Lessons about social media usage from the idiot box era

In the 1990s, when we were children, there were only a few media formats. The default was TV, followed by radio, then print media — books, newspapers, and magazines. However, we didn’t read unless it was for academics or competitive exams. So most consumption was through TV.

We used to wait for specific shows. Thursdays used to be special because one of my favourite series — Meendum Kuttichathan — an unofficial sequel to India’s first 3D film, My Dear Kuttichathan, was screened at 7 pm. Each episode ended with a cliffhanger, leaving us wanting more. Unlike today, there was no pause, rewind, watch later or a re-telecast. If you wanted to watch it, it was only on Thursdays at 7 pm.

Ours was a manual CRT TV that supported only eight channels. So every time someone had to get up from the couch, go to the TV, and press the button to change the channel. With a limited choice, we were forced to commit to one particular channel or show during our TV time.

We had a family ritual of watching Sun TV News at 8 pm every day. The news broadcast had a quiz section at the start of a commercial break, and the answer would be revealed before the news resumed. I’d write down the questions and answers in my diary, building my own little knowledge base, which helped me during the quiz session at the school assembly and in contests.

In 2000, a remote-controlled TV came home that supported a hundred channels, and we had access to 80+ channels from the cable TV operator. With an abundance of choice, channel surfing became one of our hobbies. Thanks to my father, the family ritual of watching the news together stayed for decades, no matter the time.

The era of tailored content

Then came the Internet. When access was through a dial-up connection billed at an hourly rate, we were intentional with what we did. Then there was broadband, GPRS, and eventually, access to the Internet became universal.

Today, for most people, social media and big-tech apps are the Internet. Short-form video consumption is like the TV of the 2000s. Scrolling through short-form videos is a form of channel surfing — always excited about what may show up next.

However, channel surfing was not personalised. It wasn’t tailored to what we thought or which channels we engaged with the most. The short-form videos we watch are personalised recommendations based on our past engagement with the platform and predictions of what might interest us.

The friction is higher now. The algorithm has outsmarted us in a way that makes it hard to break free.

Social media usage, specifically short-form videos, is causing addiction and sparking numerous problems among children. Countries like Australia have already banned social media for kids. In India, Karnataka announced its intent to ban social media apps for kids under 16.

But children are not the only victims. All adults, including our grandparents, are absorbed by short-form videos on social media. After a session of scrolling, we hardly remember anything we watched.

Regulating the time spent

Back then, TV was given a bad rap. It was called “Idiot Box”. School teachers would repeatedly ask us not to watch TV, especially if we were in class 10 or 12, facing board exams that would decide our fate. In every parent-teacher meeting, teachers requested that parents disconnect cable TV services so their kids could study. However, most parents just regulated the TV time.

The same strategy can be used today for social media consumption. I personally do this in multiple ways. I use a method called time blocking, allocating up to one hour a day to consuming social media, specifically Instagram. I split that into two sessions: the first session is in the afternoon, post-lunch, when my mental energy is low. I don’t go to the reels tab; instead, I go through my feed and the stories of accounts I follow. The next session is in the evening when I’m mostly consuming for edutainment.

Secondly, I curate what I consume. Every time a useful reel comes up, I mark it as “interested.” If it’s something of no value to me, I’ll mark it as “not interested.” This way, the algorithm adjusts to my needs. I do this to make my feed relevant. I can always change it by searching for a topic, watching one reel, and marking it as “interested” to ensure I get reels on similar topics in the future.

You can do this with your YouTube feed as well. Unsubscribe from all channels that don’t add value to you and watch only what matters. Your feed will be tweaked accordingly.

Thirdly, I reflect on what I consumed. Remember how I used to maintain a knowledge base by watching the quiz section and regularly reviewing it? I take a similar approach with online video content, taking notes in my knowledge base. I am currently watching the Crash Course YouTube Channel, specifically their recent course on scientific thinking. After watching a video, I write down the key points and review the citations mentioned in the video description.

This is usually hard for beginners. So, take one step at a time. The easiest way to reflect is to comment on the video about what you felt and what resonated with you. You can then move on to building your own knowledge base. This can be done with the help of an AI assistant, too. But that wouldn’t be called “reflection”.

If you genuinely want to change how you consume the internet without getting overwhelmed, use any or all of the three methods. We did this as kids. We watched cricket matches, wrote down the scores every over of the first innings, and compared them with the second innings to make our own predictions. We underlined new words in the sports section of the newspaper and checked the meaning in the dictionary.

This is possible. It is only a matter of beginning.