Has social media hooked you?

Aug 3

How much time would you estimate you spend on social media?

A few minutes here or there, right?

But the estimates are much higher:

Data from GWI reveals that the typical social media user actively uses or visits an average of 7.5 different social platforms each month, and spends an average of close to 2½ hours per day using social media.

Assuming that people sleep for between 7 and 8 hours per day, these latest figures suggest that people spend roughly 15 percent of their waking lives using social media.

15%??

How did you and I get so hooked?

Is 150 minutes a day on social media helping you experience God's love?

Do you feel like you are participating in God's mission to reconcile men and women of every nation to himself?

We were targeted.

Teams of executives intentionally designed a process to hook us into using their platforms.

Imagine you run a social media network. Your goal is to get more people to use your product for more time so you can serve more ads and make more money.

If users get hooked, you get a promotion and a bonus.

But if user engagement declines, you get fired.

The participants are called “users” for a reason.

Why? The payoff is huge. As I write this, Facebook’s market cap is $811 billion!

For instance, when Instagram was designed (and of course, it continues to be tweaked), they consulted with behavioral psychologists to systematically build an onboarding process to form a new habit: regularly sharing personal photos.

As more people shared more photos (or videos), Instagram had more content to show each user. The more content, the more engagement. The more engagement, the more ads. The more ads, the bigger the bonuses.

Here’s one explanation of how it works:

For millions of users like Yin, Instagram is a harbor for emotions and inspirations. It’s a virtual memoir in pretty pixels. By thoughtfully moving users from external to internal triggers, Instagram designed a persistent routine in peoples’ lives. Once the users’ internal triggers began to fire, competing services didn’t stand a chance. Each snapshot further committed users to Instagram, making it indispensable to them, and apparently to Facebook as well.

The same is true of all the largest social networks. How did they gain hundreds of millions or billions of “users”?

It wasn’t by accident. It involved the careful study and application of insights from behavioral psychology and related fields - in combination with brilliant software engineering, graphic design, and user experience design.

The goal is a frictionless, pleasing experience that creates new habits.

Think about it from your own point of view:

What do you do when you’re bored? You check your phone “just in case.” Oh, I see a notification; what’s going on?

Now there’s curiosity…

So you log in and start to scroll.

Within seconds, the pain of boredom is replaced with the pleasure of a strong emotional experience.

The content you see could be happy or sad, funny or outrageous. But it is related to you and your personal interests.

Time’s up, but next time you have a free moment, and you need relief, where will you go?

Sometimes the relief comes from passively consuming what other people share.

But we also get rewarded by sharing about ourselves.

Then the likes, retweets, and comments roll in. It feels good to be seen, applauded, and valued by others.

So how do we fix this problem?

I don’t think “willpower” is the answer.

That’s already been overwhelmed by the sheer force of the habit formation process.

If “willpower” was the answer, you’d still be practicing your New Year's resolutions, right?

Vera Ludwig, a research associate at Penn, studies how we change our behaviors.

She explains that the first step is to become aware of our current habits:

Step 1 focuses on realizing that a particular action doesn’t make sense, that perhaps it doesn’t match up with someone’s goals or doesn’t contribute to that person’s overall well-being.
“With mindfulness, we can observe our habits instead of trying to force ourselves to do things differently…"

I hope to spark self-awareness.

If we don't know there's a problem, then we aren't motivated to fix it.

Here’s how Uncommon Pursuit can help…

Remember, the data shows that "the typical social media user actively uses or visits an average of 7.5 different social platforms each month."

For the sake of your spiritual growth, I'd like to encourage you to replace just one of those social platforms for a free membership at Uncommon Pursuit.

Many of us are bored or stuck in our faith. Why?

One reason is that we don't have an environment where we're encouraged to contribute.

Most of the time, we're spectators as other people do something for God.

You don't get better at basketball by watching March Madness. You have to get on the court. You have to take some practice shots.

So let me explain what makes Uncommon Pursuit so unique.

It’s different from anything you’ve experienced elsewhere.

First, we don’t serve ads. Instead, we’re supported by donors and member subscriptions. That means our model isn’t built on maximizing engagement.

Instead, we ask our members to evaluate whether or not their time in the community leads to personal transformation into Christlikeness.

Next, our community aligns with research-based insights on how to change our habits.

For instance, consider Ludwig's seven steps to changing behavior with how we've designed Uncommon Pursuit:

Mindfulness: We’re prompting you to become self-aware of your social media usage. When did Facebook or Instagram last do that? And every Sunday, we close the community to new comments to remind us that there's an alternative to social media.
Write it down: We focus on writing because writing requires clear thinking. Whether you create a Topic or reply to one, the environment shapes us to develop a better understanding of the issue we’re discussing together. Writing prioritizes personal growth over dopamine hits.
Set goals: We invite you to start a new daily habit: each day, share what God showed you in the "My Step to God" Category.
Give it time: After participating in Uncommon Pursuit for a year, how much more prepared will you be to discuss your faith?
Practice meditation: Missional members receive a weekly prompt designed to encourage self-reflection, Bible study, and prayer.
Cut yourself some slack: We focus on God’s uncommon pursuit - which helps us experience grace.

And you don't have to take my word for it. Here's what members have shared:

I come from halfway around the world from a different race but I felt the welcome, care and belongingness of a uniquely diverse community sharing the essence and joy of being designed different yet one and united in the body of Christ.
- Hannah Mae

Uncommon Pursuit has opened up doors for discussion within the faith community, while providing opportunities for Christians to grow in their walk with God relationally and intellectually. By building a strong spiritual foundation, Uncommon Pursuit enables Christians to better love others in need.
- Kiko

“I’ve gone from struggling to have ANY evangelistic conversations to regularly talking with skeptical friends for WEEKS about the gospel. The Uncommon Pursuit community will transform your faith and prepare you to live for Jesus!”
- Alison

Are you happy with your social media usage?

I only know a few people who, upon reflection, feel their investment in social media is connected to their personal goals in life.

I want you to experience a transformational community. An empowering environment that prepares you to take new risks for God's glory.

Isn't that the kind of person you want to become?

I hope you'll join us today.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.

You’re also invited to discuss this essay in the Uncommon Pursuit community.

This ministry is sustained by donations. Thank you for your consideration.