Understand

Social media can provide many benefits. That is why it is so compelling. If you want to reduce your social media use long-term, take some time to figure out why you feel compelled to use it. Social media can provide the following benefits:

•  Comfort.
• Social connection.
•  News.
•  Information.
• A break from uncomfortable feelings or thoughts.
•  Drama.
•  Excitement.
•  Education.
•  Rest.
• Escape from Loneliness.
• Relief from boredom.
• Relief from stress.

Once you understand why you use social media, you can devise strategies to reduce your use, including by replacing those benefits with more helpful alternatives.

These tools can help you get a fuller picture of your social media use:

• Record how much time you spend using social media in a day. Many phones now have a function that can do this for you. Look for trends that can give you an insight into your social media use.
• Consider your experience when you use social media.
  • When do you do it?
  • Where do you do it?
  • Are there any common triggers for your social media use?
  • What social media apps do you use?
  • How do you feel before, during and after use?
• Test out how social media affects you. Use it as you usually do and set an alarm for five minutes. When the alarm goes off, write down the answer to these questions:
  • What were the subjects of the posts you viewed?
  • How do you feel?
  • Do you feel better or worse than when you started?
  • Would that time have been better spent doing something else?
• Write down why you want to reduce social media use.
  • What are the negative effects it has on you?
  • What are the positives that you hope to get from the change?

Cold Turkey

The quickest, simplest and most effective way to reduce social media use is to delete your social media accounts. This may seem drastic, but the following facts can help provide perspective:

• Many healthy, happy and successful people have no social media accounts.
• There are already hundreds of social media sites that you already don’t use.

Reduce social media use

If having no social media is too daunting, consider taking a break from social media for a set period. Taking breaks, rather than trying to give up altogether, can help greatly for the following reasons:

• Starting a break is easier if you know it’s not permanent.
• Knowing the break will end can help boost willpower.
• It can show you that stopping is possible and easy.
• It can help show you what the benefits of stopping are.
• It can show you that the benefits of social media are not as vital as they may seem.

A gentler aim is to reduce social media use rather than eliminate it altogether. You could, for example, choose one or more of the following restrictions:

• Don’t use it for one day a week.
• Don’t use it for the first hour of your day.
• Don’t use it in the mornings.
• Don’t use it in the evenings.
• Aim to reduce the amount of time that you use social media each day.

Make reducing social media use easier

The following steps can help build practical barriers to social media use:

• Store your phone and computer away in a drawer out of sight.
• Keep your phone on silent whenever possible.
• Disable all but necessary notifications.
• Practice spending time without your phone on you.
• Store and charge your phone away from your bed at night so you can’t use it until you are out of bed in the morning.
• Log out of your social media account each time you finish using it. The tiny barrier of having to log in makes it harder to start using it unconsciously.
• Require passwords to log in to social media rather than a fingerprint or face recognition.
• Delete apps each time you finish using them. You can always download them again the next time you want to use them.
• Use social media through a web browser rather than its dedicated app.

Replace

When you reduce social media use, you will reduce the benefits you get from it. To avoid missing those benefits, plan to replace your social media use with a more helpful activity. If you don’t, you may fall into another addictive and unhelpful habit. Many of the benefits of an hour of social media scrolling can be better satisfied by a five-minute conversation with a close friend. There are endless replacement options. Look for activities that provide some of the benefits you get from social media but that are not as addictive. If you can replace social media use with an activity that helps you towards your long-term goals, then even better.

Example replacements for social media include the following:

•  Exercise.
• Spending time with friends or family.
• Calling a friend.
• Reading a book.
• Taking an online class.
• Picking up a hobby.
•  Journaling.
• Learning an instrument.
• Playing Sport.
•  Walking.
•  Writing.
• Learning a language or skill.

If you use social media in the evenings, schedule something else for that time. Avoiding social media becomes effortless when doing something else you enjoy. Activities that involve other people, like most sports, can replace many of the benefits of social media.

Social media is often used as a way to escape from stress and rest our brains. Social media can provide those benefits, but because it’s so addictive, we can use it far longer and more often than is helpful. If you can find a less addictive way to reduce stress or get rest, you can significantly reduce your social media use. Breaks, proper rest and meditation can all help with this.

For most of us, social media use is a habit and can be overcome with the same tools that help break other unwanted habits.