Are you telling yourself it’s just a distraction, or actually is it more likely (for many of us) to be an addiction?

What am I talking about?

Technology of course…and more specifically social media.

Now I would describe myself as someone who is ‘active’ on social media and someone who enjoys watching the odd episode on Netflix.

I post, share, like and comment whilst choosing who and when to interact with a discussion.

On occasion(s) I can also be guilty of merely looking; especially in between meetings or calls with clients.

I mean who doesn’t right? It’s a distraction and not an addiction…or so I tell myself!

Having just finished Irresistible by Adam Alter it’s left me pondering more than ever where we choose to focus our time and more importantly what’s influencing us.

Every now and again I take a month out from social media to focus solely on new projects. After a couple of days of not checking, I quickly forget about social media and get on with the focus of being creative.

Do I miss it? Maybe once or twice a day if I see my partner surfing social media or I’m researching and see the different social media icons on other peoples’ websites. I made a decision nearly 2 years ago to switch off social media notifications as I was the subject of some abuse and ranting on Twitter.  I moved on quickly from the FOMO (fear of missing out) once I’d had to block several people.

I know that I achieve more when I’m not allowing myself to be distracted. Which in turn I suspect is the same for most other people.

With that in mind and with the desire to achieve more with my own perfect imbalance I made a decision to stop allowing myself to be distracted.

At the end of February I decided to remove my social media apps from my phone for the very first time. My reasoning being that I’m working on creating a brand new Podcast and didn’t want the distraction.

Now, notice my choice of language in this post. I’m clearly more comfortable with distraction.

Having worked with people with various addictions in the past, they tell me the first few days are the hardest. That’s definitely true for me.

I’m nearly 2 weeks in and I find myself thinking about Adam Alter’s book each day. Even to the point where I’m discussing it with my partner and now sharing it with you.

Right now I’m enjoying the freedom and space to write, create and develop new stuff whilst keeping an open mind about social media in the future.

I would definitely encourage you to read Irresistible and commit to doing one thing differently as a result.

The biggest win for me by far is having more conversations with the important people in my life, who sadly sometimes have been neglected through my desire to want to check social media.

Sounds daft when you put it like that…

Until next time.

Thanks for reading.

Jeff

Other posts and stuff that we are doing at Ignite can be found here

This week’s podcast suggestion comes from Supporting Champions

Featured image by Maliha Mannan

Creativity image by Angelo Pantazis