How Social Media Destroys Your Dreams

We all know that social media can be detrimental and that it’s usually used just to waste time. But we have to be real here. Social media doesn’t just steal a few minutes here and there, it does much more than that to hold you back in life and possibly even destroy your dreams.

That’s why you have to seriously think about how you spend your time and what exactly you do online. When you stop to think about the effect social media (and the internet in general) has on you, it can be quite shocking.

I myself have wasted way too much time online over the years and I can’t say I’ve gotten much out of it. I have no good memories of scrolling through Instagram and I don’t think I’ve ever learned anything particularly valuable on Quora or Reddit.

How social media affects you and your life is something you have to investigate yourself. Keep reading to find out all the ways in which social media can be harmful to you and your future.

1. You’re wasting more time than you even realize

It’s way too easy to think that you’re only losing a few minutes a day on social media. But if you use an app to track the time you actually spend scrolling, you might just be horrified.

There’s nothing wrong with checking what your friends have posted or keeping up with your favorite creators. The question is how much time you spend doing this. If you’re only spending 10 minutes on social media when you don’t have anything else to do, you don’t really have a problem.

But if you have a habit of checking your phone every once in a while and you resort to watching Instagram reels whenever you feel even a tiny bit bored or uncomfortable, you’ve got a problem.

I recommend you get an app like StayFree to get a better idea of how much time you actually spend on social media.

2. Comparison isn’t helping you

Another problem with social media is that it makes you compare your life with other people’s lives.

You already know this, of course, but it’s good to stop and think about how much you’re actually affected by this.

How do you feel when you see other people’s travel photos or pictures of their seemingly perfect relationships? How does it feel when you see a reel of someone once again claiming that they’re making thousands and thousands every month from their online business?

If those pictures and stories inspire you, that’s good, but if they make you feel in any way less than, you’d probably be better off unfollowing them.

3. You’re constantly distracted

We’ve all heard a hundred times how easily distracted social media makes you. But it is very true and it can become a massive problem for you.

I myself am all too familiar with this. It was sometimes ridiculously hard for me to focus on studying when I was still in university. I felt the need to have a Youtube video constantly playing in the background and I was compulsively checking all my social media accounts every once in a while. And it made my life much harder!

Social media platforms are designed to be addictive and they have the power to destroy your future if you’re not careful. If you feel like your phone is distracting you too much, you have to take action.

Related article: How I Became Productive after Procrastinating for Years

4. It gets harder to focus for long periods of time

Do you dream of writing a book, learning to play the piano, or reading more books?

Many people do, but few actually make their dreams come true. If you let yourself get used to constantly checking your phone and treating boredom with a few reels or checking what’s happening on Twitter, you’ll make it harder and harder for you to learn to deal with discomfort.

Being able to focus for long periods of time will make your life much easier – don’t let yourself lose that skill.

5. You’re wasting your energy

It doesn’t necessarily feel like it, but even scrolling through social media uses up your energy. Perhaps you’ve sometimes woken up in the morning, ready to tackle your to-do list and vowing to be super productive, only to have all that energy slip away as you first spend 20 minutes on Instagram, then quickly check what is new on Youtube and Twitter and before you know it, you’ve wasted hours already and have little energy left.

Everything you do takes up energy. Be mindful of how you spend it and never forget that the difference between reaching your goals and not reaching them is how you spend your time.

6. It’s harder to know what you want from life

Instagram is full of pictures of different kinds of lives and opportunities. You see pictures of New York, Sydney, and London, as well as pictures of newly bought houses, babies, and expensive handbags. Perfect travel photos are posted every day and you can’t help but wonder whether you too should quit your job and travel the world.

The world is your oyster, but having too many options can work against you. It’s all too easy to think that what you see online is all real and that by becoming a travel blogger or a Youtuber you’ll magically become super happy and everything will fall into place.

But the thing is, whatever makes others happy doesn’t necessarily make you happy. And no matter which path in life you choose, there will still be bad days and problems along the way. That’s why you need to focus on what is right for you and not what seems perfect on the surface.

7. You end up with pointless accounts and projects

I’m sure I’m not the only one with this problem. It’s all too easy to come up with new ideas and projects all the time or create a new account on a whim.

The problem is that you only have 24 hours in a day and you can’t waste your time on all kinds of fun little projects that don’t help you build your future.

I suggest you take a good hard look at all the online accounts you have and delete the ones you don’t actually need. This will make your life simpler and free up some much needed time as well.

Final thoughts on how social media destroys your dreams

Social media isn’t all bad, but it can cause big problems for you and even be one of the reasons you don’t reach your goals. And we don’t want that, do we?

Don’t let social media rob you of your time and dreams. Your life is much too valuable to be wasted on watching pictures of other people’s lives and reading angry comments about things that don’t even matter.

Be mindful of how much time you spend online and how it makes you feel. If you want to get a better life, you don’t have time to waste. Install an app blocker to help you stop wasting your time and start building your future.

Do you feel like you waste way too much time on social media? How does it make you feel and what do you think is the biggest challenge in staying offline?

If you’re eager to make a change, read about how you can start taking charge of your own life!