📱 How Social Media Affects Us: Are We Really in Control?

How many hours do you spend on your phone each day?

If you’re like most people in 2025, it’s probably more than you think. The average person now spends around 2 hours and 24 minutes a day just on social media.

For Gen Z users—those born after 1997—daily screen time often reaches 4 to 5 hours. That’s nearly a third of the day spent online, scrolling, watching, chatting, and reacting.

Whether you're watching funny short videos, replying to messages, or browsing news feeds, social media has become part of our daily rhythm—first thing in the morning, during breaks at work or school, and even while lying in bed.

But this leads to an important question: Is all this screen time helping us—or hurting us?

💡 Vocabulary Builder

These important words and phrases appear throughout the reading:

• anticipation – excitement before something happens

• impairment – weakening or damage of a function, like memory or focus

• interference – something that disrupts or interrupts normal activity

• significant – important or noticeable in effect or amount

• mere – emphasizes how small, simple, or unimportant something is

• deteriorate – to get worse gradually over time

• crave – to desire something intensely or repeatedly

• trigger – to cause something to begin or happen

• turn out – to have a particular result, often unexpected

• commit something to memory – to remember something permanently

• be worth (doing) – to have value or benefit

• point (in doing something) – the reason or purpose for an action

• nomophobia – fear of being without a mobile phone

• uneasy – feeling nervous, worried, or uncomfortable

• dependency – a strong need for or reliance on something

📚 Social Media — Fun or Dangerous?

As of early 2025, there are over 5.2 billion social media users globally. That’s more than half of all people on Earth. Users often have profiles on several platforms, checking each one multiple times a day. Some studies estimate that the average user checks their phone over 100 times in 24 hours.

Social media platforms are designed to trigger emotional responses. A simple like or comment can create a sense of anticipation, followed by a hit of dopamine—a brain chemical that makes us feel good. This quick reward creates a loop that many find hard to break.

Over time, this habit can cause dependency, and research shows that it can also lead to significant impairment in how we think and remember things. Scrolling constantly interrupts our ability to focus. We start forgetting names, tasks, and even important events. The brain becomes trained to expect fast, constant stimulation, which makes it harder to commit information to memory.

The negative effects don’t stop there. Social media also causes interference with sleep. Late-night scrolling is now so common that many people go to bed with their phone still in hand. Notifications and bright screens keep the brain alert. As a result, sleep patterns begin to deteriorate, and energy levels drop during the day.

More and more people are asking themselves: What’s the point of using social media so often if it makes us feel worse? What may have started out as fun and social has turned out to be a major source of distraction, anxiety, and exhaustion.

📵 Nomophobia: Addicted to the Scroll?

Have you ever felt uneasy when your phone isn’t nearby? Do you feel anxious if your battery drops below 10% or when there’s no Wi-Fi? These are signs of nomophobia, a modern digital fear that is now incredibly common.

Nomophobia is short for “no-mobile-phone phobia”—the fear of being without access to your smartphone. It can cause symptoms such as nervousness, sweating, fast heartbeat, and a strong craving to check your phone, even without reason.

Today, nomophobia affects people of all ages, not just teenagers. Students, professionals, and even retirees can develop a daily dependency on their devices for connection, entertainment, or simply habit. People often check their phone during meals, in meetings, or even while walking down the street—just to avoid being disconnected.

But experts say there’s hope. By taking small steps, anyone can begin to regain control. Even the mere act of turning off your phone during meals, or putting it on silent for an hour, can help reduce anxiety and improve mental clarity.

🧠 The Social Dilemma: Is It Really Worth It?

Social media can have real benefits. It helps us stay connected, discover new ideas, and express ourselves creatively. But when it begins to affect our sleep, memory, and emotional health, we have to stop and ask: Is it really worth the cost?

Here are four ways to use your phone more mindfully:

• Cut down on push notifications so you’re not constantly distracted

• Unplug for a while each day—set a timer and do something without your screen

• Designate screen-free zones, such as the dinner table or bedroom

• Replace some online habits with offline ones, like writing in a journal or walking

These simple changes can help you feel more focused, relaxed, and in control of your time.

💬 Idiom & Phrasal Verb Corner

Here are four expressions that describe digital habits:

• Go down a rabbit hole – to get lost in something, like endless videos or articles

• Cut down on – to reduce the amount of something

• Unplug for a while – to take a break from screens and technology

• Be glued to your screen – to spend too much time using a phone, tablet, or computer

✏️ True or False? Quick Check

1️⃣ There are now more than 5 billion people using social media.
2️⃣ Dopamine makes people feel sleepy every time they check their phone.
3️⃣ Social media can interfere with sleep and memory.
4️⃣ Nomophobia is only a problem for teenagers.
5️⃣ Small daily phone breaks can improve focus and reduce stress.

Answers

• ✅ True

• ❌ False (Dopamine creates a pleasure response, not sleepiness)

• ✅ True

• ❌ False (It affects all age groups)

• ✅ True

📈 Interesting Fact: Shrinking Attention Spans

In the early 2000s, people had an average attention span of around 12 seconds. In 2025, that number has dropped to just 8 seconds. That’s less than a goldfish! Experts believe our constant phone use is one of the reasons.

Short-form content—like videos under 90 seconds—is now the most popular type of media. This kind of content keeps us hooked, but also trains our brain to expect fast rewards. The result? It’s harder than ever to concentrate on reading, learning, or completing a task without checking our phones.

🧩 Discussion & Reflection

• What fact or idea from this post surprised you the most?

• Have you ever experienced nomophobia or seen it in others?

• Do you think your attention span has changed in recent years?

• What simple actions could help you cut down on screen time this week?

• In your opinion, is daily social media use really worth the time it takes?

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