2026 will be known as the year when Big Tech met its reckoning. In March, a jury in California found Meta and Google liable for negatively affecting a young people’s mental health by designing addictive platforms that keep users scrolling. In August, Meta settled a lawsuit brought together by a coalition of states who accuse the social media giant of collecting data from minors and keeping young users hooked on its platforms. Meta agreed to settle for 16.68 billion dollars. However, this is not the end of the legal reconning for the tech giant. There are currently thousands of cases in US Federal courts against social media companies that profit from the attention of young users. In Canada, the families of victims in the Tumbler Ridge shooting have filed a lawsuit against Open AI, the founders of Chat GPT, for failing to notify authorities of the shooters’ intent to harm.
I have written previously about the dangers of social media addiction, its toxic influence on mental wellbeing, and its corrosive effect on civil discourse. The latest court ruling is another indication of the harms brought about by an insidious business model. The lawsuits use existing legal frameworks to protect those most vulnerable, but that does not mean adults are immune to the harms of social media. Children and teens do not yet have the executive functions to moderate their screen use, and are therefore especially vulnerable to addiction. However, even with a fully developed cortex, adults are not that much better at managing their screen-time. Social media apps are designed to keep us scrolling with little hits of amusement and novelty; they present an endless menu of dopamine hits. Rage-bait incite our emotions and stir our frustration before the pre-frontal cortex is able to intervene with critical awareness. Sensationalist headlines by provocative influencers can poison public discourse, create fields of distorted opinions that feed on outrage and fear, thus eroding the conditions of democratic participation. Even seemingly innocuous videos of cute dogs and cats can eat away hours of our attention, leaving us feeling empty and dissociated from our lives.
I believe that social media has lost its social license. More people are now disillusioned by its vacuous promises. Perhaps we will increasingly see Big Tech in the same camp as Big Tobacco, corporations that profit from widespread social harm. While the lawsuits work their way through courts, and as governments struggle to regulate social media companies, individuals must continue to grapple with their own screen-addled lives. If you are looking to reduce your screen time, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Go Easy on Self-Blame
People often blame themselves for falling prey to social media. They reprimand themselves for not having greater agency over their minds, for surrendering their attention, for becoming unwitting puppets of corporate control. This smear of self-blame adds further injury to the existing condition.
Social media is addictive by design. Corporations engineered their platforms to exploit our animal brains, to capture the inclinations that have evolved over millions of years. Our innate ability to detect something of interest and follow it with rapt attention, a capacity that contributes to our survival, is now hijacked by algorithms that keep us riveted. Our attention is constantly occupied, but we derive very little substance. That we are fixated is neither a flaw in our character, nor a fault in our wiring; it is the outcome of a predatory platform that exploits our vulnerabilities.
Instead of blaming yourself for addiction, relax into the present moment. Bring some tenderness to the part of you that is inclined to scroll. This part of you is not the enemy.
Adjust Phone Settings
Many smartphones come with settings that help users moderate their screentime. Here are a few things you can do to limit your use:
- Turn off push notifications
- Set time limits for each app
- Track screen time and review weekly averages; make a goal to reduce average screen time.
- Purge list of following and followers
By doing the above, we set parameters for our screen time and remove limit the apps’ ability to totalize our attention.
Find an Accountability Buddy
It can be hard to curtail your screen time if left entirely to your own will power. Often, it helps to have a supportive friend who will keep you accountable. Accountability is often a dirty word that carries associations of judgement, surveillance, and reprimand. This does not need to be the case. Instead, an accountability buddy can make the process both supportive and fun. I know of someone who has an agreement with his friend when they meet for coffee: whoever has the lower average screen time each week buys the coffee. This is a low-stakes but friendly way of keep one another accountable while replacing social media with real relationships.
Choose Real Life
Often, we retreat to the miasma of the screen because we are bored, or find our distractions easier to handle than what life requires of us. If we want to decrease screen time, we might ask ourselves: what are we replacing it with? If we spend less time on the phone, what would we do with ourselves? This question terrifies some of us, because in asking the question, we confront the lack of joy and fulfillment in our lives. For these reasons, I argue that it is imperative to look at the lives that we have built for ourselves. Do we have friends that we enjoy spending time with? Hobbies that engage our talents and interests? Work that make use of our abilities? Passions that stoke our enthusiasm and energy? Projects that fuel our sense of purpose?
By choosing real, physical activities that engage us in the here and now, that situate us in the present moment and place, we can return to everything that makes our lives satisfying and meaningful. If we don’t yet have much by way of real substance in our lives, we can begin to build it by getting together with friends face to face. We can go for walks, bike rides, or a stroll by the beach. If social media removes us from our physical surroundings, dissociates us from our senses, the best way to countermand its influence is to return to a physical life in our immediate surroundings.
Deep Practices
I also recommend taking up deep practices that can engage much of our faculties. Deep practices are endeavours that take time to learn and a lifetime to master. Learning to play an instrument, for example, is a deep practice. Not only does it take frequent and committed practice to build one’s proficiency, the dedication gives birth to mastery over time. This is not merely acquiring a skill, but becoming a kind of person. You are not just learning to play a chord, you are becoming a musician. In doing so, you are making something of yourself. Learning a language is another form of deep practice. It’s hard work and requires persistence and patience – however, few things are as satisfying as conversing in a different language and gaining insights into another culture through its own tongue. How I use my time becomes the person that I am. By building this into my life, I create the conditions for meaning and fulfillment that throws into relief the trivialities of social media.
Mary Oliver once asked: What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? We face this question even in the most ordinary moments of each day. We answer it with our actions. If being subjected to the screen is not a satisfying way to live my precious life, then my task is clear. For all of us who are vulnerable to the temptations of social media, there is never a better time to take charge of our attention, our minds, our consciousness, and our inner life.