By Muhsin Ibrahim
I am in my late 30s. However, I sometimes struggle to minimise my presence online. That is even though being online is part of my main job (thanks to digital ethnography) and my ‘side hustle’. Often, one or another thing on the internet will take your focus away, and before you know it, you waste quality time doing nothing important.
According to reports, TikTok rolled out new screen-time limits for teens yesterday to help them reduce their addiction to the video-sharing platform. Under-18 users will get an alert when “they hit an hour of daily scrolling. To dismiss it, they’ll have to enter a passcode.” Unfortunately, this may not help much because kids know how to navigate these restrictions. For instance, they can fake their ages.
Folks, select whom you interact with on and off social media carefully. Avoid toxic people even if they are ‘influencers’. If their content continually disturbs you, unfollow, unfriend, or even block them. Don’t seek people’s validation; learn to ignore and tolerate trolling.
Perhaps more importantly, remember that there is a life beyond social media and outside the internet in its entirety. Live it very well. It’s, in fact, the real deal.
Muhsin Ibrahim lives and works in Cologne, Germany. You can contact him via muhsin2008@gmail.com.
Thank you, Dr. Even before I read this article I have already developed habits of quitting social media, especially Facebook. I stop using Facebook in November 2022, and to date alhamdulillah! I’m still maintaining It. What I find very boring about Facebook is the topic that most is being carried every single week from this topic this week to another topic next week.
I can vividly guess what is being circulated right now on Facebook, it is no other thing than What the late Sheikh Ja’afar said on Atiku Abubakar.
The most amazing thing is that even those that are seen as educated are involved in that scenario. Thank you, Dr Muhsin, I miss your writeup❤️😫 Note: I’m a student I have so much to go on my English just manage as you understand😄