In this technological age, most things that happen are now filmed, photographed, liked and shared on social media. There are new lines of research now indicating the impact of social media on mental health and in the DSM-5, the diagnostic statistical manual for psychiatric illnesses, there is a new diagnosis for internet addiction.
There is no doubt that social media, in it’s attempts to add to our lives, simultaneously adds to feelings of isolation, depression and low self-worth. Social media, such as facebook, instagram, snapchat, twitter etc, creates an environment where one’s “real” life is compared to glossy snap shots and glamorised projections of individuals, who behind the camera are living very different realities.
There are interviews, with the co-creator and founders of Facebook, who admit and deeply regret the way they designed facebook. They have openly confessed that they have purposely created an addictive tool, which has been socially deconstructive. Due to this, they no longer use it themselves.
One co-creator explained that the aspect of likes and dislikes were a purposeful tool in creating user engagement and in effect creating addiction. How is this so? Because likes and followings give oneself the psychological feeling of being valued and we gain attention. This hits our dopamine receptors in the brain; the “feel good factor”, exactly how a drug acts within the brain. And as addiction goes, to get that feeling again, you must engage in the act again, maintaining the addictive cycle.
So how does this effect devotees? Well, it effects us as much as it does anybody else, because we all have a mind, but perhaps the consequences are more damaging, if one truly values their spiritual life.
With anything that is distracting us in this world, we need to understand the reasons why we engage in it. Ultimately it gives us some temporary relief from the pains we experience in life.
As devotees, if we do want the goal of our spiritual life to be reawakening the connection with our true best friend Krishna, then we really need to be aware of the pitfalls we may fall into. Social media is one of them.
Here are some specific points to consider on the impact of social media on us:
Maya’s Tool
If we understand that maya is illusion, which covers our consciousness, taking us away from serving the Lord, then we can see that social media fits very well into this. Its addictive design, the promotion of the self (the body) through selfie taking, the illusion it helps to create about other people’s “well-formed” attractive lives, all distract us from connecting to ourselves, others and God.
This bombardment of false representations of people’s lives, subtly creates in the viewer a sense of desirability and hankering. In Krishna Consciousness, the basic principle of thinking, feeling and willing are explained. When our minds become in contact with the world through our senses (sense objects), it contemplates it (thinking), attaches to it (feeling) and then desires it (willing).
When we desire something outside of ourselves, the concurrent internal emotion is lamentation of not having the desired object. This emotional duality creates these low moods, feelings of lacking and a search to fulfil that inadequacy through gaining the desired object. And in the case of social media, the desired objects are likes, “friends”, followers and fame. In this way we get enraptured in the material world. This is Maya.
It’ll be good to ask yourself the question; is my use of social media taking away from my spiritual life or adding to it?
Service Tinged With Motivation.
Devotees may begin to advertise their service and gain attention, likes and following. If we are not clear in our intention, this addictive tool that conditions us to find value through attention from others, can on a subtle level begin to deter our mind away from the lotus feet of Krishna; the true aim for service and make us attracted to fame, adoration and followers.
If we want to move to the stages of pure devotion; untinged by these things, we need to be mindful of what consciousness we do our service in and what we really want. If you advertise your service, it may be good to check with yourself your intention and the impact of sharing it on your consciousness.
Selfie – Self and Body Obsessed.
Research suggests that 6 out of 10 posts on Social media are selfies. So 6 times out of 10 things you see are likely to be of someone else’s face. If we think about what selfie is, it is the focusing of attention on the self, more specifically one’s own body. When we are attracted to other bodies, it is considered heterosexism, having homosexual or bi-sexual attraction etc. The basis of these attractions (based on the body) is sex attraction. Therefore, in the most gross sense, selfies would be considered the attraction of the self, a term called “auto-eroticism”. And we can see more and more, how people are becoming obsessed with their own body.
This kind of self-body promotion or self focus, is regressive not only psychologically and socially as it takes away from connecting to others, but it is most definitely regressive spiritually, by the attention to the gross material body. Now you may not take selfies yourself, however by using social media often, you will be exposing yourself to others who have this consciousness, which will influence you, by association.
In our spiritual life, we want to grow in our attraction to Krishna, we want to investment in deepening the relationships with others spiritually and increasing our realisation of the self as the soul and not the body.
I remember when I studied Bhakti Sastri years ago, one of my teachers would tell us to look into the mirror daily and repeat “I am not this body, I am not this body, I am not this body”. As simple or fanatical as it sounds, it was a good exercise in helping me to let go of the attention on my body and it reminded me of what I should really value.
“Time I Am”
Again this comes back to the addictive quality of social media. Without realising it, one click can lead to 1 hour’s worth of time being taken away from many other things you could be doing. Be that chanting, reading, having a deep and genuine connection with a friend, or sharpening your skills and talents for Krishna’s service. Krishna is time and social media is definitely a big stealer of it!
So ask yourself…are you addicted? How much of your time is being stolen?
Ok, so, social media does have some benefits, such as being able to connect to our whole international family! Other benefits are sharing information, such as this article, researching and having discussions with others. My point is to be mindful of it’s negative impacts on you.
It is important that we all go at our own pace when making decisions to decrease unhealthy aspects of our lives, but it should be done voluntarily, preferably without too much guilt and with true understanding.
Six Useful Tips
So here are some helpful tips and suggestions to add to your life so you use social media (if you choose to) and it doesn’t use you!
1. Engage in your real life more by deepening real life relationships and you will find true joy. This will also decrease the addictive habits of social media.
2. Engage in strong spiritual practice. This will develop your self-control in general and help you develop taste for spiritual activities, decreasing the need for other habits.
3. Be focused on your service and purpose in life and allow this to direct your mind and use of time.
4. Find your worthiness from your purpose, those who care about you and your relationship with Krishna, not from likes, followers and fame.
5. Use it minimally, for the beneficial purposes and maybe at set times.
6. Be conscious of your intention when posting about your services. It is good to have a watchful part of the mind that monitors your intentions and actions. Is it for fame? Is is for a sense of self-worthiness? Or is it to solely inspire others? You will know which one it is,?with how you feel when you get less attention and likes.
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