Things You Can Do For Social Media Detox |Steps, Tips & Tricks

What is the first thing you do early in the morning? Let me guess, check your phone, and look at your messages and notifications, and in no time, an hour passes? I'm sure most of you relate to this.

It has been a morning ritual to browse your social media apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., check out what's new and exciting in everyone's life, and contemplate your boring life.

Social media feeds you thousands of contents that are unnecessary, and that bother you for no reason. These apps have the objective of engaging their users for as long as possible. They are doing their job perfectly, but what are the effects on you as a user?

Enjoying something for a certain period is fine, but being obsessed with it has harmful effects. You may not understand it now, but social media addiction will slowly hinder your mental health and your concentration levels as well.

Being addicted to anything is not a good thing, and it’s the same with social media addiction. You need to work on getting over it as soon as possible.

A detox helps you stay away from the chaotic world of social media and helps you clear your mind. Whether it's for a week or a month, or longer, it helps you declutter the mess in your head created by the contents fed from social media.

Social Media Detox and Mental Health

Studies show that the less time you spend on social media, the better your mental health is. Excessive use of social media can deteriorate your physical health as well. Did you know that large amounts of device usage can result in a lack of proper sleep and tiredness, and fatigue all day?

According to Etactics, spending more than 3 hours on social media can affect adolescents mentally. 13% of kids that are of age 12-17 report depression, 32% from anxiety. 25% of adults aging from 18 to 25 years have reported mental illness. It also causes severe headaches and eye problems.

So excessive use of social media on your cellphone can ruin your mental health.

It is necessary to take a break from excessive use of social media. The primary toxic trait of social media is that it makes you feel inferior as you compare the manipulative view of the reality of the influencers and celebrities. This comparison can be seen mostly in teenagers and hence social media affects their self-esteem.

Social media doesn't always show the real side of everyone's story. People are different in their real life from what they fake in the media. It can be a dangerous place if misused. People have wrong intentions and can harm you by cyberbullying or harassment. You need to be very careful before interacting with a stranger in your account. There are a lot of cases where teen bullying is found on social media. This severely impacts the overall mental health of teens.

It doesn't matter for how long you take the space; you just need to take it. You need your peace of mind. Social media fills in toxins within you with all types of content. You may also find a lot of fake friends on social media.

They have a fake personality and also some may harm you. You need to be careful about who you’re talking to and sharing your information with. Identifying your fake friends on social media is crucial. It will become a burden and hamper your health if you don't keep yourself away from it from time to time.

What is a Social Media Detox?

Social media detox refers to having a timer set for a complete break from social media. You need to isolate yourself from all the applications that you use as your social platforms. The ideal detox is for 30 days. Everyone doesn't need to do it for that many days. You need to evaluate yourself and decide how much time you need away from it. It could be for a week or even a year.

If you're a newbie at this, I tell you, it's not easy at all. It'll not be easy to stay away from that phone, those news feeds, but trust me, once you get over it and do the detox, you'll know the difference within you. Something changes, the toxins flow out, and you purify yourself.

You don't want to be hard on yourself by going cold turkey at the beginning. It's always the baby steps that work. You could start from alternate days.

Why is Social Media Detox Good For You?

There are a lot of benefits you can feel and experience after a social media detox session. Here are some worthy reasons to make you want to try the detox right away.

1. Break The Social Comparison Cycle

It is a discovered fact that almost everyone using social media compares their lifestyle with everyone else in the feed. This may adversely affect your self-esteem. Another toxic cycle you need to break is updating yourself constantly on social media and having a fear of missing out(FOMO) on stuff when you’re offline or away from your phone. It can have a negative impact on you. Looking at other's progress may feel like you've not accomplished a bit. It may sadden you and even lead you to depression.

After taking a break from this toxic cycle, you will be more comfortable with your own life being who you are and enjoying it. You will connect with what is important in your life. You will understand your purpose in life and will not try to be anyone else but you. That will give you peace of mind as well.

2. Reconnect With The Real World

Sometimes, we're so lost in the digital world, and we forget what it feels like to be connected to people in the real world. We prefer texting rather than talking to someone in person. We don't know how to hold a conversation with people when we are with them anymore.

We don't know how it feels like to have a meaningful connection with someone in person. Reconnecting with our friends and family in the real world is crucial. Maintaining a great relationship with them by taking a break from social media and connecting with them will make you feel happy and loved for real.

There's no backspace to erase what you say in the real world. You say what you feel while thinking about how it affects the one listening before you speak. This builds a sense of understanding and empathy. You don't connect this way through a text. Leave texting for some time and try being real with someone. You'll love it. Social media detox helps you reconnect with the real world.

3. Protect Your Privacy

Social Media is all about posting your pictures, sharing them with your friends and followers, and creating a social network. It feels good to have likes and comments from them but posting them means you're somewhat hindering your privacy. You want to be updated with the trends and what everyone is posting due to the fear of missing out but you need to realize that sometimes you may expose yourself and share your private information that can be misused by a third party.

Also, the privacy policy between applications like Facebook and WhatsApp states that the information provided in WhatsApp can be shared with Facebook. You are giving up a lot on your privacy while using these applications. So, for once, delete those apps, take a social media detox and protect your privacy.

4. Improve Your Overall Mood

People who use social media constantly are likely to have depression, anxiety, and other issues than those who don't. All the contents fed to you consciously or subconsciously stress you out, affecting your health and mood. Staying away from it for a while will improve your mood and forget about those bullies.

Taking a break from all these bothersome contents will give you a fresh perspective on life. You will have limited things to think about and work on that will benefit you. You'll slowly stop feeling anxious and will be calmer.

How To Do A Social Media Detox?

Now that you know what a social media detox is and why you need it let's dive into how to do it the right way. Here are some ways to help you.

1. Delete Your Social Media Apps

You need to primarily be away from the application, notifications, and the temptation to check on it. The best way to do it is to uninstall all the social media applications. This way, you'll not be able to check up on your newsfeed or notifications from time to time.

You need to convince yourself that you can reinstall it anytime you want to not feel more stressed out. It will not be easy to do so. Try it for a day and see how you feel an entire day without using those apps. It will be tough initially, but slowly it'll become a habit of not using any of those applications.

2. Set Limits On Your Apps

Sometimes you can't be productive at work because you spend too much time on social media scrolling through your news feed. You may want to resist using your phone but can't. Setting limits on your apps will help you stop overusing your phone and focus on your work.

Using locked-up features for certain apps will help you stay away from it. You cannot unlock it until it reaches the time limit. This way you can limit the time you spend on social media.

3. Get A Real Alarm Clock

You don't want to look at your phone to put off your alarm the very first thing in the morning. This will make you waste your morning and make you feel dull for the rest of the day.

Using a real alarm clock can help you start your day fresh without scrolling and feeding your brain with unnecessary information that causes stress. This will help with the detox.

4. Practice Meditation

Meditation helps in building mindfulness and makes your body and mind calm. It helps you become stress-free and release all the toxins that you have in your mind. It will help you reconnect with the real world and your surroundings.

If you practice meditation regularly, you'll be mindful about almost everything, and that will include your social media apps usage as well. You will know that you're wasting your time on it and will stop it.

Conclusion

Today's world is all about social media as it has many benefits, but it has its disadvantages when used way more than necessary. People spend more time on social media than on their daily activities. You should be careful that you don't hamper your daily life activities by hovering around apps all day.

Social media detox can help you break from the digital world, start over fresh, and focus on your real-life more. The detox is not easy in the beginning as you can have a fear of missing out in the digital world and social media. You need to give it a try and don't give up easily.

Keep reminding yourself that social media is just a small part of your life. So, you can’t let it take control of your whole life. You can't achieve your goals if you set them too high when you're a beginner at the detox. Taking baby steps like staying away from your apps for a day and slowly a week and more will make this process easier.

You need to take care of your mental and physical well-being. Taking some space from your phone and focusing on yourself is necessary. Spend your time with your friends and family by talking about much more important stuff than just the news feed and social media and what’s trending.

The detox works differently for each individual. You need to see how it works for you and for how long you will need it.