Five Ways to Stop Social Media Ruling Your Life
Social media is like an unwanted old friend. The relationship is complicated, layered with a shared history that you love and loathe. No matter what you do, from ignoring to raging at them, they are always, stubbornly, a part of your life.
Despite social media’s affects on mental health, it is an important part of our modern world that we can’t avoid. What we do have control over is how we use social media.
Here are five simple ways to stop social media ruling your life.
Reminded yourself why you are using social media.
In the days leading up to my decision to change my social media usage I had become fixated on raising the Happylands Instagram profile by gaining more followers.
I followed more people on Instagram, I commented on posts I didn’t care much about, liked photos I normally wouldn’t even look at, spent hours researching how to use hashtags effectively, and even contacted a PR agency to see if they could help.
Ugh.
Truthfully, my obsession stemmed from a blind panic about the future. I was (and am) worried about how I can continue this research into men’s mental health financially after a series of disappointments with government agencies and universities.
You see people who have monetised their social media successfully and I thought, perhaps I could do that too.
Then I realised life would become about content and that to me, is hell.
After my 5.30am wake up call I sat down and wrote down why I started my Instagram account;
To share my research
To document my travels
It really is simple as that. I needed to reconnect with those two aims and just forget everything else.
Ask yourself, why am I using social media? What do I enjoy? Then focus on that.
2. Turn off notifications
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Youtube, ‘whatever the latest trend is’ are all fighting for your attention, ALL THE TIME.
The steady of stream of notifications I would receive throughout the day made sure I continuously checked my phone and spend precious time on those apps.
I would be easily distracted from working, writing, playing with Dougie, chatting with friends, or peacefully staring out the window, by the screen flashing with the promise of likes or comments.
Turning off the notifications meant that I was consciously choosing to enter the apps on my own terms. It instantly made me feel more in control.
3. Delete or mute those that no longer serve you.
I’m usually pretty strict about who I follow as I like to curate my timeline but I had read one way to gain followers was to follow other people. I know, I hate me too.
For each empty follow I felt a piece of my soul float away. It wasn’t long before my timeline was filled with images of stories that I didn’t resonate with or people who didn’t represent me. I found as posts popped up unfollowing or muting those that make me feel anything less than good, really cathartic.
My timeline is now back to being full of people who interest me and expand my thinking such as, psychologists, fat activists, mental health advocates, real vanlifers, and of course, friends who make me smile.
4. Set a schedule
As I want to be on social media to share my mental health research and travels, I couldn’t just delete the apps and be done with it. As a compromise, I scheduled 45 minutes in the afternoon to check social media and/or post if I wanted to.
I purposely chose the afternoon as I wanted to give myself the morning so my mood wasn’t set before the day had even begun.
I also deleted Twitter and Facebook apps from my phone as I personally find these two platforms the most triggering, but I do check them by logging in online.
Again, this all meant I was consciously choosing to enter those apps and my intentions were set before I opened them. I found I no longer scrolled mindlessly, but rather I had a purpose for being there.
In the future, I plan to create a content strategy and schedule posts in advance to help minimise the amount of time I spend on social media and save my sanity.
5. Use the iPhone’s “Screen Time” and “Do Not Disturb” controls
Lastly, I used my iPhone’s settings to regulate my screen time over all. Previously my ‘Do Not Disturb’ was set from 11pm - 6pm. I changed this to 9pm - 9am. I set the “Downtime” to the same hours and chose the apps I wanted to allow past these times. Spoiler, none were social media.
How do you manage your social media and screen time? Share your tips - I would love to know!