It seems like innocent fun: Scroll through reels to see people with funny dogs, fabulous houses, weird lifestyles.
But if you do it too much, you become hypnotized or even addicted to the experience. Over time you become isolated, anxious and depressed, says psychiatrist Dr. Sanjay Jain.
Ironically, while you are becoming isolated, the people making the reels are out and about training their funny dogs, working on their fancy houses, and forging their strange opinions. If you continue scrolling instead of doing something, you miss the chance to build your own social and life skills.
According to Jain, more than an hour spent on Instagram or Tik Tok each day suggests an addiction that may leave you stressed and anxious when not scrolling. Worse, you start comparing your life to others and stop interacting with real people.
In fact, if you can't imagine deleting these apps, you have a problem.
Some advice:
* Keep your own life tasks at the top of your mind. Cleaning is boring, but necessary. So get off the chair, turn on some music, and start. You can set up a time to do tasks that can't be used for social media.
* Be inspired. If you love funny animal videos, start engaging with animals yourself. What you regularly watch may give you some ideas about hobbies that would be interesting to try.
* Talk. Get a real-life conversation started with a real human being. Face to face — not on text or through posting.