Social Media
Imagine that you planned a lot of work to be done today but when you retrospect your day in the night, you are still behind your to-do list?
Or you have missed a sense of fulfillment within yourself?
If so, then stick to the next few paragraphs where you and I will find out a solution for this!
ਗੁਰ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਕਾ ਜੋ ਸਿਖੁ ਅਖਾਏ ਸੁ ਭਲਕੇ ਉਠਿ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਧਿਆਵੈ ॥
One who calls himself a Sikh of the Guru the True Guru shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord’s Name.
ਉਦਮੁ ਕਰੇ ਭਲਕੇ ਪਰਭਾਤੀ ਇਸਨਾਨੁ ਕਰੇ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਸਰਿ ਨਾਵੈ ॥
Upon arising early in the morning, he is to bathe and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar.
This is how a day of Gursikh should start according to the Gurbani.
But how it actually starts, going through Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, and whatnot.
According to the Huffington Post, “When you check your phone first thing in the morning, you run the risk of stimulating your mind into criticism and judgment: your emails, texts, and voicemails tell you what you have to respond to or manage that day. Your Facebook page has you compare yourself to other people’s lives and stimulates jealousy.
Our continual connection to social media makes us prone to new forms of viral emotional effects. These are not media designed for calm reflection. With their constant presence, we have less and less mental space to step back and thick. We are besieged by emotions and needless drama.
Social media has brought us near to the ones we care about, but at the same time brought us away from the present self.
Do you remember, when was the last time you watched a beautiful sunset, without uploading boasting about it on your social media? Me neither.
And when was the last time you saw your friends going on a trip, or attending a party which you could not and felt depressive?
When was the last time you wanted to pursue a new hobby or wanted to be more productive but was not able to do that because “Where do I have the time for this?”
Well, if it did happen to you then you are not alone.
Social media provides us with more likes and praises in minutes that we could ever get in our family or work.
ਅਖੀ ਵੇਖਿ ਨ ਰਜੀਆ ਬਹੁ ਰੰਗ ਤਮਾਸੇ।
The eyes are not satisfied with beholding sights and exhibitions;
ਉਸਤਤਿ ਨਿੰਦਾ ਕੰਨਿ ਸੁਣਿ ਰੋਵਣਿ ਤੈ ਹਾਸੇ।
The ears are not satisfied with hearing praise or blame, mourning or rejoicing;
It turns out that every habit starts with a psychological pattern called a “habit loop” which is a three-part process. First, there’s a “cue”, then there is “routine” and the final one is “reward”
You are feeling bored (CUE), you pick up your phone and you upload a pic (ROUTINE), you get likes, dopamine (which is the hormone of reward or happiness, etc) shoots up, you get the attention of people and their validation (REWARD), and you continue on repeating it.
Tired of hearing the problems!
Let’s talk about the solution here, and with Maharaj kirpa, we will find out one!
The first step is to become aware that we do have a problem. By problem, we mean that we should acknowledge that we are using more than required time on social media and it is affecting our time, our career, and our relationships.
One way of doing it to have a paper and pen handy with you throughout the day and after some period of time, let’s say after every 60 min, write down on the paper whatever you are doing, be it browsing social media, talking to a client, being in a meeting, etc., just write it down there. And at the end of the day go through your list. You will be able to understand the management of your time. Here’s an example.
Now we know where our time is going!
We have to keep in our mind that Social Media can be used for our benefit our, there are many businesses created by the help of social media, there are skills and million and million of videos on Youtube which one can watch to grow their knowledge in the Panth.
As a very renowned saint in Sikhism has given a very good insight in improving our habits. It goes like this, divide your paper into two columns. On one side write down the bad habits you have and on the other side write down the good ones. And as you become aware of your bad habits, try to abstain from them and focus on increasing your good habits.
One more way is that we can replace our social media habits with an interesting habit stacking.
We could add a habit which we want to develop with the current habits we have.
After/Before [Current Habit], I will [new habit].
After logging out of my Instagram, I will listen to Kirtan.
After I pour my cup of coffee each morning, I will meditate for one minute.
It does take time initially, it is not easy to change habits which we have built over a large period of time, but we have to start somewhere. We can start today only.
As the Chinese proverb goes “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
ਭਾਈ ਰੇ ਇਸੁ ਮਨ ਕਉ ਸਮਝਾਇ ॥
O Siblings of Destiny, instruct your minds in this way.
ਏ ਮਨ ਆਲਸੁ ਕਿਆ ਕਰਹਿ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਧਿਆਇ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
O mind, why are you so lazy? Become Gurmukh, and meditate on the Naam. ||1||Pause||
Every technique or the aspect talked above will help you to abstain from social media for days or weeks, and you need to be sure from time to time that you don’t fall into the trap of social media again. But the final technique or the tool, which is the permanent solution to this is “ARDAAS”, the most important aspect and the most powerful one, the gift of our Guru Sahibs to his beloved Sikhs, we should do Ardaas to Guru Sahib that he provide us power and vision to stay away from shallow work (like social media) and help us to spend our time more productively.
ਅਰਦਾਸਿ ਕਰੀ ਗੁਰ ਪੂਰੇ ਆਗੈ ਰਖਿ ਲੇਵਹੁ ਦੇਹੁ ਵਡਾਈ ਰਾਮ ॥
I offer my prayer to the Perfect Guru: please save me, and bless me with Your glorious greatness.
By Narinder Singh
References:
- https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180104-is-social-media-bad-for-you-the-evidence-and-the-unknowns
- https://jamesclear.com/
- https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/a-good-nights-sleep-advice-to-take-to-heart
- https://charlesduhigg.com/how-habits-work/
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/joy-and-pain/201504/the-best-time-plant-tree-was-20-years-ago-no-matter
Avneet Kaur
Beautifully explained……Thanks Waheguru ….and Congrats to the whole team for such wonderful efforts .