3 Steps to Overcoming Your Social Media Addiction
People are distracted by their phone every day: at the dinner table, during a sporting event, on a walk, in the grocery store, and even driving a car.
Our email, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts are so compelling that they hijack our day, distract us from accomplishing our goals, and serve as a procrastination tool. Yet we find ourselves inextricably drawn to them.
In the Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma, we learn from the developers of these platforms how their algorithms are designed to keep us endlessly engaged. What began as useful tools for sharing pictures, connecting with business people, and getting snippets of news, has turned into a compulsion that occupies a significant part of our day.
It’s no wonder that social media is creating anxiety, disconnection, and loneliness in our life. It’s taking our focus away from things that are meaningful and important.
Anxiety increases when we are barraged with fear-inducing news, especially right before we fall asleep.
Disconnection increases when the social media algorithms produce a news feed that is filled with one-sided perspectives.
Loneliness increases when our loved ones prioritize their phones over our conversations.
Since we don't want to invite dysfunction into our daily lives, we must take back our power.
How do you want to feel after using social media?
Informed, after consuming news from different perspectives?
Educated, after doing a google search on an interesting topic or reading a great article?
Motivated, after seeing a job opportunity or hearing about an interesting business?
Connected, after looking at photos of our loved ones?
Here are 3 ways to take control of our social media intake and create the type of interaction that is productive and meaningful in our lives.
Write down how you want to feel after using social media.
Place that word(s) somewhere highly visible.Turn off notifications.
Why should someone else decide what is important to you and when?Create a set amount of time to check social media and email.
Pick a time when your mental acuity is waning and not right before bed.
When you observe yourself losing control over your social media engagement, look at that feeling you wrote down and honor it.
Give yourself some grace to create these new behaviors. You are trying to break habits that were created over many months, if not years.
You control your life.
Take back your power.
“If you want to be happy, put your effort into controlling the sail, not the wind.”—Anonymous
