The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print
operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a
leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
Kenya is praised in the world for having taken a leap in technology with the use of mobile technology but while that may be true and good, it has come with many disadvantages which include: time wastage, added costs and lower productivity at work. This has greatly affected our economy because,an economy is grown by the level of productivity of the people.
According to a recent report, on average, 5.2 million monthly Facebook users in Kenya spend six hours and 38 minutes daily on the Internet. That is time wasted never to be recovered.
Most of these users log in at home, while on commute or before going to bed with Facebook records showing more than 2.5 million users daily with 96 per cent of them accessing the platform on mobile devices. This uses data that does not come cheap.
A more dangerous trend is seeing motorists engrossed on their chats such as on WhatsApp when one second of distraction can be disastrous.
Social media has become an addiction like I remember I recently reconnection with a friend I last saw 14 years ago and the whole time we talked they were on their phone. I lost interest on the conversation and grabbed by book to read. That brings me to the tricks that I have learned to prevent me from social media addition.
First, I read books while commuting especially with the notorious traffic jams. I read business books or personal development books. I get distracted by the books and never remember my smartphone.
Second, I have muted my most active WhatsApp group. That way I don’t feel the urge to see 'what is up'. I also discovered that Facebook is so addictive that when you get a notification either it is a 'like' or a 'message' you don't just read the message and put the phone back. The tendency is to keep scrolling for 'new stories' and then you keep refreshing and refreshing until your thump gets sore. So to beat this, I have completely put off my Facebook notification on my phone screen.
Third and most important is, I have made it a rule I do not take my phone to my bedroom. I leave my phone in the living room. I now have better sleep.
One additional that could be effective is that I 'hide' my social media apps in the 'extras' folder. That way they are out of sight on my smartphone screen. That has reduced the impulse.
When working on a desktop, only open three pages maximum.
In summary to prevent social media addiction and save time, money and increase productivity use these five tricks:
Read books to distract yourself from your smartphone Mute all WhatsApp groups and turn off all Facebook notifications No phones in the bedroom Hide your social media Apps in the 'Extras' folder Open one page at a time while on your desktop
