49. Living in a Digital World

What if social media had an off switch at 5 PM, just like a traditional workday? Imagine a world where our evenings were free from the curated perfection and constant connectivity that often distort our reality and erode our happiness. On today's episode of the Freedom First podcast, I, Justin Arrington, dive into the paradox of social media—a tool with the power to build businesses and connect people, yet one that can also distort our reality and erode our joy. I share my personal experiences and struggles with balancing its allure with the need for genuine, human connection. We'll explore the often unseen lies and the curated perfection that fills our feeds, and I reflect on how setting time limits, though challenging to enforce, might be beneficial for our mental health and relationships.

Join me for a candid conversation about the reality behind social media and its impact on our lives. I encourage you to rethink your habits and consider the positive outcomes of being more authentic online. Whether you have a large social media presence or are just an occasional user, there's value in sharing your true self with the world. My hope is that this episode inspires you to live your life to the fullest and take steps to ensure social media doesn't overshadow your real-life experiences. If today's discussion resonates with you, don't forget to share the podcast with friends, family, or anyone who might benefit from this conversation. Let's work together to foster genuine connections and live authentically.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:18

Welcome back to the Freedom First podcast. This is Justin Arrington bringing you another episode. This is episode number 49, 49 days in a row that we've been dropping a new episode for you. In this podcast, I bring you little tips and tricks that you can start applying into your life today. That'll lead you to living a life on your own terms, and that is my whole purpose of this show. So if you guys get any value whatsoever, all that I ask is that you share the show with someone who you feel like would benefit from it. That's my whole intention. So if you guys get any value, share it, share it on social, share it with friends, family, whoever that may be.

Speaker 1: 0:55

Guys, today we're going to talk a little bit about social media and the lies behind social media. I feel like it's super easy, especially in today's day and age, to just get caught up in and, honestly, just all the BS that happens on social media. Everybody's always out there to you know, paint the perfect life and and just you know it's all fake. I think there's honestly, very, very few people who are willing to put out their entire life, you know, to the fullest, and to tell the whole truth. I think social media is a great tool, it's something that has honestly made me a lot of money in my business and I'm super grateful for social media, but at the same time, like it's honestly something that is destroying humanity. I'm just going to be put it out there. I think social media is destroying humanity.

Speaker 1: 1:49

I saw something the other day that said, you know what, what, if social media was, uh, was a nine to five and it, you know five o'clock, it shut off, like what? What would our lives look like? And I've, honestly, I've been thinking about that and it's something that I, I kind of wish was a thing. Um, you know, I don't thinking about that and it's something that I, I kind of wish was a thing. Um, you know, I don't know how many times there's been where, you know, I get, I sit down on the couch and I get caught up on my phone and you know, my, my kids say something and, to be honest, like I, I really don't know what they said because I wasn't paying attention. And, um, I do wish that the social media had time limits and you know, they were very, very strict. I know we can put limitations on our phone, but it's very easy to, you know, hit that uh, ignore, ignore my time limit for today button.

Speaker 1: 2:31

I know I'm guilty of that sometimes and, um, you know, gosh, social media can be such such a cool thing but also just so demeaning. Um, you know, it's something for me like I've had to unfollow a lot of people that I look up to. Uh, you know, just because they they may be in a place where I wish I was, or, you know, I haven't quite hit that standard yet and it's hard for me to to pull up social media every day and see, you know, all their, their traveling with their families and they're they're doing all these, all this cool thing that you know they're honestly like living my dream life. And I'm super happy for him that there's nothing wrong with that because, like this whole show preaches, like I'm, I'm all out to live life to the fullest, I want to do everything that I possibly can to to live my dream life and I feel like social media honestly sucks the joy out of that for a lot of people. And I don't know I this is just something that's kind of been on my mind over the last few days. That's why I wanted to talk about it and, um, you know, I think that there are a lot of lies behind social media. Um, I, you know the truth is really hard to get out of people sometimes and that definitely didn't help help humanity at all.

Speaker 1: 3:42

Um, so, guys, I, I, I really, if you guys are big on social media, or if you have some sort of social media presence, even if you don't, like, I encourage you to. You know, put put your life out there a little bit. I know, not everybody may want to do that, but there can be a lot of really cool things to come from. You know, just posting your day-to-day stuff. You know your ups and your downs, your wins, your losses, whatever that may look like. Um, and I'm not saying that you have to be on social media to be successful.

Speaker 1: 4:09

Like, I, I would say I have a semi presence on social media. Like, I'm not on there all the time. I, I've honestly cut back on how much I post on social media. Um, but yeah, guys, like really really take that into consideration. Like, how much time are you spending on there? Um, um, but yeah, guys, like really really take that into consideration. Like, how much time are you spending on there? Um, you know, and and are you getting caught up in the lies of. You know everybody's living out, living a perfect life and you know my life just sucks. And you know where do you fall on that spectrum? Like, can you see behind all the BS or do you get caught up in it Like, um, I know influencers nowadays are a big part of social media and there's a lot of people that follow people that you know make it out like they're living. You know the best life when, deep down maybe, they're struggling. You know that there's I don't know that's that fine line of like when is too much enough. You know, just to social media, like I said, I believe that it is a super cool tool and I've honestly used it to, you know, make money for me and my family and it's I'm not knocking it, you know a hundred percent. But I do think that it is sucking the joy out of a lot of people and out of a lot of families and I, uh, I don't know it'd kind of be cool to go back to like early two thousands when it, when it wasn't a thing. You know that that was when I was in the middle of my childhood and you know even the thought of Instagram or even a smartphone back then, like it was honestly like, well, that would be crazy, like that, that's what we would, you know, imagine like the year 3000 to look like. But here we are. You know, everybody has a world of knowledge, a world of uh, a world of fantasy, I don't know whatever you want to call it um, at our fingertips, and I think it's something that we really need to take a look like how much time are you spending on there every day? Um, you know, do you spending on there every day? Do you get caught in the scroll wheel where you just keep scrolling and it's to the point where you're not even scrolling to look at anything, you're just doing it because it's a habit, and I'm guilty of that, and I honestly I hate to admit that that I am addicted to social media, as I'm sure a lot of you guys are. So, guys, take a step back from social media. Maybe you need to take a social media fast, get off of it for a few days and maybe see how you feel. I've done that in the past and I think that's something that I need to do again. It's a good time to really step back, focus on your goals and really think about what's important in life, and, um, I think that that's what it's all about. So, guys, just make sure that you're limiting your time on social media, make sure that you're getting on there for the right reasons, and, uh, you know, I'm not saying that it's it's bad to scroll for a few minutes here and there, um, you know, just to get kind of keep caught up with friends, family and things like that. But, guys, that's my tip of the day for you Limit your time on social media, make sure you're using it for the right things and, guys, that's it Seven minutes. I like to keep these episodes super short and I hope you guys received some sort of value from that, and, if so, all I ask is that you just share the show. Thanks, guys, we'll talk to you later.