Making social media usage net-positive
There is a certain philosophy called “Net Positivity” often used in business. This philosophy accepts that there are always inherent negatives in every project or activity but that one can still engage in projects where the net impact is positive. (in a business context, this impact is often measured only in financial terms, but we can apply multiple dimensions of measurement — financial, social, personal growth, causes, etc)
Consciously using this net positivity strategy also helps us step back and question a certain activity — what are the negatives, what are the positives, are there ways for me to reduce the negatives and increase the positives, are there other alternatives that provide better net positive outcomes — which helps us decide if is it net positive enough for us to engage in it?
We all use this strategy often — to take a job, to put our child in a certain competition, to live somewhere, etc. We keep our eyes open to the negative, try to mitigate them and maximize the positive. It requires conscious analysis and recalibration every once in a while.
We can certainly apply this net positive to social media.
It does bring lot of learning, exposes us to many viewpoints, helps us understand a large number of contexts, leads us to great resources in this time of massive information overload, etc.
And simultaneously, it carries a lot of trash, leads to lot of heated arguments, brings out the worst in people, makes us emotional, wastes time!
However, if we can learn to tame those negatives, it can lead to the net positives.
How can we tame the negatives?
As recommended by the Bhagavad Gita, the most famous Hindu scripture, we can use both bahiranga sadhana (external techniques) and antaranga sadhana (internal techniques) to make social media net positive for us.
Bahiranga — external techniques
This may includes marking specific days/times for using social media, turning off notifications, managing “follow” list to be useful, saving things to read later, etc.
Antaranga — internal techniques
These techniques help in managing the mind to take the best and leave the rest. Hindu shastras mention two qualities — asangatvam and upeksha.
Upeksha is a indifference to what we don’t like — read on and move on, if we don’t like! It is an important quality to nurture for life too.
Asangatvam is non-attachment on social media, so checking it or not checking it are both easy to do. It is also non-reliance on social media for ego boosts or compliments, which makes us resilient to all content and comments.
Just like a warrior enters the battlefield trained well and armed with right weapons, we can too enter the twitter-field trained well and armed with right weapons.
