Life is busy. We spend so long trying to manage our time that it’s nice to take a step back to relax. But the way we handle our time is critical to living. We all live in a society where finding the best use of our time is challenging. With the rise of technology, it only adds to the issue. I, personally, have been trying to limit my use of media, and focus on other hobbies like painting and reading. But it is challenging, since I use my phone everyday that it is so easy to just sit back and look at what the media has to offer. What can we do about managing our time with social media? Well, I have some possible solutions that can help. Let’s rewind for a second and look. 

Expand Our Attention Spans

Imagine looking at a piece of artwork. It can be anything. A painting, a photo, a poster, a movie scene, anything. What do you notice? What stands out? What’s the best part or worst part? What I just described to you is a concept made by the New York Times, known as the New York Times: Test your Focus challenge. The goal is to look at a piece of art for 10 minutes without being interpreted or distracted by your surroundings. You are allowed to quit at any time. You might think it’s easy, just looking at a painting but it’s quite challenging doing it for 10 minutes without being distracted by our phones. The challenge uses Nocturne in Blue and Silver by James Whistler. It pictures an industrial section along the Thames River in England. 

After focusing for 10 minutes, you start to notice a lot more. When I took the test, I lasted all 10 minutes. What I noticed throughout shocked me. At first, I fixated on the larger details, like the colors, the texture, and the tone of the piece. After the 5-minute mark, I noticed even smaller details, like plants in the corner, the small light reflections on the water, and the paint on the edges slowly fading and cracking. By focusing our attention for so long, we can step back and appreciate what is in front of us, rather than be distracted by social media. The challenge also helps refine our attention spans. Many people struggle with short attention spans. It makes us what to reach that 10 minute goal, to add onto how long we can keep our attention for. By capturing people’s attention, the New York Times also challenges us to see how our attention is prioritized. I know my attention must be focused on what is important. Being able to know what needs my attention on social media and in everyday living makes this challenge a good practice to help better our attention.

Set Limits Between Free Time and Screen Time

Our attention spans are very finicky, and it can be hard to keep our attention. Technology, especially social media, benefits from this. Our phones and computers have become a necessity to the point where I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have some form of technology. It’s common practice to look at our tech when people are bored or free. When I have free time, it’s what I normally do to pass time. The constant consumption of endless media every day can be staggering to think about. 

Another man named Ben Grosser noticed this constant stream of media. He started a site called Stuck in a Scroll, which shows his time spent on the social media app TikTok. On the site, it tells Grosser how long he has spent currently scrolling on the platform. When this article was written, the site stated that he had spent 236 hours scrolling on TikTok since July 1st. It is one thing to be aware that we spend a long time on our phones, but what makes Grosser stand out is his publicity. Seeing how long we can spend mindlessly looking at content, makes you think of healthier ways of cutting down content. I remember feeling so shocked when looking at the time spent. Assuming he spent the same amount on TikTok every day, that’s around 3.87 hours of content per day. There are so many things you can do in that time that it makes you wonder what else we can do with our time.

Understanding Multitasking vs Soul Focus When Using Social Media

Social media has a way of capturing our attention. As stated before, it is common practice to pay attention to our phones. But what we don’t realize is that we are actually multitasking as a result, and it can be damaging. It is discussed in Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari, a book where he discusses why our attention can be so easily distracted, and how to repair it. I started reading to better understand how our time is managed with social media.

In Chapter 1, Hari studies and interviews cases of multitasking and switching tasks when using our phones. His findings explain that our phones are essentially another form of multitasking that can be taxing because our brains are trying to focus on more than one thing at the same time rather than focusing on one task at a time. His point is proven when he talks to cognitive neuroscientist Dr. David Strayer about phone multitasking, how trying to multitask on their phones with driving leads to mistakes similar to drunk people (pg. 41). He concludes that “if you want to do things well, focus carefully on one thing at a time”(pg. 42) By having our focus on one thing at a time, we manage our time easier than all at once.

There is also an article by VeryWellMind called Single-Tasking for Productivity and Stress Management which states that while multitasking can be helpful, universally, single focus is more productive when it comes to efficiency and time (par. 2-3). While it may seem annoying to do one task at a time, I know from experience that it is helpful. Having to manage everything all at once feels overwhelming to me. Instead of having no time to get things done, I can focus on one goal at a time. This way, my full attention is brought to each thing I do.

Conclusion

Learning these new ways to help manage our time is extremely important to me. I used to not be the best at prioritizing my time well, but these new ideas made me realize how I can continue to improve. I have started putting my phone on silent when I work, going for walks more often, and managing my tasks better so I don’t get overwhelmed. Our time is valuable. If I can provide a good example then I hope others will try as well. Thank you for reading!