How to cut Social Media addiction in Digital Age?

You wanted to make a dreamlife for yourself but have failed to take action? Are you tired of scrolling mindlessly through your mobile all day? Do you think you lose focus on your goals and dreams due to social media distractions? The below article is a perfect read for you. Find out how you can track the time you spend on social media and how you can cut down on social media addiction.

how to cut down social media addiction? — How to cut social media addiction and lead a mindful life?

You can be better focused and consistent in your productive actions by following simple steps.

With the digital age, the number of social media apps has increased manifold. Social media has become a boon as it has brought you closer to far-distant friends and relatives. You can connect with like-minded individuals. You can save time and even make money at times. These apps send regular notifications which tempt you to open them. And then you realize you have spent minutes or even hours just scrolling without any goal or productivity.

However, not all apps are productive. Decide which apps you would like to continue. Decide which apps bring meaning to your life, help you in real life to make a connection or gain value, entertainment or education. Keep only those meaningful or productive apps on your mobile.

You may move the rest of them to your laptop which you casually use. Moving them to your office laptop may be a bad idea. You can check these social apps once in a couple of days at leisure.

2. Delete / unfollow/Leave / unfriend / mute / erase / block anyone or anything that does not have positive impact on your life.

Emotion contagion is real. When we interact with people or ideas, their energy (positive as well as negative) rubs on us. If you are interacting with negative people or coming across a lot of negative news and ideas, it will sap away your positive mood. So it is advisable to cut down consumption of negativity from people or social media posts.

Be part of productive, constructive, kind communities. Interact with people who talk about hope and effort. This will inspire you to achieve your goals.

When you do this action, you will realize your social circle will become smaller yet more meaningful.

3. Unsubscribe from newsletters that are no longer relevant

At different times in our life, we have different interests, goals, and dreams. We subscribe to the newsletter as per our interest. Over a period, we lose interest in reading on certain topics. However, these subscribed newsletters keep pouring in from time to time.

It is easy to unsubscribe to such newsletters than to delete such emails daily. Just click on “unsubscribe” at bottom of such newsletter and you are good forever. There is an easy way to subscribe in bulk. Download unroll.me and follow the instructions. It will list down all the email lists that you have subscribed to. You can choose to unsubscribe with a simple tick against each website. This shall reduce the clutter in your inbox. I do this every two months to keep my inbox clean.

4. No phone hour one hour in the morning and one hour before sleeping

Most of us reach out for a phone as soon as we are out of bed. Sometimes we check messages even while we are in bed. This is not a good practice. Our mind is moving from the theta state to the alpha stage when we wake up. This is considered to be the best time for being creative and thoughtful. The thoughts that you feed your mind in the morning will set the tone for rest of the day.

Feeding your mind with news about destruction in the world or about your impending to-do list will create stress and make you feel overwhelmed. So instead set a morning routine with actions that will help you move into your day smoothly. You may include activities such as exercise, mediation, yoga, reading book in your morning routine.

The blue light from the usage of mobile affects the quality of sleep. So it is recommended to cut down the usage of mobile one hour before sleeping. Set a night routine with activities that make you feel relaxed. It shall make you unwind from the stress of the day.

The easiest trick is to keep the phone out of reach or in another room. This shall cut down your temptation to check messages. I am guilty of scrolling mobile late into the night. But keeping cut-off time for use of mobile at night has helped me to cut down social media addiction.

5. Keep the mobile away

When you intentionally focus on certain tasks during the day, keep the mobile away. There are apps such as Forest that shall ensure that you cannot use mobile during your focused time.

We start the day with a To-do list. However, as the day flows, we realize that new tasks are handed over to you and all the tasks you have listed remain pending at the end of the day. To overcome this, I follow the rule of “Hour of Focus” thrice in my working hours.

The first hour of the day, an hour before my lunch and an hour before the end of office hours are considered to be part of focus time. I have my alarm set for all working days. As the alarm goes off, I consciously make note of what tasks I am doing vis-à-vis my morning to-do list.

It is not always possible to leave the new task and revert to a to-do list due to the nature of urgency or importance of tasks. However, it is a conscious choice that we can make when the alarm goes off.

6. Keep the data and notifications off

The beeps or lights from the phone of notifications attract our attention. Or may I say distract us from our work? So just turn off data and notifications. You may set a time for checking the phone. If you are following the Pomodoro technique in your work, you can check your phone during break time.

You wouldn’t be tempted to check the number of likes and comments on your recent post. Such temptation has been known to make people feel anxious and overwhelmed.

7. Practise mindfulness in your actions

Social media is a boon and bane at the same time. It opens doors for education and knowledge. You can befriend strangers who have a similar interest or who can guide you with their experience. So it is not possible to eliminate it from our life.

Be mindful of what you are consuming from social media. Choose meaningful educating, entertaining, informative content. Be conscious of emotions that are felt when you are interacting with Facebook or Twitter posts.

Religious or social differences cause a war of words on Twitter. This is unwanted and unwarranted. Avoid any interaction that brings sadness, anxiety, or anger. Be mindful of what effect is social media having on your health and well-being.

Practice the mantra of “Connect, not consume”. Connect with ideas or people that resonate with your life, your values, and your ideology. Such ideas or people shall make you a better person. You shall be more informed and educated. Talk, engage and share ideas and emotions that will make you evolve for a better life. This will make this world a better place for you and others.

8. Download time management app

Time-management apps can give you data about the amount of time spent on a particular app. I use “Your Hour” which is a free app to keep control of my social media usage. It keeps checking on how many times in a day have I opened a particular app and how much have I have spent on it. At end of the day, week or month you can compare apps that take up your time and control your usage accordingly.

Download “Your hour” and let me know your feedback about it. If you have any other app that you have found to be useful, please let us know in a comment below.

Social media posts of influencers can be deceptive. Everyone uses social media to showcase their best side of life – all the fun and happiness. This sets unrealistic expectations for others. It is very important to understand that likes or comments or followers on your posts do not define your success. The algorithm of the posts should not cause anxiety and stress of performance on you. Learn to stay out of social media and observe and evaluate as an outsider. You will visibly see the thin façade of unrealism. Keep yourself grounded and focused.

How to cut social media addiction? — Engage in hobbies to become more creative and productive.

Engage in non-digital hobbies such as painting, singing, reading, or exercising. When you will enjoy these hobbies, your inclination towards social media will fade away. Set aside free time away from your work and social media to engage in such hobbies. They will make you feel relaxed and contended.

Stay in touch

Let me know in the comments below, what would you like to improve in your self. What would you love to pursue when you cut down social media time?

You can also learn about ways more about self-improvement on my Pinterest account, Instagram and facebook. Join my facebook group to mingle with like-minded people who are interested in personal growth and self-improvement.

We are in this together!!!