Social media Detox
#ProductivityBeing away from all social media is not an easy task. You will always be tempted to use it because it has become your daily routine. To make a good habit, you need 30 days and to break a bad habit also you need 30 days. So I took 30 days away from social media. And here I am going to tell you how I did that and my experience after doing that. I got inspired to do this after watching a video by Matt D’Avella. I will link his video here in case if you want to watch.
Watching it made me think that if a public figure can do it, why can’t I who only have a few followers. So I made my mind to do this. It is not an easy task to do this. It will take some time to do this. And don’t feel disappointed if you opened the app in these 30 days. I don’t want you to do this the next day onwards, give some time. Slowly reduce your app usage. Here I will provide you with some tips to do that.
- Remove social media apps from your home screen. If you are using a phone with no app drawer, keep the app inside a folder or keep it only in your last page.
- You want to make accessing your social media app difficult. If you wish to quit a bad habit, increase the friction between the thought and the action. If you need to do a task and takes more time for you to do, then you are not likely to do it. Try hiding your apps using the built-in launcher features. In my case, I use a OnePlus device. We have a built-in feature called Hidden Space where you can hide apps, and it needs a biometric authentication to unlock. So it makes it difficult to open the app, and it also doesn’t appear in search.
- Disable notifications from that app. Now both Android and iOS have this feature to block notifications from apps. Try to block notifications from social media apps entirely or change it to the way you prefer.
- Try uninstalling the app from your device. It will increase the friction more. And only install when you need it and uninstall it after a few minutes.
- Use some site blockers in your browser so that it can prevent you from accessing the site.
- Use some timer while using these apps. Like in Android, you have a feature called Digital wellbeing, where you can set a timer for individual apps, and once the timer runs out, the app will stop, and the app icon will be greyed out.
- Use some distraction blocking apps in your device. I use Zen mode, which is a built-in feature with OnePlus device, and it works perfectly. Set a timer and press start, you can’t access anything except camera and emergency dialer. But you will receive calls without sound. And you can only access apps after the timer stops, and if you try to restart your device, it will show the same screen.
My experience
I was blown away after seeing the result. I got more time to do other kinds of stuff. I slept early and woke up on time. And you will surely lose your followers, I also lost a few, but I don’t mind. It helped me to be productive throughout the day. I now spent less time on my phone. I also got time to read books. The benefits of doing this are more.
Conclusion
I have seen many celebrities, and public figures do this, that was the reason which made me do this, and the results were amazing. I also want you to try this and share your experience. If you cannot do this for 30 days, try it for one week and see how it goes. Just take it slowly.