بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Overstimulation, Social media & Modern Youth : An Islamic Overview
Table of contents:
. The clarification of Quran
1. Why humans love the thing that harms him?
2. The never ending loop of social media and how it traps us?
3. How It impacts a servant life?
1. Too high expectations
2. Low energy & low self esteem
3. An even greater loss!
4. What can be done ?
1. Detach & Detox
2. Monitoring your screen time
3. Devlop meaningful habits that lead you closer to Allah
4. Supplicate to Allah.(Some supplications to help)
5. Conclusion
The alarm rings, and you woke up in a stressed and lethargic mood, despite it was morning. Went to check your mobile, which was bursting with notifications. After ignoring /replying those, you scrolled on social media and then decided to pray ,your mind is all numb, and even in your prayer, you are thinking about something other than Allah (Can't focus). If that's the case, then most probably you are over-stimulated, my friend...
By time, indeed, mankind is in loss, except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience."
[Surah Al-Asr (103:1-3)]
The verses of Quran are universal and hold true to even this day without any doubt.
As Iqbal Sir said:
" O man, why do you love the thing that harms you? "
1. Why human love the thing that harms him?
Human chase pleasure instead of purpose. Even though those pleasure harms them, this destructive nature of our own nafs enables the Satan to manipulate us and trap us in this never-ending loop of overstimulation, which is at peak, powered by the modern-day technology, to be specific, social media.
2. The never ending loop of social media and how it traps us?
Let's suppose there is a person who loves to drink tea. He starts by adding one spoonful sugar to it and then eventually rose it to six spoonful sugars.
Will he be able to enjoy the tea with just one spoonful sugar then?
The same is being done by social media. The stimulation, happiness, and pleasure that was supposed to be achieved by doing the real things like working on your goals, faith, physique, halal relationships have now been replaced by their quick overdoses of social media. Just with a few swipes/scrolls you can get tons of short-term pleasure shots.
And as you guessed, just like a tea enjoyer who used to enjoy one spoonful of tea but lost his enjoyment after overstimulating himself to six spoonful sugar, you too won't be able to enjoy the basic, simple, meaningful activities and the only way of gaining back your enjoyment will be through even more stimulation by social media or even worse...
It is not the end. There are other dark sides too. People share their best moments on social media in the form of reels, stories, status, posts, etc. If you are the one who is viewing all this stuff, then your subconscious mind will start comparing this with your own life without even realizing that those people went through a lot to achieve that level/ thing/. You just start to look at the final result and start developing a sense of envy and jealousy towards the one.
Moreover, social media glorifies even the most simplest action to such a degree that the viewer considers that utopia. Then, when he comes back to reality, he has too high expectations. As a result, he can't find happiness in his day-to-day simple things anymore.
3. How It impacts a servant life?
1. Too high expectations
After scrolling and looking at the lifestyle of others, one becomes too disappointed with his own life. He can't find happiness in his work, family, friends, physique, faith, etc. Those higher expectations leave him for nowhere. All this can even transform one into a simulation chasing zombie. That is, he finds immoral ways of satisfying himself, which eventually lead him to adultery, fornication, domestic violence, drug abuse, etc.
2. Low energy & low self esteem
The servant also suffers from low energy and lower self-esteem, as all his energy is drained by the excessive use of social media. Lack of energy results in lack of work, which ultimately makes him a mediocre and a person with low self-esteem.
"Imam Malik (رحمه الله) said:
'The successful one is he who values every moment, for time is wealth, and the wealth of time can never be regained once spent.'
Muwatta Imam Malik
3. An even greater loss
"Imam Al-Nawawi (رحمه الله) said:
'Whoever spends his time in anything other than gaining the pleasure of Allah has indeed squandered the greatest gift.'
Riyad as-Salihin (Chapter 51)
One thing that should be made clear is that pleasure of Allah isn't just limited to Namaz(prayer), Roza(fasting) etc. Although they hold great value, but pleasure of Allah is in everything that's done for the sake of Allah.(Obviously halal work)
Wasting our time, especially in all these(social media) useless platforms, is one of the worst things that a servant can do to deteriorate his beautiful relationship with Allah. The heart gets filled with attraction of Dunya(World) which makes one drift away from Allah.
They were just some few losses of this social media addiction and overstimulation.Using social media isn't bad but the main thing is that it should be in moderation and shouldn't mess with our purpose.
4. What can be done ?
Here are some few practical tips that can help you cope over or atleast control the addiction to a certain degree, more will be discussed in future blogs inshallah.
1. Detach & Detox
Imagine a child who is addicted to eating chocolates. If you want to end his chocolate addiction, the first step would be to keep the chocolates away.
Similarly, the first step here would be to keep the distracting agents away. My advice would be to delete the accounts of distracting apps permanently if you don't use it for business. I know it's gonna be tough and most probably impossible for most of you. So in that case, you gotta use blockers, limiters, and timers to block the distracting stuff like Reels, Shorts, Snap streaks, etc. There are many free applications available on Play Store, App Store, as well as free softwares that can help you in doing so. So make sure to use them properly.
2. Monitoring your screen time
"Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (رحمه الله) said:
Your time should not be without any structure, such that you occupy yourself arbitrarily with whatever comes along. Rather, you must take account of yourself and organize your devotional practices.'
Ihya Ulum al-Din (Book 1, Chapter 4)
For Android users, there is a built-in function known as Digital Well-Being for monitoring your screen time available in the settings. You can also download screen time monitoring apps from Google Play Store or App Store, etc. This will give you a statistical as well as graphical view of your screen time activity and will help you keep yourself on track. You can identify where you are procrastinating and spending most of your time and then you can adjust with the help of blockers, limiters, and timers.
3. Devlop meaningful habits that lead you closer to Allah
Imam Al-Shafi'i (رحمه الله) said:
'Time is like a sword: if you don’t cut it, it will cut you
Diwan Al-Shafi'i
Use your time wisely instead of just wasting your time on useless scrolling, chit-chatting, etc. Develop good and meaningful habits. Although this topic needs a whole blog for its own self to provide justice to it, but here are a few things that you can start from
- Pray additional prayers like Tahajjud, Doha, etc. (These prayers have to be prayed after you are consistently praying your farz prayer.)
- Read, start by Tafseer of Quran.
- Watch Islamic lectures or series to increase your knowledge.
- Spend more time with your family, righteous companions, elders, etc.
- Start a halal side hustle.
- Workout
- Journal.
- Go for a walk or run.
- Start a sport.
- Learn skills that will help you in future
4. Supplicate to Allah.
Supplicate to Allah intensely, know that he can turn night into day and can turn your sorrow into happiness!
Here are some supplications selected my me which I personally use:
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ الثَّبَاتَ فِي الأَمْرِ وَالعَزِيمَةَ عَلَى الرُّشْدِ
O Allah, I ask You for steadfastness in all my affairs & determination in following the right path.
اللهم إنِّي أسْألُكَ موجِبَاتِ رَحْمَتِكَ، وَعَزَائِمَ مَغْفِرَتِكَ، وَالسَّلَامَةَ مِنْ كُلِّ إِثْمٍ، وَالْغَنِيْمَةَ مِنْ كُلِّ بِرٍّ، وَالْفَوزَ بِالْجَنَّةِ، وَالنَّجَاةَ مِنَ النَّارِ
O Allah! I beg You for that which incites Your Mercy and the means of Your forgiveness, safety from every sin, the benefit from every good deed, success in attaining Jannah and deliverance from Fire)
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ لَا يَنْفَعُ وَمِنْ قَلْبٍ لَا يَخْشَعُ وَمِنْ نَفْسٍ لَا تَشْبَعُ وَمِنْ دَعْوَةٍ لَا يُسْتَجَابُ لَهَا
O Allah, I seek refuge with You from knowledge that does not benefit, from a heart that is not humbly submissive; from a soul that is never satisfied, and from a Supplications that is not given a response.
اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرِ لِي، وارْحَمْنِي، واهْدِنِي، وعَافِنِي وارْزُقْنِي
O Allah, forgive me, have mercy upon me, guide me, give me health and grant me sustenance.
All these advices will help you in filling the void in your heart caused by social media and help you use your time wisely to develop yourself into a better and stronger Muslim.
The strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, while there is good in both. Strive for that which will benefit you, seek the help of Allah, and do not feel helpless."
— Sahih Muslim, Book 33, Hadith 6441
Conclusion
Overstimulation is a serious issue with modern youth, but everything has a cure except for old age. Although using social media is not a sin, but anything in excess leads to a downfall, especially when it is filled with so much haram in it. There is music, there are non-mahrams, there are targeted advertisements, which make the servant drift away from Allah into the attraction of this dunya. The blog covers some of the practical advices that can be needed to tackle these issues and make himself better.
اللهم مُصَرِّفَ الْقُلُوْبِ صَرِّفْ قُلُوْبَنَا عَلَى طَاعتِكَ
O Allah! Controller of the hearts, direct our hearts to Your obedience
Comment down any question or dought you have regarding islam and its doctrines. Future blogs will inshallah include the solution to them ☺️
Fiqh & hadith related doughts will be explained by ulema of the specific fields inshallah
Ameen.
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