1. Remember how, in "One Hundred Years of Solitude," people began to suffer from insomnia and started to forget things? Science agrees—sleep deprivation hampers one's analytical abilities as well as their memory, and it increases a myriad of physical and mental health risks.

   We know—you'll say. And still, you'll stay up late at night and try to wake up as early as possible. At least I do.

   There's another group of people for whom you'll get the same result from the same argument: cigarette smokers. You would tell them it's bad. They'd all say they know. Still, they will keep smoking.

   At least I used to.

2. What if Sisyphus's rock didn't move forward when he pushed? What if Sisyphus's rock didn't come down the next morning? In both cases, he'd stop pushing—in the first, because it's pointless; in the second because his goal has been fulfilled.

   • Social media that is full of relevant content would be the type of Sisyphus's rock that doesn't come down (and hence would belong to someone else).
   • Social media that is full of low-quality, unoriginal content would be the immovable variety of Sisyphus's rock. No one would bother pushing it or asking for a pleasure hit from it.

   But the most successful and accurate version of Sisyphus's rock would be a platform that's full of meaningless content with occasional truly fulfilling content. Not only is it rewarding to find something good that you've worked hard for in the process, but it also creates an artificial sense of scarcity by oversupplying low-quality content. That combination of reward mechanism and artificial high ratio of demand-supply would keep the Sisyphus in you and me pushing and working hard, scrolling miles and miles of feed.

3. Would Sisyphus be able to sleep if he knew the rock might change in shape and color during the night? Would he be able to sleep if there was a chance that someone else might pass by while he was sleeping—someone who might be able to help him with the rock?

   Now imagine that one out of 100 nights, Sisyphus's rock turns into Aphrodite, who offers submission to Sisyphus—and that on a random night. Would Sisyphus be able to sleep on any of the nights with the risk of missing that night?

   How, then, would you expect me to sleep through instant messaging notifications?

4. If you have read this far and—although it is very unlikely—liked it, don't push any buttons. Don't rush to share it on your social media or through instant messaging.

   If you found this useful and are thinking it's probably share-worthy, share this again with your mind. Take a note, read it offline. Take a break sometime and think more about how you can calm down your inner Sisyphus.

   And then please share that answer with us. We need that answer.

   At least I do.

Further Reading

5. I intentionally did not include any research links in this writing. Please feel free to do some research on the terms FOMO, variable reward mechanisms, etc., if you'd like to learn more about the topic of social media and tech addiction.