Tips to STOP Wasting Your Time on Social Media

 

In this article I want to talk about some actionable things that you can start doing to stop wasting your time on social media sites like Instagram, Face book, and Twitter. These sites have literally been designed to keep you continuously checking in on them. On average we're all checking our friends about 150 times a day which is crazy.

I think that social media is amazing in so many ways but I guess the issue arises when you feel like you're not totally in control of how often you're checking social media or how often you're on social media but it's affecting how you feel, how in control of yourself and your mood on a daily basis. So for those of you who feel like social media is like slightly taking over your life or it's affecting how you feel more than you think it should. This article is full of actionable things for you.

 All social media apps have been designed to be as addictive as possible some people compare it to something like gambling which is incredibly addictive. I heard something what's on a podcast they've created the notifications on Facebook to be as addictive as like pulling the lever and gambling I don't gamble but essentially in gambling once we pulled a lever they make you wait a few seconds for the screen to refresh so Facebook does the same thing with notifications when you click on it it takes like a few seconds in order for you to see the notifications and that's when the chemicals in your brain get released that helps to create that addictive effect that Facebook has. So if you're going to try and go the habit that is as addictive or nearly as addictive as gambling download any tools that will reduce the amount of effort on your part.

 

Turn Off the Notifications

So first thing that you should do if you're trying to reduce your time on social media is to turn off notifications you already know this one, you've heard it before you know it's a good idea if you haven't done it yet do it now. Notifications are the biggest triggers for bad social media habits you get a notification then you go onto Instagram then you find yourself scrolling through the feed for 50 minutes and then you're like oh crap how did that happen all notifications do is literally remind you to go on social media every 20 minutes.

 

Replace Your Social Media Habit

The next thing that you should do is replace your social media habit with something more productive so for some of us social media is such a big part of our life and that it's hard to know what to do without it maybe you get home it and you spend an hour on social media if you just ditched social media if you have nothing else to do it's going o be a struggle you're going to be sitting there just tempted to go on Instagram again. So one way to do it is to move Instagram into some weird folder where it's harder to find. I'm a place where it used to be with an app that makes you happier after using it an app that makes you actually feel productive and good about yourself but like Skillshare I recently did a few days of social media and I found myself going to a Skillshare course about interior design I'm going to Europe soon or I will be in Europe and when I get back I want to redesign my space it was really good to give you like a step-by-step instruction on how to design your space so that it looks like a Pinterest photo which is you know what I secretly want the people that deliver this ghost courses they are legit. It is much more interesting listening to someone that you kind of know maybe you follow him on Instagram or Facebook or teaching stuff that helps you to improve your skills and unlock new opportunities.

 

Unfollow the People who Make You Unhappy

The next actionable thing that you can do to stop wasting your time on social media is to unfollow the people who make you unhappy. So I'm assuming that you don't want to cut off social media and fall especially if you're a young person social media can be a huge part of connecting with other humans. You may be still would oppress the occasional Instagram story or see the photos that you're tagged in if you're going to kick around on social media and make your feeds more uplifting on Instagram. Stop following a person that you knew in high school that are like very weird rants alongside like dark grainy photos or that person that you met in an event one time you didn't realize was slightly sexist and racist and pose uncomfortable courts on the Instagram like this if you're going to expose yourself to social media make the content that you view uplifting and firing funny entertaining don't make it a Content that brings you down.

 

Keep Your Phone Away

The next thing that you can do is often out of social media at certain times of a day there's something I like to do which I've talked about before is literally turn my phone off in the morning. I also like to keep it in another room if my phone is with me of a morning while I'm trying to do work I find myself continually looking at my phone, checking my phone and I'll catch myself and then just be like oh God why is this in here. I'll turn it off I'll walk to another room of the house and I'll put it down and then I'll forget about my phone for two hours and then on my browser I have my social media blockers set for those particular hours carve out those particular times per day that you don't want to be on social media.

 A Few Days Off Every Month

My next tip is to take a few days off every month so I actually haven't taken social media sabbaticals very often I always thought that they were a bit of a finicky thing to do however I am now three days into a short stint of not using Instagram and Facebook and it's like a mini holiday for your mind. For me the point of a mini social media sabbatical is just to not do anything mind-numbing for a few days when I get home instead of using apps like Instagram and Facebook I'm following my own advice I'm using apps like Libby which is an online library I am using skill-shot I run through a skill checklist my calm and these are all apps that make me feel so much better off to using them it's just a nice way to relax your mind every month. So a way to make this actionable is to hop into your calendar right now and actually block out like the last five days of the month and make those your days without social media so those are the actionable things that you can do to stop wasting time on social media download helper.

Conclusion

I mentioned turn off your notifications if you haven't done that do it now replace social media with something more productive so actually decide what you're going to do instead of going on social media for an hour of an afternoon download an app. Unfollow people who bring you down on social media block out social media free times in your day whether it be morning or when you get home from work and block out a few days per month that you take a break from social media so there's my main tips for not going on social media and I know that some of them probably seem a bit obvious however if you're currently struggling with going on social media too much and you're not doing these things actually take action actually do some of them and I promise that you will notice a difference.

 

Thank you