After years of experience with (and unwilling to admit, addiction to) social media, i realize how much we retrieve information passively.
Most social media (although we have carefully selected who to follow) ‘forces’ us to view certain information. So we just passively scrolling the feed, and take in whatever the other party intended for us to see and take in. That is why social media marketing is so efficient. To make people see and buy the things they are displaying.
I decided it’s not how I want to seek and retrieve information. I must carefully select what I want to read, because my time and attention are finite. I cannot afford to waste those valuable parameters in my life.
Last few weeks, I deactivated Facebook and Twitter again (I am contemplating whether to do the same with Instagram. I’ve logged out and deleted the apps for a few days). Since then, I no longer retrieve information passively. As the consequence, I might miss the next limited edition Duck scarf (or insert any interesting product) launch. But I don’t feel obliged to buy every time a shiny/pretty new things come into the market. I will search for whatever product I’m going to buy, only when the NEED arises. My needs. And I’ll match it with my budget. This allows me to make a more conscious purchases.
Same goes with articles or information i want to read. When I have the time to spare, I will search for the information online. According to what I NEED to read or learn. I don’t have to scroll through berpuluh2 resipi, or kisah rumahtangga, or every mundane everyday stories of other people. I just FOCUS on what I want to read.
Of course I’ll miss some of the news. But most of the time (I’ve had deactivated Facebook for a long period previously), it’s the news that can wait. And I know if the news is significantly important enough for ME, it will reach me somehow (through my email, mobile phone or close friends or relatives).
I don’t know whether this (deactivation) will be temporary or permanent. But at this moment, this is what I NEED while I’m focusing on an important project. I’ll see how it goes.
I hope workplace don’t use social media as a medium of discussion. Unless the work is about the social media itself, please use a more proper medium to discuss. It’s an individual right to have or not have a social media account. Nobody should be forced to have that.