Scrolling through our social media feeds is as much a part of our daily routine as eating, sleeping, and breathing. We now have an unlimited array of devices that could connect us to the World Wide Web 24/7.
Smartphones, tablets, and computers are now capable of connecting us to the internet any time and anywhere. However, because of our online habits, more often than not, we end up mindlessly going about our day to day activities.
Not sure if you need to declutter?
Try asking yourself the following questions to check for the 3 signs you need to watch out for:
1. SCROLL TIME
How much time do you spend scrolling through your social media feeds?
We may not notice it, but most of the time technology is already taking ahold of our lives. We need technology to make our lives easier, but we shouldn’t allow it to consume most of it, limited as it is.
2. ONLINE 24/7
Do you still log out of your account/s after using them?
Nobody ever logs out of their social media accounts anymore these days. The thing is, when our social media apps are in standby mode, we’re more likely to mindlessly keep on checking in on our devices every minute or so (literally).
3. INSTANT NOTIFICATION CLICK
How often do you immediately check out a new post/instant message because of a notification?
It might be easier to count how often we have ignored a pop-out notification instead of counting the times we have automatically clicked on one. Chances are, most of the notifications that we click instantaneously cannot be even remotely considered as important.
If your answers to those questions bother you, then there is a chance that your online activities are getting a little out of hand. However, if you are certain that you still have firm control of your own time.
Then congratulations! You should be proud of yourself.
After all, social media is created to connect us, either for leisure and entertainment or for communication purposes.
So if it still serves its purpose for you, then you have nothing to worry about.
But, if you think you need to pause and find a way to somehow minimize your time from social media. Then, you could do any of the things listed below and see if it helps you out.
1. Control the ‘notification’ settings either within the app’s settings or directly in your device’s settings.
The frequency of how often a notification shows up in your screen can be adjusted within the app’s settings. If that doesn’t work for you, you can still edit the notification preferences in your device’s applications’ settings instead.
For example, if you wish to deactivate the notifications from the ‘messenger’ app. You may switch off the ‘Notifications & Sounds’ option inside the app.
Or you may also go to your device’s applications’ settings to disable the notifications from the application itself.
2. Unfriend or unfollow or mute people/accounts that feed you with negativity.
You may see people who have thousands of friends on Facebook. Others follow hundreds or thousands of accounts on Twitter or Instagram. We often fail to realize that posts from pages or people we follow may affect our outlook on a specific day or hour.
Following the right people online means feeding your thoughts with the right content. Things that you want to connect yourself with. If seeing photos of food, or beautiful places, or of gorgeous clothes light up your mood… then follow them as much as you want. But if you often see posts that trigger annoyance or jealousy, unfollow him or unfriend her.
Save yourself from the onslaught of stress hormones. Your mind and heart will thank you for it.
3. Log-out of the account when you’re already done.
Most social media apps allow us to ‘log-out’ of our accounts. However, try observing where the ‘log-out’ buttons are. It’s either placed at the very bottom of the screen or somewhere where you still need to navigate through a few drop-down windows first before you could log-out.
It’s as if they don’t even want us to log-out of our accounts in the first place.
4. Uninstall the app (at least for a specific period).
You might think this is too much, but it’s more practical this way. Remember, you could always log back in using your browser. Since that is how it used to work before smartphones became a part of our daily lives.
If you’re a business owner that needs to be constantly connected to your business’ page, or an admin of a group where you need to monitor things frequently. You can always adjust the settings so that the most important notifications can still arrive in your e-mail.
There isn’t much of a reason for us to be logged in on our social media accounts 24/7, especially if it’s at the expense of our mental health.
5. Use an app to help you control your time.
There are productivity apps out there that could help us control our time more efficiently and maintain our focus, especially when it comes to social media usage. Examples of these applications are FocusMe, Keep Me Out, and a couple of other applications indicated in this post by DigitalTrends.
If you are still motivated and/or updated (in a good way) by the things you see in your social media feeds then you can opt to stay out of those five suggestions I listed above.
One way or another, most of us are tied to one (or two) social media platforms. It’s already a part of our work and personal lives.
We have to find a way to use these to our advantage. Not the other way around.
Here’s a tip: If you think those five things won’t be able to pull you out of the social media scroll race. You can always ‘DEACTIVATE’ temporarily. Who knows, it might just be exactly what you need to get back to your usual hustle-mode.
Social media isn’t bad at all. Its true purpose is to help us connect with other people even if they are geographically far from us. It helps us see places we haven’t visited yet and create bridges to other parts of the world.
Aside from the business concept involved (of course), social media was created to fuel our youth… our creativity and our passion.
If it still does all these things for you. Then scroll away!
Do you need a little nudge in the right direction?
Get this FREE Goal-Setting template that has helped me earn my MAEd and finish writing a 21,000-word research manuscript, all while juggling work as a high school teacher.
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Previously published on medium
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