The Cycle Of Social Media Addiction

How can you cut social media addiction?

Here are 8 tactics:

1.    Keep social media apps out of sight.
For example, my iPhone’s Home Screen is completely free.
There are no apps.
If I want to use a social media app, I need to search for it.
Which means spending at least 20 seconds.

2.    Turn off app notifications.
This seems obvious but many people still use notifications — sounds included.
I personally have no notifications — neither WhatsApp nor calls.
I need to get into the app to see if something happened.

3.    Leave the phone in another room.

Or you can do what I do:
→    I leave my iPhone in the pocket of the Mac bag.
Which is about 50 centimeters away from where I work.

4.    Keep the phone out of the bedroom.
There are still people that sleep with their phones, right?
Well, when I sleep my iPhone is in my bedroom — but it’s turned off.

5.    Find a hobby that doesn’t need the use of devices.
For example, my favorite hobby is… working out.
And I don’t need the iPhone to work out.

6.    No phone during meals.
I’m fascinated by the couples I see in restaurants.
Always with phone in hand.
Well, my core value is respect, so I can’t respect the other person (and me) if I use my phone while eating.

7.    Take breaks from social media.
I remember when I decided to stop using social media for a couple of days.
I immediately felt better.
I remember the exact feeling: freedom.
So consider taking frequent breaks from social media.

For example, you can take:
→    Small breaks (some hours every day)
→    Medium breaks (1 day every week)
→    Big breaks (a few days in a row every month)

8.    Don’t value negative and positive comments and messages.
This is probably one of the most important tips.
As we know, it makes no sense valuing a comment or a message written by a person who neither knows us.
And I mean both negative and positive.
This doesn’t mean not embracing feedback.

To me, it’s really really simple:
→    Comments and messages are the most important thing!
→    At the same time, I don’t care!

Meaning:
→    I use comments and messages as a source of feedback
→    I don’t allow others’ opinions to change my identity.
And again, this goes both from negative and POSITIVE comments and messages.

These are 8 tactics you can use to cut social media addiction.
I’m not against social media.
As we know, social media are empty platforms.
It makes no sense blaming social media.
It’s like blaming our planet for climate change.
It makes no sense, right?
The climate hasn’t changed — human behavior has changed, and so the climate has changed.
The same goes for social media.
Social media is not toxic — some human behaviors are toxic.
One more reason to follow only those who are really aligned with our values.