Samir Gardner argues that social media hooks users through dopamine from scrolling, leading to unhealthy comparison and social anxiety. He says the platforms can educate and profit, but only with intentional use: follow accounts that teach, limit consumption, and step back when it becomes consuming.
Chapters
What's good everyone, it's your boy Samir Gardner. Hope y'all having a good day. So let's expose social media real quick. Uh, first of all, uh, like when you're on social media, just ask yourself this question: are you happy of being on social media? Like, is being— is you being on social media making you happy? Does it make you happy or does it give you fun? You gotta ask yourself this question. It might be also as well, uh, dopamine. Because if it's not— if you're not happy being on social media and you don't have fun, then why are so many people addicted to social media? It's because of the dopamine. It's because of the pixels. They— and they love— I don't know, I think they love watching other people live. I don't know. But yeah, uh, so, so are you happy being on social media? Like, does it give you any types of fun or anything watching stories or posts. It doesn't— like, I don't think somebody's gonna be happy in their life just by being on social media. That's not the passion. No, that's not the passion. Uh, also, when you're on social media, you compare yourself way too much. Like, way too much. Like, it's, it's absurd. Like, y'all, y'all basically, uh, let's say, let's say my friends situation. I'm grateful for my situation right now. But then I go on social media and I compare my life and I'm like, damn, I wish I was like this. I wish I could live a life like this and have all this money. But dude, I was grateful at first, but now because of social media and I compare myself too much, then I'm not grateful anymore for my situation. You only look at the, the richest people. You don't even look at the poor people. The poor people are literally like living hell, and you're just watching these rich people, and then you're, you're saying your situation is bad and everything. But there's— first of all, they are successful because I don't think they were— they weren't successful by being on social media 24/7. First of all, they were not addicted. They're successful because they put in that work, you know what I mean? They put in that work. But you being on social media 24/7 is not— you're not putting any type of work. Like, I swear to God, if Instagram, if Instagram decided to put everything black and white, like everything black and white in the application, I swear there will be no one on Instagram. There will be no, no one, I swear. Because the dopamine, you understand, the dopamine is the reason people are addicted to things. That's the reason I addicted to video games, social media, everything. That's the reason. But what you gotta understand is that the only reason you're on social media is because of the dopamine. So if it go— if, let's say, uh, so, uh, Instagram goes black and white, like, there will be no one just because you don't see colors, you don't see that many pixels. And that's, that's the reason why people are addicted. That's because of the pixels and everything. I swear that, I swear to God. And also, when you're addicted to pixels and everything, you just, you're basically just spending your time doing nothing. Like, to be honest, you're just spending your time doing nothing because, I mean, you're not even benefiting your situation. You're not putting any type of work, you're not doing something any research that could help you, anything. Literally watching celebrities like live their life and post pictures with their fashion clothes, like, like, that's sad. Like, you, you're not doing anything with your life. And also, one of the big problems from social media is that it gives you social, social anxiety. Why? Many things like that give a high dopamine level And by the way, dopamine is when you get, uh, satisfaction to your brain. It's big. That's why you're addicted to things like— food gives dopamine, but it doesn't give as much dopamine as social media or video games. But you gotta understand why it gives social anxiety, because people don't want to socialize no more in real life, rather text through messages. But the thing is that Through messages, you're not like— it's not you, you know what I mean? Like, you're not— and you're not talking to someone who is like in real life. You're just talking through texts, and you don't need any like social, uh, security, or I mean not security, but like you don't need to be con— um, if you have social anxiety, you can text. That's the thing. But if you have social anxiety, you cannot talk in real life. Because, I mean, you can, but you know, it's harder for you. But you gotta understand, so, uh, social media gives social anxiety because when you go up, when you're— there's too much dopamine, like, you'd rather stay on social media than go outside and socialize. If there wasn't any technology, there was no technology, people would have been outside, I swear to God. I swear to God, people would be playing basketball 24/7. That's why I'm probably one of the only ones who plays basketball in my neighborhood. Like, if there was no technology, I swear, like, people would come to me and be like, yo, can I play basketball or anything? I swear. I mean, people are just addicted. People are addicted. They're addicted because of that dopamine. Like, that's how it works. And just, just think about it like that. Are you using social media to your advantage, or are you, are you letting, uh, social media consume you? Because when you're, you're being consumed, you're not doing anything good to your life. You're not doing anything good. At least be on social media and subscribe to things where you can learn stuff, you know what I mean? Or, or, I don't know, you subscribe to people that give you motivation. But you need to get those things for yourself. You need to do your own research. You need to be on your grind, you know, you need to motivate yourself. But, uh, social media is not 100% bad, not at all. Like, people make money from it. People can make a living from social media. You can too. And what you gotta understand is that social media is, is, can be very powerful to your advantage, but also can be very powerful when it comes to like not destroying your life but ruining your life. Can be like a big component of why your life is like this and everything. But once you get out, uh, like get off that social media platform and everything you're gonna realize that you're gonna be more grateful for your situation because you don't compare yourself anymore. You don't. And yeah, and back to the, uh, being, uh, social media can be used to your advantage. You can promote your videos, you can do a lot of things that is going to give you money or anything you want. Basically, you can use it to your advantage, and that's how I think people should use it. But I'm not telling people I still have social media, but I will only do things for my, for my projects and everything. I want to search things for my projects and everything. But yeah, so yeah, that's it for the video. Hope y'all liked it. Comment, share, subscribe, and like. I'm out. Peace, y'all.
