We all love to procrastinate over social media and this fact has greatly affected our productivity in a negative way. We need to realize that this has to stop and we should take advantage of social media the right way again for it to become beneficial on our part. Here are 7 reasons that we need to address to make us realize how social media has become our favorite procrastination tool.
#1. Anxiety
Everyone loves to look and appear smart so much that we tend to overthink things. This is one of the basic reasons why we rely on social media because it can either help us boost our ego or help us copy ideas that are already posted out there in the world of social media. Our constant anxiety leads us to hold on to social media as if it were a lifeline worth holding on to.
#2. Addiction
Addicts will never admit that they are addicted to a substance and this is because of the fear of addiction itself. The reason why people are hooked to social media is because they are already addicted to it but no one would ever admit that fact because they are in denial of it. For example, if you are into Pinterest, you would like images and ideas that you first saw in that website but the wanting to see more of those beautiful images would not end that is why you keep coming back to the website taking you down to a series of rabbit holes that you can no longer get out of.
#3. Socialize
As the name itself implies, social media is all about socialization. However, a lot of us are doing it the wrong way as we end up talking and interacting with people in different social media platforms without noticing how much time we have spent on doing these activities. A lot of working employees end up talking in social media sites more than usual and it is directly affecting their productivity at work. We all need to socialize at some point but there is always a right time for it. If you are hooked into social media for this reason then you should give yourself a time limit rather than spending an entire day for that purpose alone.
#4. Distraction
Social networks were designed as a means of entertainment but if you get to overdo it then it becomes a distraction from your real world. Distractions should be used to our advantage and not become means to pull us down. For example if you rely on the internet as your source of entertainment but you end up overdoing it then it is much like being entertained by watching TV yet end up watching TV the entire day because you were entertained by it. In the end, you did nothing else and your day was not productive at all.
#5. Reactivity
Social media is all about engaging with others on discussions with social issues. There is nothing wrong in being opinionated because it can be a form of learning and it allows us to sharpen our wisdom and thoughts on various topics. However, if we end up dedicating most of our time engaging in discussions and commenting on threads that are no longer helpful to our well-being then that is already a form of procrastination. Reactivity just like anything else should be kept at a limit or else you end up wasting your time.
#6. Laziness
Let us admit it, we all want things automatically done for us and social media serves as the magic pill that we are looking for. There are already a lot of tutorial videos out there and other how-to resources in the world of social media. A good example would be when we are trying to cook a certain recipe that we like. Instead of trying to learn on our own we just rely on Youtube videos and other posts in order to learn to cook that recipe. It is indeed a convenient idea but you are simply learning what you are being spoon-fed when you come to think of it in the bigger picture.
#7. Desperation
A lot of internet marketers turn to social media for their respective marketing campaigns because they already know that these websites are the most visited by netizens. However, if you are not a professional internet marketer and you end up relying on social media in order to sell your products and services then that is already a sign of desperation. You should be smart enough to advertise your services and products in the right platform suitable for you. You cannot simply join a bandwagon just because it is the current trend. There is always a right way to make some money and it requires effort rather than just wasting your time away browsing some social media website.
Social media is not a bad thing at all because, in fact, it has forever changed the way how we approach the internet. The negativity (or positivity) is on how we use our social media resources to our advantage. If we end up hooked to social media for the wrong reasons then that needs to be addressed right away before your life could be put into a downward spiral just for overlooking the wrong usage of social media.
As experts say, procrastination is a part of human nature but if we tend to overdo it then it becomes a negative factor towards our lives. There is definitely nothing wrong with spending some time on social media sites as long as everything is done on a moderate level. If you end up spending most of your time in there instead of working on some other important matters then that goes to show that social media already had a negative impact on you and your lifestyle. If you want to end your social media procrastination then you need to act upon it now.
Images: ”Retro effect and toned image of a woman hand writing on a notebook. Handwritten quote Procrastination is the thief of time as inspirational concept image / Shutterstock.com“
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