I hate social media!

Yet, I use it every single day. And not just one account, I visit Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. I have no idea why I religiously do something that I don’t like or see the value in.

Is it so I can stay in touch with high school friends whom I haven’t seen in 30 years? Ironically, my high-school reunion is this very weekend and I’m not there. I don’t travel back to see them.

I don’t even comment or interact with them on Facebook. I’m not really interested in most of what I see on the site. Everyone has changed so much: many of their views bear no resemblance to mine; some of the girls I dated back then, I’d be embarrassed to let anyone know given what they’ve grown to be (to be fair there are a few that I’d say “Wow! You look great. The years have been good to you.). And some people I just don’t remember much about.

So, why do I waste my time on it?

Frankly, I find social media an absolute utter distraction that I continue to submit to.

To make matters worse, every morning before I get out of bed, I update myself on Twitter. I give the best time of my day away to social media.

Why? So I can be up to date on the news?

But that doesn’t make sense as I read four newspapers during breakfast. So instead of creating more time, my Twitter usage shrinks the hours of my day. Social media interferes with my time and my thinking.

When I start to write — and have that dreaded writer’s block — I think to myself, “Let me clear my head”. So, I take a quick peek at Facebook or glance at LinkedIn. And then lose time and have to crank up music to finally clear my head. Social media is like a fly trap that attracts me in and won’t let me out.

This summer, I’m in the process of writing my next book. So, I spend many long days in shorts and a T-shirt glued to the old brown leather chair in the study pounding away on the keyboard. And I decided I’d chronicle/blog about the experience, allowing you to see what it’s like to write a book and give you a “behind the scenes” view of my life.

Guess where I’m posting about it? Facebook! (Follow me on @DrTommyWeir if you want to share the blood, sweat and tears. And hopefully a few smiles and laughs as well.) Now, isn’t that ironic? There I am using the social media that I hate. Actually I’m an avid user of it to disseminate content.

I can rationally tell you the negatives of social media usage. And it is a growing problem. According to the Microsoft Office Personal Productivity Challenge (PPC) survey of 38,112 participants worldwide, social media is rated as the most unproductive activity that employees engage in.

The millennial generation’s usage should be considered criminal as they spend one-third of the waking hours on either social media or browsing the net.

We allow someone else to control our intake filling our minds with unsubstantiated information that we probably don’t need or even want. Our usage is retraining our brain to think in bursts rather than fully thought through ideas.

We are becoming a headline society. And feed our egos with likes.

So, why do we do it? That’s not the right question to ask (remember the advice in last week’s column: ask the question that sets up what you want to discuss). How can we control it?

Maybe we should go back to using the Nokia 1110 so we can only make calls and send text messages. For me, that would remove the temptation of Twitter and Instagram as I only use those on my phone. But, getting rid of social media isn’t the answer nor is it going to happen.

Simply be aware! Be aware of how much time you spend socialising (which you are usually not doing on social media) and more importantly what your taking in. Instead of filling your mind with headlines, unmerited opinions and silly videos, seek out information that’s valid and will help you grow.

I’m going to continue to try to fit the urge to log-in taking back the control. Thanks for listening to my confession.

The writer is a CEO coach and author of “Leadership Dubai Style”. Contact him at tsw@tommyweir.com.