I spend 6+ hours a day on Social Media. Here's how I cope up and how you can avoid Social Media addiction.
We've all been there, post something and frequently check how many people have reacted to your enthusiastic post. Although, I wouldn't call it addiction, it's one of the simple modern pleasures in this age and we can just not avoid it.
Being an Influencer manager, I work with users with moderate to high followers across the world on social media and trust me, you gotta be super active on social media to catch their attention - at least in their time zones. In turn, I end up spending more than fourth of my day scrolling vigorously, checking inboxes and of course, my favorite, memes.
Every once in a while but frequently, I diagnose myself with "app fever" aka scrolling social media endlessly without any reason - I sometimes honestly don't even notice what I'm scrolling over. We're talking social insanity, okay, jokes apart, I'm sure this may not be the case with everyone but definitely is, in my life, at the moment.
I'm writing this article to help anyone - whoever reads (trust me, my previous article was a disastrous flop) so if you're reading this to find some useful information, you got it all here. Like always No Bullshit.
Here's some of the apps I use: LinkedIn (Duh), Instagram, Twitter, Snap, 9gag, Neighbourly, Reddit, Spotify and more.
Here are 6 tips and practices I follow when I find myself wasting way too much of time on social media:
1) Log out from your profile every time you open an app:
This trick can make you think twice, instead of directly diving straight into chaos, this adds an extra step to slow down the process. This sometimes helps you to think twice if you happen to check app multiple times in short periods.
If you own multiple accounts on a platform, log out from all the accounts and browse one account at a time, mindfully.
2) Displace your apps:
Confused? Let me explain. You all have your favorite apps saved on your phone's home for quick access and I'm sure one of it is a social media app!
Here's what you need to do: Shift the app's position, replace it with another app. This helps your mind to rewire your impulse and I'm sure you will think of this tip every time you do it. Thank me later!
3) Customize push notifications:
Trust me, most people overlook a few options on the apps, always customize your push notifications for social media or apps you use. For example, I like to be notified only for my Direct Messages on Instagram so I enabled push notifications only for messages and nothing else. This helps me keep my mind to be free of clutter. No, sorry Instagram, not interested in someone's live at all.
4) Declutter your feed:
Your social media feed is your digital home. So if you follow a bunch of people you admire aka celebrity profiles or those overlooked accounts that never posted anything interesting on social media, go ahead and unfollow them but remember their usernames, every time you miss them, go to their profile and stalk them all you want. Trust me you don't want their nonsense on your personal feed.
5) Limit yourself and assign time for apps:
Keep yourself off social media one event at a time. Let's say, use only spotify when you're at the gym. Instagram only when you're in the toilet or Facebook only on browser. Prepare a schedule if you want but this helps you keep your mind clean.
6) Do not use social media when you're out with people:
Probably one of the most difficult things to do, maybe but this one's a pro tip. Sure, you can click pictures for Instagram but do not post it. Post it later unless you're REALLY famous.
These tips work for me, try them and message me on LinkedIn and tell how they're working for you.
About Me:
I'm Murli Kanne, a 27 year old aspiring Tech Entrepreneur who's dived into Social media world by an accident. Currently working on an ambitious city specific social platform, Fliier.