By O. Deng, TIWP Student

I’ve been corrupted by social media. I know it. Every time I open the app, I get hit with a rush of dopamine that intensifies every time I swipe at the screen with my finger. Until one hour goes by. Then two. Then three. And I realize that I’ve wasted three hours doomscrolling and getting nothing done. I tell myself that it’s okay to have days like this—where you stay in bed and scroll on your phone for hours on end—but those days turn into five days straight, and then into weeks, and then into months. Then I realize that I spend most of my life looking at a screen, without actually enjoying life and the world around me. I know I’m going to look back and wish I spent more time engaging with everyone and being more productive, but in the present moment, this is all I can think about. It’s an addiction. An addiction to short form content and a false sense of happiness. An addiction to validation from people you’ve never met. I want to get out of this loop. I want to go back to the days where I wasn’t addicted to my phone or social media, because I know how different my life would be if I didn’t check my phone every three minutes.