism over a long duration of time.

When your close friends or people that actually matter ask you why they cannot see you online, when you joyfully find yourself unaware of the latest celebrity gossip or when you tell someone to send a screenshot of a social media post instead of the link they sent, they will inadvertently be curious and you will end up telling them why and their reaction will be that much more pronounced, louder and rewarding.