As one of the genius of 20th century once said: There is a driving force more powerful than steam, electricity, or even nuclear power: the will.
The most important common term that make people successful is not money, power or status, but WILLPOWER. Just to refresh your memory, willpower is the ability to resist short-term gratification in pursuit of long-term goals or objectives. This relates self-esteem, lower abuse of substances, greater financial security, and improved physical and mental health. It may sound too idealistic? Maybe, but it is possible to exercise your mind in order to reach a bigger outcome. The ability of saying "no" to others in order to dedicate time to your own self, is absolutely priceless.
Source: https://www.rtcleadership.com/6-steps-to-willpower-success/
Most people don't like to spend time alone if its not for an entertainment purpose. Social media make us just mere viewers in world in where the people that create and bring value are the one that actually change the world. Instant gratification is so demanded nowadays, that activities that require a lower mental processing are viewed as boring, that is the main reason why reading, meditating and exercising are not as practiced as they should, even if they can bring you bigger long-term benefits than just spend your free time watching other people's life.
We are all unique, but if we want to be special, we have to do things that most people aren't willing to do because they think they are not useful, or they are boring and a waste of time. Patience and practice will make you do things that you at first didn't expect to like. Nothing happens as a mere coincidence, that is way most of the things you try, do or learn in life will have a final purpose, that will empower you and differentiate you from the rest.
Sadly, we are observing how young people are more and more dependent of their mobile phones or smartphones, creating bigger jealousy to other people and thinking that their lives are miserable and not as fun as the others. Instagram is one of the main responsibles of this, as everyone is sharing their highlights but never their sad times, what creates a sense of misery to viewers that automatically compare themselves to the best time of other people's live. I think it is not fair to not have any kind of regulation for social media, while all other private companies are controlled specially in terms concerning pollution or enviromental awareness. I think mental health should be taken into consideration here, as the main people that control social media don't actually care about the health of their users, but about spending the biggest amount of time in their platforms so as to make the biggest ROI. I mean, the first and main goal of any private business is to make a profit, but then, if they are not going to take any measure against this injustice, we should oblige governments or public companies to take center stage in order to make this a reality, and take or create the required regulations to take care about the mental health of the users that are spending their entire days using these networks. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US, and each year more than 700,000 people commit suicide every year... (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide)
In order to become better people and ignoring instant gratification rewards that have no benefits but all bad in the long term, we need to reduce our consumption of these type of activities, and try to do those that we know are considered boring, but that are going to improve our mood, our energy and our mental and physical health. Please, share this post, not with purpose of winning likes or comments, but to make people concious of this big problems that can bring even bigger consequences in the near future.
Stay safe,
Feli