How to gain back hours of your life and beat that social media addiction!
- Joanna
- Feb 28, 2021
- 6 min read
Oh Social Media ey, we love to hate it.
For the longest time, probably like many others, I have had a love/hate relationship with social media. Obviously there is so many amazing aspects to social media, and during the Coronavirus Pandemic even more so! Instagram has been an amazing vessel for small businesses, Twitter was brilliant for watching world leaders make idiots of themselves (still is, if you know where to look) and Facebook... Well Facebook has everything you can imagine now including a dating feature! However, as someone whom lives in the middle of nowhere compared to my friends, social media has always enabled me to feel more connected to my them and sometime I depend on it just for human interaction!
There are way more negatives to social media with cyber bullying, fake news (cringe) and influential harmful content and although all this is very important too, let's focus on just getting off it in the first place.
I know I am not the only one who has taken a look at there screen time and often see's that it's up in the 4/5 hours mark and even more when you have been sat doing diddly squat during a national lockdown. I am not here to judge you! If you are perfectly fine with your screen time then good on you! This post is for all those who dream of their phones at night and without hesitation make it the first thing they pick up in a morning and are not ok with it... like me. If you are sat there on the fence, not quite sure if you have a social media addiction or dependancy there is plenty of online quizzes you can take!
What I am about to say may or may not come as a shock to you... Social Media is engineered by human beings with the intention to keep you scrolling for hours on end simply to make them more money.
WOW I know, who knew right?
What I am really trying to say here is that when you sit feeling guilty that hours of your life have disappeared and only knowing the lyrics to the newest trending TikTok song is what you have to show for your time... it's not your fault.
I will never deny the fact that I have a huge problem with my screen time, and I am always actively trying to take measures to cut down.
For some, due to how society is currently operating, having social media isn't just an option, whether you have it to manage a small business, you require it for work or it may be the only way you can get hold of that one particular family member that never pick's up their phone otherwise.
However, if you acknowledge an unhealthy relationship with your phone, want to reconnect with society and just the joys of in person contact, or you just want to finish that one book without picking up your phone, here are my top tips for cutting out or just using social media less to gain back hours of your life!
Do your research!
I know... I could of just done it for you, but what had the biggest impact on my social media usage was not just cutting it out but it was learning how it got me hooked in the first place. Social media is intentionally addictive and how they do it essentially is by manipulating your psyche. On Netflix there are two amazing documentaries, The Social Dilemma (2020) & Screened Out (2020), if you haven't watched them I certainly urge you to, they go in to heck of a lot more detail than I ever could! However, to summarise in the simplest way possible, social media mainly is abled to keep you hooked by stroking your ego and messing with your brain chemistry.
By watching a documentary or just taking 5 minutes to do a quick internet search, you will instantly feel like you are taking back a bit of control! For me it was the realisation of exactly how mentally damaging it can be and the effect it has on not just me but also those around me. So do your research! - I'll drop some handy dandy links at the end to get you started.
Delete your Accounts
If you are anything like me, you have done your research and you're a little angry and this is the first option you thought of until you chicken out. Yes. I chickened out.
This may seem like the obvious option, however I know for some this just is not possible. However, if it is, then this is a sure fire way to help you cut down on usage, now it's not always permeant as a lot of platforms do allow you to reactivate within so long, usually a couple weeks or a month which is a perfect amount of time to detox! Removing your accounts is the simplest and hardest thing you can do but there is no denying that it can be like going cold turkey on an addiction! So maybe, like me... you might want to build up to this.
(Stay tuned for when I finally pluck up the courage and say goodbye to social media for good!)
Too far? Delete the apps
For those who physically have no option but to have social media, this is a brilliant and effective step, the dedicated mobile apps have been engineered in a far more mind grabbing format than their internet browser counterparts. I don't mean to sound like an app advert but the user friendly layouts allow for you to get lost in an endless scroll as the content just never stops loading, so delete the app and it makes this less possible!
Turn off those notifications
Don't want to delete the app? That's ok, you will get there! How about turning off your notifications! Science proves that those little pings release a little endorphin rush and activate the same area in the brain related to addiction. With chemical reactions like that occurring we are always very quick to go back to what makes us happy (but stay away from your ex.) So turn off those notifications, if you phone isn't talking to you... you are less likely to grab it and therefore spend less time on it!
This one has been such a success for me! With only having notifications turned on for messaging apps and my email accounts I honestly forget why I even need to look!
Pick up your phone with a purpose
This leads us nicely in to the really difficult one of not giving in to your urges! If you don't pick up the phone in the first place then you cant be stuck on it for hours, one rule of thumb I have developed for myself is that every single time I pick up my phone it has to be for a clear purpose, not "check out what's going on."
This includes, and this is truly the hardest one for me... not making it the first thing you grab in the morning! RESIST THE URGE DAMN IT! Sometimes I can sit and scroll for an hour before I accomplish anything, and it's simply because I automatically grab my phone to what? Check the earth is still rotating?
If this isn't you, and you just slip straight out of bed then please, teach my your ways oh wise one! I know, here I am giving you unqualified advice but this past week I have made it my mission and can proudly say I succeeded 4 out of 7 days by just simply plugging my phone in and sliding it under my bed. Out of sight, out of mind!
I know it may seem a little hypocritical this post coming from someone who has yet to combat her social media addiction and also uses social media to promote this blog and post however I have two things to say to that. First, this is a major lifestyle change to make and going cold turkey certainly doesn't work for everyone and second...Jade does most of the social media work (thanks girl!)
If anyone is interested in a post on exactly how social media keeps you hooked just drop a comment and in true academic essay style I might regurgitate everything I have learned.
I'll be sure to write more about this in future, and keep you updated on my own personal detox journey if your interested! Until then, till the next post...
Peace, love & Adios!
Jo
DISCLAIMER: I am not a certified expert, I am not a professional and I am not medically trained.
he recognition of social media addiction is becoming more widely accepted and can be a severe, life altering problem for some people - if you feel in anyway affected by this post, I urge you to seek professional help. The Lifestyle Change is in no way affiliated with the links below.
BBC News piece on how Social Media Is intentionally addictive - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-44640959
Why we are addicted to Social Media: The psychology of Likes - https://steverosephd.com/why-we-are-addicted-to-likes/
Social Media Addiction & your mental health - https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/social-media-addiction/
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