You're on Social Media, Even When You're Not
Social media is a costly background process
There is one danger of social media that troubles me the most. Social media changes the way we think. There are many ways that this happens. In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman talks about the epistemology of media. A medium is more than a conduit. Media shapes the message and how we interpret it. In The Shallows, Nicholas Carr points us to the neuroplasticity of our brains. Our digital life essentially rewires our brain to use “shallow” thinking. In short, social media is not neutral. It is transformative.1
This new way of thinking has implications, even when we’re offline. There are times when I’m seeing something beautiful like a sunset, the ocean, or even a moment with my child, and my mind filters that moment through what I’ll call the “lens of content.” I begin to wonder what other people on the internet might think about it (me). I feel compelled to take a photo that is sharable, not just memorable. Sometimes this thought is very subtle and I can push past it. But either way, this moment, which would have otherwise been beautiful, loses some of its purity. It changes from something transcendent to something short-sighted and self-serving.
Jonathan Haidt, in The Anxious Generation, shares an experiment he did with his undergraduate class at NYU. He told his students to “take a walk, slowly, anywhere outside, during which they must not take out their phones.”2 He records that their written reflections were among the most beautiful he’s seen in his entire career as a professor. One student continued this experiment beyond Haidt’s requirement for the class and recorded the following:
“It felt as if the experience of beauty and awe made me more generous and drawn into the present. The petty concerns of the past suddenly felt dull, and to worry about the future felt unnecessary because of how secure and calm I felt now.”3
The truth is, when we’re steeped in digital media, it still runs in the background of our minds. Even when the application is “closed” on our phones, the application’s epistemology, addictive reward system, and brain rewiring are all still present in our bodies. Our enjoyable moments get polluted. We forsake the common grace of God’s awesome creation, all for the potential of a thumbs up 👍.
The only way I’ve found out of this trap is to substantially reduce exposure. Deleting apps like Instagram from my phone, removes the pathway that my brain quickly grows accustom too. There’s also a practice of enjoyment. Taking time to actually enjoy a moment for its own sake. And even doing the unthinkable, not taking a photo. We don’t only need to get rid of old, bad practices. We also need new, good ones.4
Have you experienced this? Tell us about it.
Recommended + Referenced Books:
The Shallows by
From the Garden to the City by John Dyer
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
This is true of technology in general. See John Dyer, From the Garden to the City (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2022).
Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation (New York: Penguin, 2024), 213.
Ibid., 213–214.
James K. A. Smith, You Are What You Love (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2016).
Full disclosure, this post has affiliate links in case you want to buy one of the mentioned books. Don’t worry, it won’t make me rich and jaded.
Very salient, thank you. No wonder everyone's mental/emotional health was better before cell phones and apps. I keep downloading and then deleting the Substack app. :) Thanks for the book recommendations!