back and myself and a small team will continue to post inspirational wisdom quotes, images and articles daily. However, to this day I still have not recovered my personal account. This was disabled due to messages the hackers had posted.
I’ve been on Facebook since 2009 and had almost five thousand friends and ten thousand followers. It’s like my virtual house has burned down and all my photos, memories, and Facebook history have been destroyed. I can’t see or recover anything from my account. I’m not sure if this is superficial or not, but I experienced a small amount of grief for my loss. However, I didn’t get angry or upset, but was surprised that I actually felt relief.
I’ve tried to use Facebook wisely. I even wrote an article about it
how to use social media as a spiritual practice. I led my own Meditation Group, followed inspiring Zen, meditation and Buddhist teachers and had discussions about meditation and spirituality.
However, following people easily turned into jealousy, discussions became heated debates and arguments, and the endless scrolling became mind-numbingly distracting. It didn’t take much research to find research showing this
Facebook has a negative impact on your mental health.
Social media addiction is real and is included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It can lead to depression, feelings of inadequacy and destroy your attention span. Psychologists even have one
Social Media Impairment Scale; This is a nine-question survey designed to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy social media use.
In the past year, have you…
1) …have you regularly come to the conclusion that you can’t think about anything other than the moment when you can use social media again?
2) …you regularly felt dissatisfied because you wanted to spend more time on social media?
3) …you often felt bad when you couldn’t use social media?
4) …tried to spend less time on social media but failed?
5) …regularly neglected other activities (e.g. hobbies, sports) because you wanted to use social media?
6) …regularly had arguments with others because of your use of social media?
7) …regularly lied to your parents or friends about the amount of time you spend on social media?
8) …often used social media to escape negative feelings?
9) …had a serious conflict with your parents, brother(s) or sister(s) because of your use of social media?
If you answered “yes” to five or more of these items, you meet the criteria for a formal diagnosis of a “disturbed social media user.”
It all depends on how you use social media and if you had asked me a few weeks ago I would have denied that I had any problems with it, but it’s my feelings of relief and freedom now that it’s over that made me believe that it was a problem for me.
Facebook could easily be called Egobook.
People usually post projections of themselves in the best light, creating images of happiness and joy that are actually a misrepresentation of their real lives. I wanted to inspire people to meditate and grow and show the best parts of myself, but it’s certainly not the whole picture. My life is not as perfect as my Facebook made it out to be.
Not to mention that Facebook is designed to be addictive and keep you busy for as long as possible. In 2019, Facebook in Australia experimented with hiding all likes on posts to help users avoid being so addicted. I remember the few weeks this happened and it was definitely a different experience posting things without being able to see people’s likes. The experiment didn’t last long and it’s time to show all the likes again.
Researchers say:
“Despite the emotional toll, more than 70 percent of users check Facebook daily. So why on earth do people keep coming back for more when Facebook makes them sad? Researchers say this stems from a psychological term called affective predictions. Studies confirm that people predict that Facebook will make them feel better. They assume – albeit wrongly – that 20 minutes of Facebook activity will improve their mood. Little do they realize that it is actually robbing them of joy.
I feel like I’ve woken up from a trance. I recently went hiking in the National State Forest and realized that I usually have my phone/camera with me and share photos on Facebook. That seems innocent enough, but I experienced a different quality of experience just walking, being present with nature and my wife, instead of the usual preoccupation of looking for a good photo spot and assuming a full lotus position for the classic meditation photo. Instead, I just walked through nature, being present to its beauty and not caring about the photo opportunities or how it would look on my Facebook. I returned to the simplicity of the moment and being freed from the clutches of Facebook certainly helped.
It seems that Facebook had infiltrated my consciousness so much that it helped frame my reality in much the same way that the ego frames everything from its perspective. After doing a lot of inner work to become aware of my ego with its biases, beliefs and stories, I could see that Facebook had somehow colored my perspective in a similar process.
Before Facebook mountains were just mountains, then came Facebook and mountains were photo opportunities, now Facebook is over for me, mountains are just mountains again.
Instead of reading random things from my Facebook newsfeed, I’m actually reading books again, instead of relying on inspirational memes, I’m opening the Tao Te Ching, stories about Zen masters, or classical Buddhist teachings from my bookshelf. I am much more conscious of what I read. I feel like my ongoing education and learning is much more targeted and focused when I do it this way. I’m also spending more time developing meditation courses, writing blogs and even one or two extra meditation sessions for myself, often experimenting with different techniques.
I also don’t have Messenger anymore because it was connected to my disabled Facebook account and I love not being “on call” for everyone. Email is great. There is less urgency and although I respond to emails daily, I don’t feel as compelled to respond immediately as I do on Messenger.
I replaced the Facebook app iconfrom my phone with Duolingo, a language learning app. Every time I compulsively looked at my phone to open Facebook, I saw the Duolingo icon and took a German lesson instead. I think if I put as much time into learning a new language as I do into scrolling Facebook, I could be speaking German within six months.
One study found that not being on Facebook meant you were less aware of current political events – GOOD! – I’m tired of the polarizing effect of political views – it really divides people, I’m tired of being acutely aware of how corrupt laws and politicians are or how our leaders are destroying our freedoms etc. It’s really not healthy to consume so much political discourse that consists mainly of promotional propaganda or demonizing negative smears. There’s rarely a reasonable middle ground on Facebook, but that’s probably the case for most media these days.
Okay, so I know it seems like I’m bashing social media, but I wanted to share my experience with leaving Facebook, getting off to a good start, and how it has positively impacted my life. I also wanted people who followed me on Facebook to know that I didn’t block you. I’m just not here anymore.
My essential meditation teaching is to return to the simplicity of the moment with mindfulness, openness and joy. I feel like my life has become simpler again and focused on positive things. The Facebook trance is gone, I have regained that part of my brain and attention that was bound by Facebook.
I’m learning that too
meditation is just the beginning. It is from a clear space of mindfulness that we can do that
see clearly what helps us grow and what holds us back, what helps nourish our body and mind and what depletes us. Your diet is not only what you consume as food, but also what you consume as media. Making healthy choices is the best option in life, but not always the easiest. For me at least, leaving Facebook has been a step in a positive direction.
Written by Chad Foreman
Chad Foreman is the founder of The Way of Meditation and has been teaching meditation since 2003, determined to bring authentic meditation practices into the lives of millions of people in the modern world. Chad is a former Buddhist monk who lived in a retreat hut for six years and studied and practiced meditation full-time. He now has over twenty years of experience teaching meditation. Chad likes regularly
Meditation retreats on the Sunshine Coast, Australia
Online meditation coaching,
provides three online programs – The 21 Day Meditation Challenge to gradually guide people from the basic principles of mindfulness and relaxation to profound states of consciousness.
Breathwork to help manage stress and go deeper into meditation and
The bliss of inner fire
This is a Buddhist tantric method to clear energy blockages and connect with the clear light of bliss. You can also get Chad’s free ebook now Insights on the go.