Photo Credit: pexels
The novelty of social media wore off a long time ago. Unfortunately, social media just seems so boring some days. But there’s a surprising reason for this, and it’s not what you think.
No, it has nothing to do with all the political content flooding social media platforms right now. And it has nothing to do with the media’s fascination with the latest viral trend. Like most people, you’re probably tired of hearing how a certain joke went viral, or a certain food went viral, or a certain article of clothing went viral.
The digital switching phenomenon
No, the problem has to do with you. And, more precisely, with how you use social media. We’re a nation of channel flippers, desperately seeking something – anything! – that can hold our interest for more than 15 minutes.
It started with our TV watching habits. As soon as cable TV went mainstream, many people frantically flipped through channels, hoping to find something worth watching. Bruce Springsteen even wrote a song about it: “57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)”.
And now the same behavior has followed us to social media, where it’s referred to as “digital switching.” And it’s not just me saying this. A University of Toronto researcher actually published an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology detailing this phenomenon. What the researcher found is that too much “digital switching” leads to feelings of boredom.
Through a countless number of experiments, the researchers found that too much switching is bad for you. For example, if you’re not finishing a TikTok video to the very end, and or flipping through YouTube videos after a few seconds, you’re going to feel more bored. The same thing is true if you fast-forward through a Netflix movie, or scroll endlessly through your social media feeds for hours.
A cure for social media boredom
The good news, say researchers, is that there’s an easy fix for social media boredom: Stop switching. Engage in the moment, and really take in what’s happening. Instead of switching so quickly, give the content a real chance to develop. It might just be more entertaining than you thought.
The University of Toronto researchers used the example of watching movies at home vs. watching movies at the theater. In the theater, you are fully immersed in the film, and watch it to the very end. At home, you’re probably hitting “pause” every few minutes, as you check out a new message, notification, alert, or update from your mobile device. As a result, you’re much more likely to walk out of a movie raving about how spectacular it was. Meanwhile, at home, you can barely remember what the movie was about.
So if you’re really serious about ending the social media boredom epidemic, it’s time for you to do your part. When you follow someone on social media, make an agreement with yourself that you will watch or read all content from that creator to the very end. Yes, this sounds like more work for you. But, trust me, you won’t be nearly as bored as you used to be.
