A decade ago (2015) there was a big smartphone boom in India, with Jio giving free 4G internet we went from x% smartphone users to y% in just a few years. We became the biggest Smartphone market in the world in (insert year).
But going from feature phones to smartphone with almost unlimited internet came with a price. People started to read less, became chronically online, living without internet felt like prison. The most affect ones were the youth, like me, as most of us were not working professionals yet, our responsibilities were low. And when you’re a young impressionable person anything that triggers your senses is usually welcomed, and smartphones with social media were packaged as a never ending dopamine hit for all of us.
Soon you could see a decline in things hobbies, reading, sports, bonding with friends (without phones), And a huge spike in content consumption like movies, Netflix, anime, Korean series, you name it, we would sit there and watch it. The problem with this generation is we’ll remember more about the lives of others than our own life, because that’s all we saw.
Social media is so ingrained into our lives that we don’t even stop to think about it. It’s invisible to most of us in our daily lives and you can’t think about changing something if you don’t recognize it’s there and it’s causing a problem.
People today regardless of age have incredibly reduced their own capacity to think critically, as most of their thoughts are being embedded in them through these social channels. When all you do is sit and consume thoughts of others you will have none of your own.
But this is changing and it’s happening rapidly with people of my age, maybe around 20-35. The same people who grew up with a smartphone in their hands from a fairly young age are now fed up with it. Here are a few reasons, Over stimulation, [[Work live balance is a mess]], [[Enshitification of social media]]. You can say a one of these reasons or a combination of these together is making people ditch their smartphones.
These people are realizing that they are not living their own lives, they are living someone else’s. The years they’ve missed scrolling and what they could’ve done with that time and energy. Look, these are young people who have energy and a fire to do something in their life, anyone in this age bracket has that. So when the realization of what they are missing out on actually strikes them any intelligent person would take actions to course correct.
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