Episode 80

full
Published on:

5th Mar 2024

Social Media Addiction

Using social media can offer various benefits such as connectivity with friends and families, sharing information, networking, marketing, community building, creativity and self-expression, educational resources, activism, and entertainment. But it also comes with several drawbacks such as addiction and time consumption, negative impact on mental health, cyberbullying and harassment, privacy concerns, misinformation and fake news, comparison and envy, sleep disturbance, physical health issues, and impact on relationships.

It's essential for users to be aware of these drawbacks and practice mindfulness, moderation, and digital hygiene when using social media to mitigate their negative effects.

In this week's TechTalk, Amit and Rinat talk about social media addiction, their own struggles with it, some possible solutions and a lot more!

Reference URLs -

01. Social Media Addiction - https://socialmediavictims.org/social-media-addiction/

02. Social media addiction - https://www.ukat.co.uk/addiction/behavioural/social-media/

Transcript
Rinat Malik:

Hi everyone.

Rinat Malik:

Welcome to another episode of Tech Talk, a podcast where Amit

Rinat Malik:

and I talk about all things tech.

Rinat Malik:

We don't just talk about tech, we also talk about our society, culture and

Rinat Malik:

how the tech affects everything else.

Rinat Malik:

So today we're gonna talk about social media addiction, and this

Rinat Malik:

is a scenario that has come about because of the advancement of tech.

Rinat Malik:

we've

Rinat Malik:

become more and more dependent on tech, and it has started

Rinat Malik:

taking a lot of our attention.

Rinat Malik:

this is a very fitting topic for us to talk about And on top of that,

Rinat Malik:

I am a, if I wanna say victim, I am a victim of it myself, and

Rinat Malik:

we'll find out about Amit as well.

Rinat Malik:

So, yeah, very.

Rinat Malik:

Excited to talk about social media addiction today.

Rinat Malik:

hopefully you guys enjoy it.

Rinat Malik:

So, Amit, what's your thought on, social media addiction?

Amit Sarkar:

I think, I, I think, yeah, it's, it's a very relevant

Amit Sarkar:

topic and we all have been facing with this issue lately, especially

Amit Sarkar:

with the advent of so many, apps that are so easily available on our phone.

Amit Sarkar:

But I think just to break it down, for people who don't know what social media

Amit Sarkar:

is, so when we talk about media, media could be an audio file, video, an image.

Amit Sarkar:

So that's, we define as media.

Amit Sarkar:

And social is anything where you are meeting a lot of people.

Amit Sarkar:

So, on an app, especially when you are meeting a lot of people or where

Amit Sarkar:

you can connect with other people, strangers, influencers, companies,

Amit Sarkar:

so that's, what we call social.

Amit Sarkar:

So it's no longer, just you and your, day-to-Day happenings, but

Amit Sarkar:

it's now connected with others and what they're doing and, how they

Amit Sarkar:

are progressing in their life.

Amit Sarkar:

So that's what I, define by, social media.

Amit Sarkar:

And when we talk about addiction, the addiction is basically, how much time

Amit Sarkar:

we are spending on these apps why are we spending so much time on these apps

Amit Sarkar:

why is it relevant to talk about it now?

Amit Sarkar:

So I think, it's a, it's a good topic to discuss.

Rinat Malik:

Absolutely.

Rinat Malik:

you just, made me think of something.

Rinat Malik:

you've mentioned you, you've dissected the term social and

Rinat Malik:

media and, we understand that now.

Rinat Malik:

But I also want to talk about what are the other media?

Rinat Malik:

So traditional media is the opposing side of social media.

Rinat Malik:

So, for those of you who were, millennials who knows about other media and how

Rinat Malik:

prevalent they were when growing up.

Rinat Malik:

So, when we talk about social media the opposing side is traditional media,

Rinat Malik:

and that is radio, television, etc.

Rinat Malik:

when we were growing up, traditional media or tv, radio took a major

Rinat Malik:

part of our entertainment.

Rinat Malik:

And I remember I.

Rinat Malik:

coming back from school, I had homeworks to do, but there was one TV show that

Rinat Malik:

was, everyone in our family gonna watch it together so I had to finish all my

Rinat Malik:

homework by 9:00 PM because 9:00 PM is when, when that TV show started.

Rinat Malik:

So everything will be off and all of the family will come together in the living

Rinat Malik:

room and watch the watch that show Now.

Rinat Malik:

That was quite a different scenario than where we are now with the advent of

Rinat Malik:

social media and the medium that we use to consume this, social media content.

Rinat Malik:

But yeah, no.

Rinat Malik:

Now just differentiating between what other media are there.

Rinat Malik:

We're talking about social media today, but the other ones are traditional

Rinat Malik:

media like radio, television, which has a different way of consuming

Rinat Malik:

and can be consumed, not necessarily individually, but also together, which

Rinat Malik:

is a little bit, different when we talk about, the, the social media,

Rinat Malik:

consumption that we do in our phones.

Rinat Malik:

so yeah, that's another perspective on the scenario.

Rinat Malik:

And, when you said addiction, you can define addiction in many ways, but one of

Rinat Malik:

the, the common criteria of all kinds of addiction is that you cannot control it.

Rinat Malik:

So you know it's bad for you, but yet somehow you still end up doing it.

Rinat Malik:

it's the same with smoking and other kinds of addiction as well.

Rinat Malik:

It's not that you don't know that it's bad for you, but you still can't help it.

Rinat Malik:

the cognitive dissonance between your brain, knowing that what's good or bad,

Rinat Malik:

but actually in, when it comes to taking action, unable to follow what, you

Rinat Malik:

know, in your consciousness to be the right thing to do or wrong thing that

Rinat Malik:

I, I, that's how I think of addiction and this is certainly that from my

Rinat Malik:

personal experience and I would like to hear, experiences from the audience.

Rinat Malik:

But yeah, that's, that's, that's how I would define.

Amit Sarkar:

I think, you've covered, a very good, topic, I think when you covered

Amit Sarkar:

about, traditional media because Yes, we, that's how we used to consume, media in

Amit Sarkar:

the olden times in eighties and nineties.

Amit Sarkar:

and while we were growing up, and I think print media was also very, important.

Amit Sarkar:

Yes.

Amit Sarkar:

So I when I talked about media, I just mentioned audio, video and,

Amit Sarkar:

images, but there is also text.

Amit Sarkar:

Text is also a a type of medium through which you convey information

Amit Sarkar:

and, In the traditional, form would be newspaper or magazines, and the

Amit Sarkar:

current form would be sending messages.

Amit Sarkar:

So, so there are a lot of these apps now, and we are, using it on a

Amit Sarkar:

regular basis to connect with people.

Amit Sarkar:

and it's, it's a good, you mentioned, but addiction, it's something that

Amit Sarkar:

you cannot control, but, why is it an addiction and, what are the

Amit Sarkar:

consequences of that addiction?

Amit Sarkar:

And one of the main consequences is, your time is spent on that.

Amit Sarkar:

Thing rather than doing something else, which, loss of productivity, which, yes,

Amit Sarkar:

it, it could be loss of productivity or ignoring your family, ignoring

Amit Sarkar:

your friends, ignoring your work.

Amit Sarkar:

the side effects of addiction is, can take place, in many forms.

Amit Sarkar:

And that's why I think it's important to talk about it because

Amit Sarkar:

sometimes we, we don't know that we are addicted to something, until,

Amit Sarkar:

unless we are deprived of it.

Amit Sarkar:

So once we get deprived of it, then we realize, oh man, I can't live without it.

Amit Sarkar:

I, I, I need it.

Amit Sarkar:

And, I think that's, I think that's one of the ways to figure out

Amit Sarkar:

whether you're addicted or not.

Rinat Malik:

Yes, absolutely.

Rinat Malik:

And, this is where I, I I wanna share, my personal experience with you guys

Rinat Malik:

So, I used to be a.

Rinat Malik:

Chronic smoker of cigarettes and, so I know addiction in the

Rinat Malik:

traditional form if you'd like.

Rinat Malik:

And, no matter how much I knew, admitted and acknowledged that it's

Rinat Malik:

bad for me, bad for my health and future, I still wasn't able to stop it.

Rinat Malik:

When the internet and the whole tech advancement or the

Rinat Malik:

information age kind kind of started off, maybe 15, 20 years ago.

Rinat Malik:

there were new games coming up.

Rinat Malik:

Gaming was a new thing, as well as other ways of consuming content

Rinat Malik:

like, MySpace, Hi-Five, Orkut, and then eventually Facebook, etc.

Rinat Malik:

And people were spending a lot of time on, on these.

Rinat Malik:

ways of entertaining gaming as well as social media.

Rinat Malik:

Now, there were news, in the newspaper and other places that

Rinat Malik:

this is becoming an addiction.

Rinat Malik:

This is bad.

Rinat Malik:

And I, I think eventually there was, a, a, a person who actually unalived

Rinat Malik:

by, after playing thirty-one or 40 hours of video games continuously.

Rinat Malik:

So when I first heard about it I thought, come on, that's not what an addiction is.

Rinat Malik:

This is just media or traditional media trying to label something as dangerous,

Rinat Malik:

something that they don't understand because it's new technology, but us

Rinat Malik:

teenagers, when we were we know what's going on and it's not an addiction at all.

Rinat Malik:

that, that has been my, perspective towards, social media and gaming

Rinat Malik:

for, for a very long time because.

Rinat Malik:

It doesn't fit with the rest of the other things that we think as addictive, like

Rinat Malik:

drugs, smoking and things like that.

Rinat Malik:

So it's, it's totally different kind of thing.

Rinat Malik:

So I never kind of took it seriously because I thought, okay, this is,

Rinat Malik:

this is a totally different thing.

Rinat Malik:

People who doesn't do it don't understand that it's, it's not, it's not, it

Rinat Malik:

can't be addiction because it's, it's not a, a any substance that's

Rinat Malik:

going inside your body and whatever.

Rinat Malik:

So I, I completely dismissed this whole scenario until, and I don't wanna talk

Rinat Malik:

too negatively about tick tock, but until tick tock before that I, I had spent good

Rinat Malik:

amount of times on Instagram and Facebook an hour or two, which already felt

Rinat Malik:

like quite significant part of my day.

Rinat Malik:

But then when TikTok came about, I have found myself spending

Rinat Malik:

six or eight hours continuously.

Rinat Malik:

That's like a full-time job.

Rinat Malik:

I mean, that, that's, that can't be normal.

Rinat Malik:

And once I've done that a number of times, and this happened, you just

Rinat Malik:

went on to a, like a hole of scrolling and scrolling continuously, endlessly.

Rinat Malik:

And then I re-examined myself on how I spent the, these, these times

Rinat Malik:

in, many days in, in the past month.

Rinat Malik:

Then it became clear that this, this is not just.

Rinat Malik:

An app in my phone or the, the next level of technological advancement.

Rinat Malik:

But this is actually affecting my judgment and my decision making because I knew

Rinat Malik:

at the time when I was scrolling that this, I should stop now or I should have

Rinat Malik:

stopped earlier, but I am, continuing to do so, continuing to, be engaged and not

Rinat Malik:

stopping while knowing that I should stop.

Rinat Malik:

I'm not stopping.

Rinat Malik:

And yeah, sometimes in life you, it, even that moment does happen.

Rinat Malik:

Like even for example, if you're having a good time with your friends

Rinat Malik:

hanging out, in a physical space and you think that, yeah, I should really

Rinat Malik:

go home and, do the house chores, but you don't, that's one thing.

Rinat Malik:

But then.

Rinat Malik:

When you're doing watching TikTok and do it thinking that I should stop for

Rinat Malik:

six hours and then you continue to still watch for six hours until your body

Rinat Malik:

can't handle anymore and you fall asleep.

Rinat Malik:

That's a level of lack of control, which can actually be classed as addiction

Rinat Malik:

because for first 15 years of, consuming content, I did not wanna admit or agree

Rinat Malik:

and to a degree, I think I was correct that okay, those are not addictions.

Rinat Malik:

The technology has advanced to, in order to get your, attention, it has

Rinat Malik:

advanced to a degree that you just cannot control a lot of the times.

Rinat Malik:

And that I, I just have no other way logically to avoid acknowledging

Rinat Malik:

that it is an addiction.

Rinat Malik:

But yeah, so that's my experience in terms of how to agree and

Rinat Malik:

admit that it was an addiction.

Amit Sarkar:

Interesting.

Amit Sarkar:

I think.

Amit Sarkar:

Yes.

Amit Sarkar:

we have talked about your TikTok, Marathons sessions.

Amit Sarkar:

so yeah, I mean, for me, I think, what I have noticed for myself is

Amit Sarkar:

that, when, Orkut came, it was, still, I mean, everyone used it.

Amit Sarkar:

I was in college and, we used it to connect to people

Amit Sarkar:

and we used to chat on that.

Amit Sarkar:

And then Facebook came, initially Facebook had a lot of games, so I

Amit Sarkar:

was playing a lot of games on that.

Amit Sarkar:

These, movie quizzes and other things.

Amit Sarkar:

So I, I remember doing that.

Amit Sarkar:

And then Facebook became a news feed, so you could look at, what others were

Amit Sarkar:

sharing so you could get the news.

Amit Sarkar:

So rather than reading a newspaper, you were getting news from, people.

Amit Sarkar:

And these were random websites.

Amit Sarkar:

So internet is so vast and sometimes you don't know what is out there.

Amit Sarkar:

So people, based on their interest, they explore new subjects and based

Amit Sarkar:

on that, they post new articles.

Amit Sarkar:

So I used to absorb that on Facebook and my addiction started,

Amit Sarkar:

I mean, I wouldn't say it's, I mean, maybe it's an addiction, so.

Amit Sarkar:

My thing is I have to scroll through everything, till the, most till

Amit Sarkar:

the last update that I've, seen.

Amit Sarkar:

So every day I used to scroll through the whole feed till the day before,

Amit Sarkar:

I mean until yesterday's feed.

Amit Sarkar:

And that way I used to keep myself up to date with everything.

Amit Sarkar:

And then I used to try to comment on everything, and then

Amit Sarkar:

I used to read all the articles.

Amit Sarkar:

So I think I'm, I'm an information like, I absorb a lot of information, but I don't

Amit Sarkar:

do a lot of, things with that information.

Amit Sarkar:

So, so it started with that.

Amit Sarkar:

And then, YouTube came.

Amit Sarkar:

I am, I'm a huge YouTube addict.

Amit Sarkar:

my wife can vouch for that.

Amit Sarkar:

I love watching videos on YouTube.

Amit Sarkar:

people watch, short videos on TikTok.

Amit Sarkar:

You watch short form content.

Amit Sarkar:

I watch long form content.

Amit Sarkar:

I can watch like hours and hours of like, debates and seminars

Amit Sarkar:

and sessions and whatnot.

Amit Sarkar:

And I, I watch on all sorts of topics and I tell my wife

Amit Sarkar:

that I'm, I'm learning things.

Amit Sarkar:

And my wife is like, no, you're not learning things.

Amit Sarkar:

You're just wasting your time because whatever you learn, you're not applying.

Amit Sarkar:

Right?

Amit Sarkar:

So you're, you're actually not learning.

Amit Sarkar:

It's only in the application that you learn.

Amit Sarkar:

And then recently I've noticed this, I've become an Instagram addict.

Amit Sarkar:

I use, I started using Instagram when I went for traveling to South America.

Amit Sarkar:

And we used to follow a lot of travelers and we used to post, me and my wife,

Amit Sarkar:

we both used to post on Instagram.

Amit Sarkar:

And from there the addiction started happening.

Amit Sarkar:

And then you randomly scroll, through things.

Amit Sarkar:

and Instagram has a good recommendation in engine.

Amit Sarkar:

So whatever you like it, starts, displaying things, based on your interest.

Amit Sarkar:

So it starts showing you, okay, these are the things you like.

Amit Sarkar:

So it starts showing you that, and then you become more addicted to it.

Amit Sarkar:

so it, started with that.

Amit Sarkar:

And then I think the most recent trend that I've seen is, I've started

Amit Sarkar:

playing a lot of chess on Lee chess.

Amit Sarkar:

So that's another, gaming app.

Amit Sarkar:

So a lot of people play these, Games, online or on the phone.

Amit Sarkar:

And I play chess and I don't, say it's, addiction 'cause I'm learning something.

Amit Sarkar:

I'm applying my brain.

Amit Sarkar:

So I don't call it an addiction, but it is an addiction because whenever I'm having

Amit Sarkar:

dinner, I try to play chess or, whenever I'm traveling, I try to play chess.

Amit Sarkar:

So in my free time, I, I'm playing chess, so that's my

Amit Sarkar:

way to unwind myself or relax.

Amit Sarkar:

I'm not relaxing.

Amit Sarkar:

I'm just playing chess.

Amit Sarkar:

so yeah, that's my journey with social media, different types of

Amit Sarkar:

gaming, different types of apps.

Amit Sarkar:

So YouTube, Instagram, Facebook.

Amit Sarkar:

I've reduced a lot.

Amit Sarkar:

I've reduced a lot of Facebook.

Amit Sarkar:

I've started using Twitter and LinkedIn, but, I've, I've tried to

Amit Sarkar:

figure out like what I have I'm doing.

Amit Sarkar:

another, part I want to cover is, Technology news.

Amit Sarkar:

So I'm in the field of technology.

Amit Sarkar:

Rinat is also in the field of technology and we both read a lot of tech news.

Amit Sarkar:

So my, news comes from reading a lot of articles and I follow a lot of blogs.

Amit Sarkar:

And every day I try to, read the latest news, latest gadgets,

Amit Sarkar:

what's happening in the world of tech, and keep myself up to date.

Amit Sarkar:

And what I noticed is that I was, going through a lot of pages.

Amit Sarkar:

So I start with page one, then page two, page three, page four, page

Amit Sarkar:

five, click all, all the tabs, and then keep on endlessly, going through

Amit Sarkar:

all the pages over a period of time.

Amit Sarkar:

What I realized is I should restrict myself.

Amit Sarkar:

I'll only go till page five or till page 10.

Amit Sarkar:

Depending upon how many articles I cover, and that's it.

Amit Sarkar:

No matter what, how interesting the next pages are.

Amit Sarkar:

I will not go beyond page five or page 10.

Amit Sarkar:

So I have put a mental limit and I work with that.

Amit Sarkar:

So that's one way for me to tackle with that addiction.

Amit Sarkar:

With, chess, I've now limited to, only certain times when, when I

Amit Sarkar:

think, my time I'm, I'm free so I can utilize that time for playing chess.

Amit Sarkar:

apart from that, I don't play chess, Instagram.

Amit Sarkar:

I'm trying to reduce it.

Amit Sarkar:

I don't want to uninstall the app because then it doesn't solve the

Amit Sarkar:

problem because the moment you install it, you are back to the same situation.

Amit Sarkar:

So controlling an addiction is you are exposed to that addiction

Amit Sarkar:

and then you are able to control.

Amit Sarkar:

So I think that's, that's the.

Amit Sarkar:

That's one way to tackle it, but I'm not an expert on that.

Rinat Malik:

Yes, no, absolutely.

Rinat Malik:

Neither of us are expert in, addiction handling.

Rinat Malik:

But I mean, you know, when you mentioned YouTube, I was also gonna say that

Rinat Malik:

I've, there are so many channels, and before TikTok was popular, I've,

Rinat Malik:

I was also an addict of YouTube.

Rinat Malik:

Now, TikTok has just taken all of my real estate of attention

Rinat Malik:

and, completely focused on that.

Rinat Malik:

But YouTube I used to watch a lot of, tutorial and educational videos.

Rinat Malik:

And, a lot of you might also know about Crash course, it's very popular channel.

Rinat Malik:

And I've watched like most of their, series of educational videos and

Rinat Malik:

they were very interesting to me.

Rinat Malik:

but just like you Amit, I mean, I was watching educational

Rinat Malik:

and like productive content.

Rinat Malik:

I was telling myself that, okay, this is, this is positive, I'm

Rinat Malik:

doing something good with my life.

Rinat Malik:

But actually just consuming educational content doesn't really

Rinat Malik:

improve our lives until we apply it.

Rinat Malik:

And, that, that's something we tell ourselves that, okay, it's not

Rinat Malik:

addiction because we are doing, we are actually being productive, but

Rinat Malik:

actually in reality, we're not until we, we take action based upon it.

Rinat Malik:

So, that's, that's a really, important perspective that I

Rinat Malik:

guess we both have now learned.

Rinat Malik:

another thing, and not to, not to diss you in any way, but recently I've seen

Rinat Malik:

a, a quote, regarding chess is that all the chess players like to say that

Rinat Malik:

this is improving their brain and, strategy and negotiation technique.

Rinat Malik:

But if you become really good in playing Chess, then all you do

Rinat Malik:

is become a good chess player.

Rinat Malik:

Your brain is becoming really good in chess, but not necessarily

Rinat Malik:

the rest of the things.

Rinat Malik:

But again, I am not a, like a chronic chess player, so I don't know.

Rinat Malik:

But I, I, I do admit it is a game of strategy and you do have to

Rinat Malik:

think a lot, which is a, the don't,

Amit Sarkar:

don't try to defend Rinat.

Amit Sarkar:

I'm not trying to defend myself.

Amit Sarkar:

I know it's an addiction.

Amit Sarkar:

When I'm in a waiting room, I'm playing it.

Amit Sarkar:

So,

Rinat Malik:

yeah.

Rinat Malik:

So the point is that, yeah, if we, if we deflect our responsibilities

Rinat Malik:

in life while, for doing whatever Facebook, chess or tick-tock,

Rinat Malik:

if we are Avoiding the actual responsibilities, then that's the problem.

Rinat Malik:

And as you mentioned, you've taken many, many measures to

Rinat Malik:

keep all of these in control.

Rinat Malik:

I've also attempted to take many, many measures and failed in all of them.

Rinat Malik:

And then the final step I have taken is that I have uninstalled that, as you

Rinat Malik:

mentioned, that that's not necessarily a solution, but for me, I feel like

Rinat Malik:

the more difficult I make it, for me to access, the better chances I have

Rinat Malik:

Yes, I have uninstalled TikTok, Instagram, Facebook in the past as well.

Rinat Malik:

But then I did end up downloading it again and watching it.

Rinat Malik:

But this time what happened is I've, I've really looked at myself and I

Rinat Malik:

thought, I have to have to, keep bringing this in control and how can I do that?

Rinat Malik:

So what happens straight away after you uninstall it is that I.

Rinat Malik:

You won't just casually pick up the phone and turn on TikTok or Instagram

Rinat Malik:

because now you have to download it, which means that you have to

Rinat Malik:

mentally be okay with, okay, I'm going through the effort of downloading.

Rinat Malik:

That means I'm, I definitely want to spend more than 10 minutes, because

Rinat Malik:

that's what happens most of the time that you think, oh, I'm just gonna be on

Rinat Malik:

TikTok for 10 minutes for a quick break.

Rinat Malik:

But then you end up spending two hours on it, which is, which,

Rinat Malik:

which was a problem with me.

Rinat Malik:

So uninstalling really did help, but I didn't uninstall everything together.

Rinat Malik:

I uninstall TikTok because that was the most problematic.

Rinat Malik:

And then I told myself I that okay, all the educational and productive

Rinat Malik:

videos on TikTok, how do I, I did wanna do something with it.

Rinat Malik:

So I thought, okay.

Rinat Malik:

Whenever I now need to go on TikTok, I will go it through my desktop.

Rinat Malik:

So it's not completely inaccessible to me, but I just, agreed with myself that I'm

Rinat Malik:

not gonna download it again in my phone.

Rinat Malik:

I'm just gonna turn on the desktop, and then go on it.

Rinat Malik:

And then I realized that, okay, now the addiction has go, gone to a stage

Rinat Malik:

that if I can't find TikTok, I'll end up spending time on Instagram.

Rinat Malik:

I mean, before TikTok, I wasn't spending so much time on Instagram anyway,

Rinat Malik:

but now that I've normalized spending six hours on my phone, I was spending

Rinat Malik:

it on Instagram, failing TikTok.

Rinat Malik:

So.

Rinat Malik:

Then I uninstalled Instagram.

Rinat Malik:

Then I realized that I am, I'm now ending up, I mean, maybe not as

Rinat Malik:

much, but still spending considerable amount of time on Facebook.

Rinat Malik:

So I uninstalled Facebook and then YouTube from my phone, and then I,

Rinat Malik:

it's, it's completely, deserted island.

Rinat Malik:

My phone, I do have Twitter in there, but I'm not a big fan of Twitter, and

Rinat Malik:

the feed is not, not really tailored towards me for whatever reason.

Rinat Malik:

So I don't, I don't, I'm not, I don't really like Twitter enough to be addicted.

Rinat Malik:

But what ended up happening is that I've logged in through.

Rinat Malik:

The internet browser on my phone.

Rinat Malik:

I logged into YouTube over there to to watch again shorts through YouTube.

Rinat Malik:

and then I downloaded an app which limits the usage of particular

Rinat Malik:

applications in your phone.

Rinat Malik:

but you don't need to, you don't need to actually use the app.

Rinat Malik:

so ba basically you won't ever have to open that particular app, but it

Rinat Malik:

just, basically, you just set it up on that app to, block the internet

Rinat Malik:

browser, the Chrome browser in your phone, and that's what I've done.

Rinat Malik:

And, I'm sorry, I can't remember the name of the app, but it's one

Rinat Malik:

of the popular apps in, when you search for Limit my app usage in,

Rinat Malik:

in Google Play Store and whatever.

Rinat Malik:

I think it's, stay free.

Rinat Malik:

is, is the name of the app.

Rinat Malik:

but yeah, so, it, it, you can basically tell that, okay, I only can use,

Rinat Malik:

Chrome browser for 60 minutes on every 24 hours, and it tracks you.

Rinat Malik:

And once you pass, using the 60 minutes, then you can't use it Obviously,

Rinat Malik:

there are ways to get around it.

Rinat Malik:

I have to uninstall the actual app and then I can use something that again.

Rinat Malik:

But I think the main thing to remember with all kinds of addiction is in your

Rinat Malik:

mind, not just the, the, the surface part of your mind, but deep within your mind.

Rinat Malik:

You have to know and agree that you actually genuinely want to stop un until

Rinat Malik:

you do that, until you don't have this agreement deep within you there is no,

Rinat Malik:

no other way to escape this because yes, I mean, for traditional kind of drugs

Rinat Malik:

like weed or cigarette or other kind of drugs, it's difficult to have access to it

Rinat Malik:

because government and society, et cetera.

Rinat Malik:

But social media, there is no difficulty accessing it.

Rinat Malik:

So it is totally all on you to be able to live an examined life, be aware of

Rinat Malik:

what you are doing, be an observer of yourself, and then take action to control

Rinat Malik:

in your life what you want to control.

Rinat Malik:

So it is very important.

Rinat Malik:

and I've ignored it most of my life.

Rinat Malik:

I didn't even want to class it as an addiction, but, I have ended up in, in

Rinat Malik:

my life where I have no other way, but to acknowledge that it is a problem.

Rinat Malik:

So, absolutely, definitely, would urge everyone to look at it and,

Rinat Malik:

examine how it's affecting your life.

Amit Sarkar:

So, yeah, it's a very interesting, perspective, Rinat,

Amit Sarkar:

because, going through your addiction journey and, talking about how you've

Amit Sarkar:

taken measures is, quite interesting.

Amit Sarkar:

And I, I, I see a pattern here.

Amit Sarkar:

there was TikTok, then you remove TikTok, then there was Instagram,

Amit Sarkar:

then you removed Instagram, there was YouTube, Facebook, etc.

Amit Sarkar:

But if, if you see the pattern, it's mostly short form videos

Amit Sarkar:

and, Instagram is pictures.

Amit Sarkar:

But Instagram tried to replicate the TikTok formula.

Amit Sarkar:

On short form.

Rinat Malik:

Yeah.

Rinat Malik:

It was the videos that, got me addicted?

Amit Sarkar:

Yeah.

Amit Sarkar:

Yes.

Amit Sarkar:

And, and same with YouTube now, YouTube, Shorts, Instagram, Reels and TikTok.

Amit Sarkar:

Mm-Hmm.

Amit Sarkar:

So they're all, interconnected.

Amit Sarkar:

And Facebook is also pushed now starting on, videos more.

Amit Sarkar:

So I think, I think that there is definitely a pattern here, but I

Amit Sarkar:

think let's, let's break it down.

Amit Sarkar:

What's happening in these apps?

Amit Sarkar:

So these apps, the, the way they run is by, by the amount of sheer amount

Amit Sarkar:

of people that they have on these apps.

Amit Sarkar:

So suppose all your friends and all your, colleagues are there on the app.

Amit Sarkar:

So you want to be there on that app.

Amit Sarkar:

And, then you start sharing things about your personal life

Amit Sarkar:

and you want to see what others are doing in their personal life.

Amit Sarkar:

Another thing is in reality, you do want to know what's happening in,

Amit Sarkar:

people's lives, but you don't want to know about every person's life whom you

Amit Sarkar:

have ever met, because sometimes you meet people once and then you follow

Amit Sarkar:

them on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, whatever, and then you keep getting

Amit Sarkar:

their, images or things on your feed.

Amit Sarkar:

Now, in your head you think, okay, fine, I might reconnect with them in the

Amit Sarkar:

future, so let me have them on my profile.

Amit Sarkar:

And you keep getting that in feed.

Amit Sarkar:

And now they have started traveling and then you're like,

Amit Sarkar:

oh my God, they're going here.

Amit Sarkar:

They're going here.

Amit Sarkar:

What's happening with my life?

Amit Sarkar:

I'm not doing anything.

Amit Sarkar:

So you feel you, you get addicted into that trap.

Amit Sarkar:

Then, and Facebook did that.

Amit Sarkar:

Instagram did it, and a lot of people felt like, oh, I'm not

Amit Sarkar:

doing anything good with my life.

Amit Sarkar:

These people are doing so many great things and, what's

Amit Sarkar:

happening with their life.

Amit Sarkar:

Then TikTok came, and TikTok was all short form videos and videos were funny.

Amit Sarkar:

So they were quite addictive.

Amit Sarkar:

Like they were, they were about, initially they were about, mimicry.

Amit Sarkar:

You mimic, a famous song.

Amit Sarkar:

you, you dance to a famous song, and then it started with a lot

Amit Sarkar:

of special effects and then it became like utility videos, like I.

Amit Sarkar:

Okay, how do you do things in, in your bathroom, in your house,

Amit Sarkar:

the decor, DIY fixes, etc.

Amit Sarkar:

And then you are like, wow, this is so cool.

Amit Sarkar:

I'm learning.

Amit Sarkar:

So it's, it just like YouTube, but now instead of watching a one-hour

Amit Sarkar:

video, you're watching a 32nd clip and you're like, wow, this is so good.

Amit Sarkar:

I can do this.

Amit Sarkar:

Let me buy it or let me do this.

Amit Sarkar:

And that's how it, it, gets you addicted because you are thinking in your head

Amit Sarkar:

that, wow, just by watching this video, I'm learning so much, but you forget.

Amit Sarkar:

And I've seen this pattern with my friends as well, who keep

Amit Sarkar:

sharing videos on you Instagram.

Amit Sarkar:

And, they, they share, normally there are two or three types of videos.

Amit Sarkar:

One are meme videos, meme videos are, jokes about your life.

Amit Sarkar:

Like, jokes about being a parent, jokes about being a runner, jokes

Amit Sarkar:

about being a father, jokes about being a man, things like that.

Amit Sarkar:

Jokes about pets.

Amit Sarkar:

And then there are these pet videos.

Amit Sarkar:

So you see all these cute.

Amit Sarkar:

Dogs, cute cats, all these videos, so, so there are these and then cute babies.

Amit Sarkar:

So then there are those videos and then there are fitness videos

Amit Sarkar:

which are educational, oh, you should do this, you should do that.

Amit Sarkar:

So then there are those videos, and then they are just random DIY videos.

Amit Sarkar:

I.

Amit Sarkar:

Okay, let's fix the furniture.

Amit Sarkar:

Let's fix your cupboard, let's fix your house.

Amit Sarkar:

32nd video.

Amit Sarkar:

And I'm like, wow.

Amit Sarkar:

Oh, I want that.

Amit Sarkar:

I want that.

Amit Sarkar:

The problem is you share the video and, and you forget about

Amit Sarkar:

that video in two days' time.

Amit Sarkar:

Exactly.

Amit Sarkar:

In two days' time, you forget about it.

Rinat Malik:

Millions of people, perfect example.

Rinat Malik:

Millions of people have seen the, the, the, those couple of guys I think

Rinat Malik:

in, in India who started with a, like a, just a land grassland, and then

Rinat Malik:

they built a house with swimming pool with, with the, with the mud and.

Rinat Malik:

you feel like, you can, oh, you can do it yourself in your back garden, right?

Rinat Malik:

And these two guy, but actually this was debunked later I've seen another video

Rinat Malik:

where they have actually said that those two guys were, that was misleading.

Rinat Malik:

They were having a lot of other people and machinery and, they to, to make

Rinat Malik:

the houses and the swimming pool.

Rinat Malik:

But then they were showing that they're just doing, it by themselves.

Rinat Malik:

But yeah, no, that's a good point.

Rinat Malik:

Anyway, continue.

Rinat Malik:

No, I

Amit Sarkar:

think, I, I think, you've, you've hit that because,

Amit Sarkar:

short form videos request far more editing than long form content.

Amit Sarkar:

So when I say long form, anything about, five to 10 minutes is about long form.

Amit Sarkar:

And anything 30 seconds or below is short form content.

Amit Sarkar:

And for short form content, you record first a long form content,

Amit Sarkar:

and then you squeeze it into 30 seconds and you take the gist of it.

Amit Sarkar:

So suppose you're doing, you are building a.

Amit Sarkar:

furniture, you take the gist of it, like you don't show, you are cutting

Amit Sarkar:

the wood for, one minute or two minutes.

Amit Sarkar:

You just show it for one second and that's it.

Amit Sarkar:

But you don't, show how much effort has gone into cutting

Amit Sarkar:

that wood or, fixing a nail.

Amit Sarkar:

And you don't show all the tools.

Amit Sarkar:

You just see the, the first, like how it looks in the beginning and then how

Amit Sarkar:

it looks in the end and the transition.

Amit Sarkar:

You don't see how much effort has gone into and you think I can do it.

Amit Sarkar:

Yes.

Amit Sarkar:

More I can do it.

Amit Sarkar:

Right?

Amit Sarkar:

It makes you think that, oh, I can also do it.

Amit Sarkar:

And, and I mean, if you, if you, if you look at all these things, the way it's

Amit Sarkar:

working is grabbing your attention.

Amit Sarkar:

Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, they all want your attention

Amit Sarkar:

and the way they want and, and the reason they want their attention

Amit Sarkar:

is because they have advertisers.

Amit Sarkar:

So if you are there on the app, you can see the advertisements and

Amit Sarkar:

if you can see the advertisements, you can buy, those products or

Amit Sarkar:

subscribe to those products, right?

Amit Sarkar:

Or services.

Amit Sarkar:

So Instagram wants you to be there so that you can see more and more ads.

Amit Sarkar:

Same with TikTok, same with YouTube.

Amit Sarkar:

So, so now what has happened is YouTube has come up with a premium subscription.

Amit Sarkar:

Now you don't have to see ads, you just pay a monthly fee

Amit Sarkar:

and you don't see any ads.

Amit Sarkar:

That's good.

Amit Sarkar:

So, and plus YouTube has come up with a very good thing.

Amit Sarkar:

If you turn off your search history, then you don't see any recommendation.

Amit Sarkar:

So when I open YouTube, my YouTube, page, it itself is blank.

Amit Sarkar:

And I don't see any videos.

Amit Sarkar:

Oh, I don't see any videos because my search history is off.

Amit Sarkar:

So it doesn't recommend me anything because I've switched

Amit Sarkar:

off the search history.

Amit Sarkar:

So it's not personalizing.

Amit Sarkar:

So that way, oh, it means when I open YouTube.

Amit Sarkar:

I'm not endlessly scrolling.

Amit Sarkar:

I have to deliberately type what I want to search, and then from

Amit Sarkar:

there I then go mindless scrolling.

Rinat Malik:

Oh wow.

Rinat Malik:

That is something I did not know at all.

Rinat Malik:

And that's, it

Amit Sarkar:

started recently?

Amit Sarkar:

It started recently.

Amit Sarkar:

That's actually quite,

Rinat Malik:

yeah.

Rinat Malik:

Wow.

Rinat Malik:

That's actually because I, I do have my search history on and I'll probably

Rinat Malik:

keep it on anyway, but this is really good, good information to know.

Rinat Malik:

And I feel like our audience could also be helped with, with

Rinat Malik:

this because it, it's true.

Rinat Malik:

As soon as I, even now, as soon as I open YouTube, I hear, I see like four or

Rinat Malik:

five really ideal videos that I actually really am interested in that topic.

Rinat Malik:

Recently I've been, very interested into gardening and I've watched two

Rinat Malik:

or three videos of that, and then they're coming up with now like really

Rinat Malik:

Appealing videos that I really wanna know how to do this thing or that thing.

Rinat Malik:

And I had to actually have to stop myself from clicking those things.

Rinat Malik:

And actually the, the suggestions are so good that there are multiple suggestions.

Rinat Malik:

I sometimes get confused of which one do I click, and sometimes I end up

Rinat Malik:

actually opening three or four tabs just from going to YouTube.com if

Rinat Malik:

the suggestions have become so good.

Rinat Malik:

So, yeah.

Rinat Malik:

And what you said earlier as well is, is the short form content now.

Rinat Malik:

It's just, so much information.

Rinat Malik:

You, you think you're absorbing so much information so quickly that now it feels

Rinat Malik:

like a bargain that, okay, I've, I've spent like half a minute or a minute

Rinat Malik:

and now I know about this whole thing.

Rinat Malik:

But actually you don't, it's, it's totally different story when

Rinat Malik:

you try to apply it in real life.

Amit Sarkar:

What I have realized is because I'm on

Amit Sarkar:

all these social media apps.

Amit Sarkar:

I don't remember or a lot of things like I don't remember

Amit Sarkar:

what, what I heard in the podcast.

Amit Sarkar:

I heard two days back.

Amit Sarkar:

I don't remember.

Amit Sarkar:

I just know that's another, I just know that I, I've consumed very good content.

Amit Sarkar:

I'm very happy, but I don't remember, and I'm like, I have to

Amit Sarkar:

revisit the whole content again.

Rinat Malik:

I can relate to it so much because, this is

Rinat Malik:

part of my experience as well.

Rinat Malik:

So when I start watching Tick-Tock, if you like something, then you can actually

Rinat Malik:

go back to all the videos you've liked.

Rinat Malik:

Now, obviously, over the years, Tick-Tock also improved their saving functionality.

Rinat Malik:

So if you wanna save a video for later because you wanna do

Rinat Malik:

something, you wanna take an action based on it you can save it, and

Rinat Malik:

that's the right way of organizing.

Rinat Malik:

But I've started before this feature even existed.

Rinat Malik:

So I've just started liking things.

Rinat Malik:

The things that I would like to go back to at some point.

Rinat Malik:

I mean, yeah, the videos I like, I do like, but very rarely I like,

Rinat Malik:

videos just because I like it.

Rinat Malik:

But most of the times I like something because I want to go back to them

Rinat Malik:

and just as you said, Amit that you wanna consume to do something with it.

Rinat Malik:

And now I've, as, as I just mentioned like 10 minutes ago, that I've now

Rinat Malik:

uninstalled TikTok and my logic is that if I wanna watch TikTok and I need to

Rinat Malik:

be productive with TikTok, I'm gonna go it and go to a go on it in my desktop.

Rinat Malik:

And when I do go instead of mindless scrolling, I actually do end up

Rinat Malik:

looking through my liked videos because I know that there are thing, I do

Rinat Malik:

wanna be productive and I do wanna take deliberate actions, intentional

Rinat Malik:

and not just, mindless scrolling.

Rinat Malik:

So I, now started going to all of my liked videos and.

Rinat Malik:

What I've noticed is over, last three years, I've liked so many

Rinat Malik:

videos and I've even forgot about all the different things I've liked.

Rinat Malik:

And then I thought, okay, I need to actually know how many things.

Rinat Malik:

because these are all of these individual things.

Rinat Malik:

liked videos are action to take on something.

Rinat Malik:

So I thought, okay, let me see how many videos that I've liked so far.

Rinat Malik:

And then I scrolled down and down and down and it was like endless.

Rinat Malik:

I mean, I thought I only sparingly, liked only the very few that

Rinat Malik:

I wanna do something about.

Rinat Malik:

And even that ended up being 1700.

Rinat Malik:

Videos that I have liked over the last three years.

Rinat Malik:

And then I, it was a chore just to count, copy the, all the URLs and then put it

Rinat Malik:

in Excel and then do some calculation.

Rinat Malik:

And then I realized that I've liked about 1700 videos.

Rinat Malik:

And then I thought, okay, let me start from the very beginning.

Rinat Malik:

And then it was nostalgic to go to the very beginning, all the old videos

Rinat Malik:

that I have watched and liked, etc.

Rinat Malik:

But then a lot of the things that I had liked with the intention that I,

Rinat Malik:

I have something to do regarding this, maybe I want to check out this website.

Rinat Malik:

Maybe I want to use this tool.

Rinat Malik:

Maybe I want to.

Rinat Malik:

And then I realized a lot of those have become obsolete.

Rinat Malik:

They're not even relevant anymore.

Rinat Malik:

there were some websites, I went to that website and saw they've gone out of

Rinat Malik:

business, and then I went to this other website where you can write really good

Rinat Malik:

articles, but then by now ChatGPT is here.

Rinat Malik:

So all the things that I've liked before, ChatGPT, a lot of them are

Rinat Malik:

already obsolete now The intention of taking an action was in 2020 or

Rinat Malik:

2021, and I needed to take those actions in 2021, not go back to it

Rinat Malik:

in 2024, but that's what's happening.

Rinat Malik:

And I've essentially not only thought in 2020 that I've, I'm, being productive,

Rinat Malik:

but I actually fully wasted that time and the time right now when I'm

Rinat Malik:

going back to it and realizing that it was a waste of, my time then,

Rinat Malik:

and it's a waste of my time now.

Rinat Malik:

So I.

Rinat Malik:

Yes, I do agree that there are some really good information,

Rinat Malik:

productive things to do, but don't just completely, go on autopilot.

Rinat Malik:

when you are doing this, if you like something, you be more organized.

Rinat Malik:

You save it in a to-do list or you do something and then take action,

Rinat Malik:

within that month when you found that video if you really have to.

Rinat Malik:

But I would still very strongly encourage everyone to uninstall it,

Rinat Malik:

because that's what worked for me.

Rinat Malik:

And go on it in your desktop, if you tell your mind that, okay, I, I'm not depriving

Rinat Malik:

myself, it's not quite cold Turkey, I'm not completely depriving myself.

Rinat Malik:

If I want to really be productive with TikTok, I can go on it in my

Rinat Malik:

in, in desktop and usually desktop has this aura that, when you sit on

Rinat Malik:

a table and watch it on your laptop or your desktop computer, you are

Rinat Malik:

kind of already in a productive mood.

Rinat Malik:

So it's more difficult to go on a mindless scrolling Fiesta for five hours.

Rinat Malik:

Yeah.

Rinat Malik:

So, it probably would work better in

Amit Sarkar:

that, I think.

Amit Sarkar:

I think we've talked a lot about the addiction part, but I think

Amit Sarkar:

we should also talk about why it exists in the first place.

Amit Sarkar:

I think Instagram has its place because, people do like to share pictures,

Amit Sarkar:

especially with families and friends, and they do want to share, certain memories.

Amit Sarkar:

So if I visit a place, I want to take a picture and capture it and store it

Amit Sarkar:

somewhere so people can like, and comment.

Amit Sarkar:

And plus I also have a reminder, okay, I visited these places and

Amit Sarkar:

when I meet new people, I can show them, okay, these are the places I've

Amit Sarkar:

been to, and then we can connect.

Amit Sarkar:

So Instagram has its place.

Amit Sarkar:

Same with Facebook.

Amit Sarkar:

Facebook is good for friends and families.

Amit Sarkar:

Again, like, if you want, if you have a life event, you pay post

Amit Sarkar:

all the pictures and then people can come and comment on it.

Amit Sarkar:

Google Photos is trying to do that.

Amit Sarkar:

So in photos you can create an album, and then with that album

Amit Sarkar:

you can share it to all the, all, all your friends and families.

Amit Sarkar:

A friend, a few friends of mine have done that.

Amit Sarkar:

And then you can comment on those photos without uploading it on

Amit Sarkar:

Facebook or other, other channels.

Amit Sarkar:

But then you also have to be an Android user.

Amit Sarkar:

Then, Twitter has its place.

Amit Sarkar:

I think Twitter is quite relevant because it's text, so you have to actually.

Amit Sarkar:

Pay attention to read the text.

Amit Sarkar:

But Twitter has now also started posting a lot of videos, GIFs and audio

Amit Sarkar:

format, so then it becomes more chaotic.

Amit Sarkar:

Plus, Twitter was initially just three or four lines.

Amit Sarkar:

Now it's long form content as well.

Amit Sarkar:

So people who pay a subscription fee, they can post long form content.

Amit Sarkar:

People who don't, they can only post still, two or three sentences.

Amit Sarkar:

So Twitter is still good because that's where you can get the,

Amit Sarkar:

bleeding-Edge news, so BBC or any other news media they first posted.

Amit Sarkar:

So you don't have to actually go somewhere.

Amit Sarkar:

You can just get a notification like an earthquake has happened,

Amit Sarkar:

a tsunami has happened, of all volcano has erupted, a flight has

Amit Sarkar:

cancelled, someone got shot, etc.

Amit Sarkar:

So you get all the news on Twitter.

Amit Sarkar:

So it, it's, it's relevant, but of course it's about you, how sparingly you use it.

Amit Sarkar:

And then you have LinkedIn.

Amit Sarkar:

LinkedIn is good if you have work, but apart from work, there are not

Amit Sarkar:

a lot of now content on LinkedIn, which has got nothing to do with work.

Amit Sarkar:

And, and I've noticed that.

Amit Sarkar:

So what I do is now I go to LinkedIn.

Amit Sarkar:

I just search for people whom I've met or whom I've listened to

Amit Sarkar:

on a YouTube video or something.

Amit Sarkar:

And then I try to Google them and see, okay, what have they done?

Amit Sarkar:

What is their, career history, where are they currently working, what

Amit Sarkar:

kind of posts they have posted?

Amit Sarkar:

So people whom I'm interested in the feed, I just go through

Amit Sarkar:

a bit and then I just leave it.

Amit Sarkar:

I don't like go through the feed extensively.

Amit Sarkar:

So I think YouTube has done a very good job because I think YouTube

Amit Sarkar:

has figured out that instead of feeding you something, I deliberately

Amit Sarkar:

have to go and search for content.

Amit Sarkar:

And same on LinkedIn.

Amit Sarkar:

I want to deliberately search for people whom I'm interested in.

Amit Sarkar:

And same on Facebook.

Amit Sarkar:

I want to deliberately go and see pictures of people whom I want to know,

Amit Sarkar:

okay, what's happening in their life.

Amit Sarkar:

I've not been in touch.

Amit Sarkar:

Let's see, have they had a child, have they got married?

Amit Sarkar:

Have they traveled, et cetera.

Amit Sarkar:

And same with Instagram.

Amit Sarkar:

I I just want to, find people, not random strangers,

Amit Sarkar:

And then I think educational part.

Amit Sarkar:

So I think YouTube has a good part where it comes to education.

Amit Sarkar:

You can learn a lot of things provided you apply.

Amit Sarkar:

I think a lot of problem with addiction is that you think it's useful for you,

Amit Sarkar:

even though it's not useful, because without application, nothing is useful.

Amit Sarkar:

And one of the measures I've taken is like, okay, I watch all this

Amit Sarkar:

content, what am I doing with it?

Amit Sarkar:

So I started writing a newsletter about all the content that

Amit Sarkar:

I've been watching and reading.

Amit Sarkar:

So that.

Amit Sarkar:

It's not just mindless consumption.

Amit Sarkar:

It's like, okay, I've consumed it.

Amit Sarkar:

What have I absorbed from that?

Amit Sarkar:

And then how can I articulate it and share it with, people who subscribe?

Amit Sarkar:

And I don't have a lot of subscribers.

Amit Sarkar:

I'm about 30, 32 subscribers who are mostly my friends and families.

Amit Sarkar:

And, they read it and, they sometimes give a comment, but it's fine.

Amit Sarkar:

My purpose is whatever I've read, whatever is happening in my life, I absorb that.

Amit Sarkar:

I, I go through a.

Amit Sarkar:

What do you say?

Amit Sarkar:

A recollection of all the events that have happened based on my calendar.

Amit Sarkar:

And then I try to recollect all that, organize it, and then,

Amit Sarkar:

articulate it in a newsletter.

Amit Sarkar:

Because the moment I articulate, I'm putting effort.

Amit Sarkar:

That means I can remember now things because if you just absorb

Amit Sarkar:

and you are not writing about it or telling it about it, or discussing

Amit Sarkar:

about it, it's just mindless.

Amit Sarkar:

So you keep forgetting it because your brain has limited capacity.

Amit Sarkar:

It's like, okay, I'm absorbing so much information, but in order

Amit Sarkar:

for me to absorb more information, some information has to go out.

Amit Sarkar:

So you, you, you see a pattern that you're starting to forget things.

Amit Sarkar:

You're starting to not remember a lot of things because so many,

Amit Sarkar:

you, you are almost everywhere.

Amit Sarkar:

Your attention is everywhere.

Amit Sarkar:

Your attention is on a game.

Amit Sarkar:

Your attention is on the social media apps.

Amit Sarkar:

Your attention is on photos because sometimes, I mean, we are talking

Amit Sarkar:

about social media addiction, but people, a lot of people have

Amit Sarkar:

addiction of taking a lot of pictures.

Amit Sarkar:

So when they're at a particular event, they're taking pictures, but

Amit Sarkar:

they're not actually in that event.

Amit Sarkar:

and, and, and there are countless other things.

Amit Sarkar:

What I have noticed is I am addicted to a few blogs.

Amit Sarkar:

I've, I've organized all the apps in my phone, so a few sections.

Amit Sarkar:

So chess is one, Instagram is one, and YouTube.

Amit Sarkar:

So these are the three things that I constantly hang around because if I'm

Amit Sarkar:

in a train, I want to pass my time, I can listen to music, that's fine.

Amit Sarkar:

I can listen to a podcast, that's fine.

Amit Sarkar:

But if I want to do something, I mindlessly scroll or I read an article.

Amit Sarkar:

So what I've realized is that it's time to have, I.

Amit Sarkar:

your, what do you say?

Amit Sarkar:

It's time to have your own time back.

Amit Sarkar:

Give it back to yourself.

Amit Sarkar:

Don't give it to these apps.

Amit Sarkar:

So instead of using these apps on your phone, just sit quietly, get bored.

Amit Sarkar:

I think people have stopped, realizing the importance of getting bored.

Amit Sarkar:

We can't get bored anymore.

Amit Sarkar:

I, we don't want to get bored.

Amit Sarkar:

We are like, oh, this is happening.

Amit Sarkar:

This life is so exciting.

Amit Sarkar:

No, dude, get bored.

Amit Sarkar:

If you don't get bored, you'll not get new ideas.

Rinat Malik:

Absolutely.

Rinat Malik:

And I was just about to say it like being bored has its actual.

Rinat Malik:

Therapeutic benefits.

Rinat Malik:

I mean, it, it, it's not just about, okay, I, I, I wanna not be addicted,

Rinat Malik:

but actually, while you are not doing things, your brain is actually doing

Rinat Malik:

things that you don't always consciously know, but it is still doing things.

Rinat Malik:

And also, you are giving yourself your conscious mind a bit of rest

Rinat Malik:

from consumption, which is also very good for future productivity

Rinat Malik:

and more quality productivity.

Rinat Malik:

I mean, consuming content, content as much as you tell yourself that you're

Rinat Malik:

being productive, it's not, you're not.

Rinat Malik:

even after that, you put your phone down and you think, okay, I'm gonna do

Rinat Malik:

something good or productive or something, and then you do start doing something

Rinat Malik:

and you are automatically, your brain is on autopilot because it's already tired.

Rinat Malik:

By consuming so much information, it, it can't generate anymore new creative ideas.

Rinat Malik:

But if you give yourself or your brain a bit of break, do nothing,

Rinat Malik:

yeah, some people have like a feared connotation of on meditation.

Rinat Malik:

I, myself am like that.

Rinat Malik:

I, I don't, haven't done meditation much and I don't know

Rinat Malik:

whether I'll be able to, but.

Rinat Malik:

If you like meditation, do meditation.

Rinat Malik:

If you don't, then just do nothing and give your brain or yourself, or

Rinat Malik:

your consciousness a bit of break from everything, and you'll see the difference.

Rinat Malik:

If you start doing it regularly, just half an hour of not doing anything,

Rinat Malik:

just, while sipping cup of tea or coffee and just not do anything, then you'll

Rinat Malik:

see that there is a big difference in your output, quality of output.

Rinat Malik:

right now you are living your life with, you're doing your job at work and whatever

Rinat Malik:

you think everything is going well, but.

Rinat Malik:

You'll see the difference once you start giving your brain a bit of

Rinat Malik:

rest and the output you generate would be of a much higher quality.

Rinat Malik:

You can probably still have the same rate of output, the same kind of things.

Rinat Malik:

Maybe, you took you an hour to prepare a presentation, it still takes you

Rinat Malik:

an hour to prepare a presentation, but the quality of it would increase

Rinat Malik:

drastically and you will see that, it would be noticeable difference.

Rinat Malik:

So absolutely, very much would encourage everyone to, to.

Rinat Malik:

Get bored, I personally would say I haven't come out of the other

Rinat Malik:

side just yet, but I started acknowledging that it is a problem

Rinat Malik:

and it's something that you need to deliberately, intentionally take action.

Rinat Malik:

It's not just gonna automatically phase away.

Rinat Malik:

This is not a phase, this is not a,

Rinat Malik:

not a problem.

Rinat Malik:

It is a problem and it will continue to be a problem Or get even worse

Rinat Malik:

if you don't take action, it needs deliberate action to fix this.

Rinat Malik:

Otherwise you're going down.

Rinat Malik:

Yeah, a really dangerous hole and wouldn't be able to come out of it.

Rinat Malik:

It is just like any other addiction.

Rinat Malik:

You get a hit of dopamine every time you watch a content and then you, your

Rinat Malik:

brain wants to continue watching it.

Rinat Malik:

And when I stopped, I installed these apps, I actually saw the

Rinat Malik:

same kind of reaction in my brain.

Rinat Malik:

I.

Rinat Malik:

When I stopped smoking and it's, it's scarily similar.

Rinat Malik:

And even though I keep telling myself that these are two different things,

Rinat Malik:

the one is physical harming my body and one is just, I'm just spending time.

Rinat Malik:

But no, actually the effect on your brain is very similar.

Rinat Malik:

And I did not wanna believe the people who said these things before, but

Rinat Malik:

actually I can't logically, rationally avoid this because it had harmed my

Rinat Malik:

productivity in, in, in major way.

Rinat Malik:

So yeah, now it's still, it's still always gonna be work in progress, but, definitely

Rinat Malik:

something that you guys wanna seriously look at and examine your life in.

Rinat Malik:

In terms of first start with stats, your phone.

Rinat Malik:

Already records every, all the, every day, what you spend your time on.

Rinat Malik:

So just look at the stats.

Rinat Malik:

If it's alarming, then you know that there is something that needs to be done.

Amit Sarkar:

So I think, I have, I have an app similar that shows like how much,

Amit Sarkar:

time I'm spending on each of these, which of the apps are taking most of my time.

Amit Sarkar:

So I've started doing that.

Amit Sarkar:

So that's one thing.

Amit Sarkar:

But I think I, I, before we finish the podcast, I wanted

Amit Sarkar:

to touch base on few points.

Amit Sarkar:

we forgot about notifications.

Amit Sarkar:

We didn't talk about notifications.

Amit Sarkar:

Like a lot of times what happens is you post a content and then you wait.

Amit Sarkar:

Did someone like it?

Amit Sarkar:

Did someone put a comment?

Amit Sarkar:

it it's, it happens with our podcast as well, right?

Amit Sarkar:

We, post a video and we wait for, okay, how many views,

Amit Sarkar:

how many likes, what happens?

Amit Sarkar:

So that gives you a dopamine effect, so that, that's also an addiction, right?

Amit Sarkar:

Because you are now creating content, but you are addicted to those notifications,

Amit Sarkar:

like you are addicted for that validation that if you don't get enough likes or

Amit Sarkar:

if you don't get enough comments or enough views, your content is not great.

Amit Sarkar:

And you're seeing that validation.

Amit Sarkar:

So that's, one of the things that, I have found, especially after starting

Amit Sarkar:

to post a lot of content on YouTube, writing a newsletter and doing

Amit Sarkar:

other things, I think, you get into that habit of, okay, why am I not

Amit Sarkar:

generating in views what's happening?

Amit Sarkar:

And then you start hacking the algorithm.

Amit Sarkar:

Well, it's just a waste of time.

Amit Sarkar:

You're posting content because you want to, and you like it for others.

Amit Sarkar:

And if others don't want that, it's fine.

Amit Sarkar:

If you want to create a business, then you can put effort, but think

Amit Sarkar:

of it as a business and then put, time and effort based on that.

Amit Sarkar:

If you're just doing it for the, for the fun part, then don't be addicted to it.

Amit Sarkar:

Like, don't keep waiting.

Amit Sarkar:

Okay.

Amit Sarkar:

There will be a new notification or a new, comment.

Amit Sarkar:

The second thing I wanted to say is that, one of the, places where we

Amit Sarkar:

actually consume the most content is when we are sitting on the So we go

Amit Sarkar:

to the toilet, we go with our phones.

Amit Sarkar:

It's so easy.

Amit Sarkar:

Earlier, it was so difficult.

Amit Sarkar:

You can't carry a TV to your toilet.

Amit Sarkar:

You can't carry a big newspaper to your toilet, right?

Amit Sarkar:

I mean, you can, but it's difficult.

Amit Sarkar:

So anyway, so you now carry a phone and you play games, you watch Instagram

Amit Sarkar:

content and then, and you're just sitting there and then you realize,

Amit Sarkar:

you start feeling constipated.

Amit Sarkar:

You're not empty.

Amit Sarkar:

And I have noticed this with myself.

Amit Sarkar:

Like, I don't feel empty if I'm using my phone.

Amit Sarkar:

So what I've done is I still take the phone because if there is

Amit Sarkar:

an emergency call, I have a son.

Amit Sarkar:

If I get a call from the nursery, I, I would want to be able to pick

Amit Sarkar:

it up, but I just keep it there.

Amit Sarkar:

I don't see the phone and I just focus on, okay.

Amit Sarkar:

I'm here to do something and let me just focus on that.

Amit Sarkar:

And I feel very empty and very relaxed after that.

Amit Sarkar:

So I think that's important.

Amit Sarkar:

And the third thing I wanted to cover is attention economy.

Amit Sarkar:

So we talked about attention economy.

Amit Sarkar:

These apps are talking about seeking your attention, but in the end, what

Amit Sarkar:

you have to think is how can you give that attention to something else?

Amit Sarkar:

And does everything in your life need attention?

Amit Sarkar:

And soon or later you'll realize that not everything in your life needs the same

Amit Sarkar:

amount of attention, and you need to just focus on things that you enjoy the most.

Amit Sarkar:

So say you enjoy running, just focus on that.

Amit Sarkar:

So I've stopped taking a headphone or stop taking even my phone for a run.

Amit Sarkar:

I do a 10 K run.

Amit Sarkar:

I don't take a phone.

Amit Sarkar:

I don't have to listen to any music.

Amit Sarkar:

I don't even have to listen to a podcast.

Amit Sarkar:

I now pay attention to things around me rather than things that are not around me.

Amit Sarkar:

I think people forget that, if you are commenting or chatting with people,

Amit Sarkar:

on the phone, they're close to you.

Amit Sarkar:

No, sometimes you ignore people who are sitting in front of you

Amit Sarkar:

to stay connected with people who are living in another continent.

Amit Sarkar:

And, it doesn't make sense.

Amit Sarkar:

But this is absolutely how life is.

Rinat Malik:

No, this is actually very interesting.

Rinat Malik:

I mean, for right now, I can't even imagine not listening to

Rinat Malik:

music when, when I go for a run.

Rinat Malik:

But you actually made me really, open my eyes to this new world

Rinat Malik:

of possibilities actually.

Rinat Malik:

for the gamers out there, real life has the most vibrant, highest graphics,

Rinat Malik:

and most interesting life in among all the other games that you'll play.

Rinat Malik:

And most realistic when you go for a run, or do any experiences,

Rinat Malik:

walk, walk in real life, cycling, cycling experience, whatever.

Rinat Malik:

if you compare it to being in a video game console world, this one is so much

Rinat Malik:

more interesting and so much more vivid.

Rinat Malik:

The feelings, the color, the smell and everything.

Rinat Malik:

It's, it's a lot more immersive if you wanna, come back full circle.

Rinat Malik:

So, definitely something to, keep in mind and definitely something to

Rinat Malik:

take action, not just keep in mind, not, don't just consume our content

Rinat Malik:

either take action based on it.

Rinat Malik:

So after, after you guys have listened to it, we would like you guys to make a list.

Rinat Malik:

You know, maybe it could be one or two or three items of things

Rinat Malik:

that you will do in real life.

Rinat Malik:

Take action or.

Rinat Malik:

Or suppress in virtual life.

Rinat Malik:

You know, maybe an app you wanna, uninstall or whatever.

Rinat Malik:

But, yeah, definitely it's a work in progress for us and you and, hopefully

Rinat Malik:

we'll, see some real progress in future.

Rinat Malik:

So with that thought, I think we had really exciting conversation.

Rinat Malik:

Hope you guys have also enjoyed it.

Rinat Malik:

And, yeah, look forward to get any feedback or any comments, based

Rinat Malik:

on this conversation on how you changed your lives based on us.

Amit Sarkar:

Thanks.

Amit Sarkar:

Thanks, Rinat.

Amit Sarkar:

Yeah.

Amit Sarkar:

Really enjoyed the

Rinat Malik:

conversation.

Rinat Malik:

Bye.

Rinat Malik:

Yes, thank you everyone.

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About the Podcast

Tech Talk with Amit & Rinat
Talks about technical topics for non-technical people
The world of technology is fascinating! But it's not accessible to a lot of people.

In this podcast, Amit Sarkar & Rinat Malik talk about the various technologies, their features, practical applications and a lot more.

Please follow us to hear about a popular or upcoming technology every week.

#Tech #Technology #Podcast

Find us at
Amit Sarkar - https://linktr.ee/amit.sarkar007
Rinat Malik - https://linktr.ee/rinat.malik

Contact us at - https://forms.gle/AauF6eic2CQv2Lvn9

Review us at - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/tech-talk-with-amit-rinat-1556283

About your hosts

Amit Sarkar

Profile picture for Amit Sarkar
Amit Sarkar is an experienced software professional with over 15 years of industry experience in technology and consulting across telecom, security, transportation, executive search, digital media, customs, government, and retail sectors. He loves open-source
technologies and is a keen user.

Passionate about systems thinking and helping others in learning technology. He believes in learning concepts over tools and collaborating with people over managing them.

In his free time, he co-hosts this podcast on technology, writes a weekly newsletter and learns about various aspects of software testing.

Rinat Malik

Profile picture for Rinat Malik
Rinat Malik has been in the automation and digital transformation industry for most of his career.

Starting as a mechanical engineer, he quickly found his true passion in automation and implementation of most advanced technologies into places where they can be utilized the most. He started with automating engineering design processes and moved onto Robotic Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence.

He has implemented digital transformation through robotics in various global organisations. His experience is built by working at some of the demanding industries – starting with Finance industry and moving onto Human Resources, Legal sector, Government sector, Energy sector and Automotive sector. He is a seasoned professional in Robotic Process Automation along with a vested interest in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and use of Big Data.

He is also an author of a published book titled “Guide to Building a Scalable RPA CoE”