FROM MINDLESS BINGE TO MINDFULNESS

 

“Social media has become a self-esteem management tool 

and everyone is building their brand.

But, it’s not authentic; it’s hollow.”

Emily Leary, blogger and Social Media consultant

 

I came across the above quote from Emily, a blogger like me (Correction: I am a blogger like her!)… but, unlike her, I am not a Social Media consultant…

But, yes, what madam Emily says is one-hundred percent true… My relentless blogging finds its roots in my deep desire to manage my own self-esteem. I feel very, very good when I express in my daily blogs. But, does it end there?

Mostly, it doesn’t. Invariably, the desire to promote myself – as a brand – takes over. No matter how much I deny it in public, there is this desire, this desperation to spread my wings, my reach – go viral, become a sensation…

Yes, what counts, after some time - on being visible as a social media content creator - are pure numbers… subscribers, viewership, likes, comments, shares etc. But, that’s not how it all begins… It begins with a genuine need to feel good about ourselves- feel productive, resourceful, confident. But, then, as I said, the ambition to ‘sell our brands’ take over…

Well, that’s when you are a content creator on social media platforms  - FB, Insta, Blogs Vlogs, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and every other platform…

Let me see from the point of view of a consumer – the majority out there who just get addicted to consuming these contents… Is this addiction less harmful compared to the bad-old addictions such as drinking, smoking, substance abuse etc.?

“Social Media is not a harmless snack; it’s a mindless binge,” Says Kenneth P. Green, a researcher and advocate. One cannot simplify this analogy of a harmless snack and a mindless binge!

Today, I, as a parent, have lost my moral right to tell my young son to cut down on this social media binge. Similarly, as a husband, I have no courage to do the same thing to my wife… Because, I know they will react: “Look, who is advising us!”

There is this old story, most of us were told in schools…

A woman, who was an ardent follower of Gandhiji, once, approached him with one of her concerns… Her little son was addicted to eating jaggery and she wanted Bapu to free her little one from the addiction…

Bapu asked the woman to see him after one month. When the woman appeared after one month, Bapu, asked her to see him after two weeks… After two weeks, Bapu asked the woman to see him after a week…

All this time, the woman kept wondering as to why was Bapu taking so much time. But, being a faithful follower, she simply obeyed…

Finally, Bapu wanted another two days. When the woman turned up with her son, the Mahatma gently, and with lots of warmth, advised the little fellow, “Beta, eating too much jaggery is harmful… Please stop it.”

The woman couldn’t stop herself from asking the Mahatma this: “But, Bapu, you could have done this a month ago… Why did you call us again, and again?”

Bapu, with his toothless smile, said this to the woman: “It took me nearly a month to get over my own addiction to jaggery before I could help your little son.”

Frankly, when parents complain to me about their young ones’ addiction to the binge on their phones – which runs through days and nights – and when they want me to advise their young ones to end this binge, this addiction… Bapu’s toothless smile comes before me…

Who should end the binge first – the young addicts, or their teachers or parents?

Mindfulness! We know what it is and how important it is… We only need to find ways to ‘apply’ it…

‘I’ need to find ways to apply it, rather.

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: Pixabay

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