How to Break Your Social Media Addiction *Instantly*

…In Just 3 Simple Steps

I’ve been working in the social media space for the past 8 years, and I’ve noticed certain platforms are better than others at supporting my own mental health, long-term goals, and time-management.

As someone who runs a business from home, I have the sole responsibility of choosing what I spend my time doing, and I’ve realized in my journey that certain platforms flat-out don’t make the cut.

How do you decide which ones those are? And how do you cut them out instantly? This is what immediately worked for me:

1. Use a habit tracker to figure out which platforms you can’t stop scrolling on, and if you can’t establish the habit of cutting down, delete the app.

I had a habit tracker where I *tried* to cut down to only checking Instagram for 15 minutes a day. I have used a habit tracker to incentivize myself into many healthier habits, so I know it works for me, but no matter how many times I tried to cut down on IG scrolling, I would always go over my 15 minute allotment.

This was a clear sign that I needed to delete the app altogether, and it doesn’t mean you have to quit Instagram (or whatever platform it is for you), it just means deleting the app will drastically make it harder to access.

I don’t mean just deleting the app from your Home Screen (a fun little loophole that only lasts like a week for your brain to re-route and find the app again), I mean deleting the entire app and re-downloading every time you want to post. On Instagram and TikTok, I like to “post and ghost,” basically posting whatever I need to, and then deleting again to avoid further distraction.

This leads to step two:

2. Use the clunky browser version of the app if you need to:

If you have to use social media for work (like I do), Instagram and TikTok are MUCH more clunky when they are accessed through the browser on Safari than using the actual app itself. That “clunky” experience leads to a few things:

1. I click away from the website/app much faster because it’s boring and not easy to “scroll”, and less scrolling decreases the release of dopamine and serotonin in your brain induced by scrolling.
2. I only access the app when I’m on a desktop computer, taking away the impulsive and addictive nature of the app and forcing me to find other ways to fill my time, and
3. I can see the app for what it is: an invitation for endless scrolling incentivized by small hits of dopamine in the form of notifications. Taking away the notification aspect greatly reduces the dopamine hits your brain gets when you access the platform.

Overall, it shows me that certain social media apps rely on exploiting brain chemicals that are only supposed to be released when completing real tasks instead of scrolling and receiving notifications.

3. Hone in on apps you have a healthy relationship with:

I mentioned that Instagram and TikTok are designed to make me have the scrolls for days, and they make me feel worse (anxious) once I close out of them, but there are apps that I’ve always had no problem with and those are: YouTube and Pinterest.

1. I don’t find myself endlessly scrolling or needing to set time-limits for these healthier apps,
2. I don’t think much about them when I’m not on them,
3. and I don’t feel worse off once I’m done with them.

This is the indication that they are healthy for me and my unique situation, so I that’s why I focus on creating content for YouTube and Pinterest.

*The Bonuses of focusing on apps you have a healthy relationship with*

Just like a real human relationship, if it is toxic, it can have a negative affect on all other areas of life, and therefore, it’s important to take toxic relationships with apps very seriously. The bonuses of paring down your apps to only the healthy ones very much mimics what happens when you cut out a toxic relationship with anything: pretty immediately life becomes better, more peaceful, and more fulfilling. I have more time to focus on (and create content for) the healthy relationships I do have.

Everything gets better when you cut out toxicity, so understanding what’s toxic for you is the key.

Let me know your thoughts and what has worked for you in the comments!