Put the phone down! Your social media habit is causing you to forget what really matters.

The Devil is personified by the character Baphomet, who is half-devil and half-goat. He is also the opposite of the Lovers card, and we can see the characters from that card chained to Baphomet’s podium.

If we put this in its full context, the Lovers are Adam and Eve, who gave into temptation against God’s will and faced severe consequences as a result. So, in the Devil card, we can safely presume that Adam and Eve are facing their punishment for taking the apple once they reach the Devil stage. They learned the hard way that too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

In your own life, you are struggling with a bad habit and will be reprimanded for it if you do not take action yourself.

A Dopamine Rush

Today’s society makes it nearly impossible to avoid developing an unhealthy social media habit. Almost everyone has an account on at least one platform, like Facebook, with most people having multiple accounts across different apps. It tends to start small but grow into a much deeper issue, chaining you to your phone like Baphomet’s trap for Adam and Eve. Thankfully, it might be easier to break the social media habit than Adam and Eve’s bondage.

However, it can begin to take a serious toll on your mental health to spend too much time online. You were never meant to be exposed to this much content (and therefore news) at once. Now, you’re shown every live update, for better or worse, with little to no time to process what you’ve seen. This can cause you to experience anxiety or depression in severe cases.

Plus, the lingering yet overwhelming fear of FOMO (the fear of missing out) can cause you to stay glued to your phone 24/7. Some people even stay up way into the night to scroll on their feed.

Though it may sound counterintuitive to engage with stuff that clearly causes some turmoil, it is caused by a rush of dopamine that you get from receiving interactions from your followers. Things like likes, shares, and new followers start to mean something to you because they engage your dopamine receptors. But remember, too much indulgence can quickly create a bigger problem that becomes impossible to ignore.

Your Fantasies Are Being Put on a Pedestal

The thing that makes social media so hard to quit is that it shows us exactly what we want to see. Everyone is guilty of this; people use their social media profiles as a highlight reel.

Of course, nobody would want to showcase their most difficult moments to massive audiences. As a result, the things you are already insecure about (like comparing your appearance to someone else’s) are literally put on a pedestal, like Baphomet sitting on his. You know Baphomet is the bad guy, yet you can’t help but look at him, ultimately hurting yourself more.

There is a Way Out

Thankfully, an intoxicating social media habit is not unbreakable. Even Adam and Eve can break free from Baphomet’s chains–and they eventually do! They, and you, are being instructed to learn the art of moderation.

Everything is okay in small doses, for the most part. You hear all the time about things that are or aren’t good for you, like your favorite potato chips. But you can bring yourself back into personal harmony and peace by learning when to log off.

When you find yourself “doomscrolling,” which is the act of scrolling for hours on end like you’re looking at a dumpster fire, simply put your phone down! Give yourself a structured schedule for social media time, and you’ll feel so much lighter.