June 2023

Quit social media

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Dr. Cal Newport

Mmm, really good food for thought!  For a while now I’ve been feeling more and more uneasy with my, and others, increasing use of social media and its effects.

The research shows multiple, well-documented and significant cognitive and psychosocial harms. Are we losing the ability to sustain focused attention?  I feel I am, are you? After ‘doom scrolling’ do you feel lonely, inadequate and anxious?  The data says this and more.  Add to that, the fact that most social media platforms are intentionally designed to be addictive. I really like Cal’s analogy of the slot machine.

In his talk he shares some useful responses to our common reasons why we ‘can’t quit’. When I floated the idea of this talk with my 14yr old daughter, she said “We should all quit. Social media is more harmful than good”. I find it interesting that most of us feel this intuitive sense that it’s not good for us, but few of us do anything about it.

Towards the end of the talk, Cal uses an image of a bench in an open landscape to explain what life without social media feels like.  This image looked so beautiful to me – so peaceful and calming.  I think we could all do with more of this in our current lifestyles!

I hope you enjoy this talk, and can sustain the 14 minutes of focused attention to watch it right through to the end.