In the 21st century, children as young as 4 years old know how to use Youtube and use social media daily and even older generations are starting to use technology. Social media is now widespread throughout the world and it is used for various reasons. You can use it to communicate with your friends and family, show what you are up to, share with the world what you are concerned about, and the list goes on. However, it can be really intimidating as social media is designed in a way to make your mind and soul constantly hooked to it. If you realize that you are scrolling through your phone way too much or even getting upset about certain things, it may be time to just stop and read this article. In today’s article, I will be sharing with you on how to remove this social media addiction and be able to enjoy your life without being compelled to take a snap of your food and post it every hour.
Step 1: Make the intention that you really want to remove the addiction
First of all, you must have the right intention that you really want to do this, and not just stop this procedure halfway. Write down in a piece of a paper that you want to remove this addiction of social media for the rest of your life. Sign it and stick it up or put it as your lock screen wallpaper in your phone.
Step 2: Realise the cons of being addicted to social media.
Write down a list of changes you have seen in yourself since the start of being addicted to social media. Be completely honest. This can make you feel a bit bad at first, but it will encourage you to carry on with this procedure and you will feel determined to carry on.
Step 3: Give yourself a challenge that you want to stop using social media for a particular amount of time.
This step depends on your decision. You now have to pick how long you want to completely go off social media. It can be for a week, 2 weeks or a month. Again, write this down in a piece of paper.
Step 4: Write a list of all the social media you are addicted to.
This is a crucial step as you may only be addicted to some social medias, not all of them. For instance, you may have Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Tumblr on your phone but you may only be addicted to Instagram and Twitter. Therefore, write down the main social media you are actually using as you want to focus on that only.
Step 5: Tell in social media you are logging out.
It is finally time to really do the main action. Post a story or text all your friends that you will be logging out of social media for a certain amount of time, which you have already decided earlier on. You may get different reactions, but your true friends are the ones who will support you and help you accomplish this aim.
Step 6: Log out of your social media or just hand your phone to someone.
It is time to do the thing we have all been waiting for, and the reason you have been reading this article. Don’t wait any further – just log out of your social media. If you want to take this an extra step further, you can also hand your phone to someone else, to avoid breaking this challenge in the first few hours or days.
Step 7: Give yourself a reward after completing each of them.
For example, if you give yourself a 1 week challenge to stop using Instagram, give yourself a small piece of chocolate after each day of accomplishing it. It will help you to look forward to the reward and keep focused on your challenge.
Step 8: Find hobbies or things that replace your social media time.
If you were addicted to social media, you would spend hours on that app everyday. But now that it’s gone, you have all this free time in your hands. In order to keep engaged, find things to do while you are not using the app like learning an instrument, doing some extra revision, or playing a sport. This will make you feel as if you are not missing out on anything.
Step 9: Only choose one social media.
After you have finished your challenge (hopefully successfully!) you can carry on your life without social media or you can restrict yourself to only one social media. This means deleting all your other social
Step 10: Have a time limit of using that particular social media.
To ensure that you won’t get addicted with that one app you have chose, have a time limit of using it every day. For example, I might have Snapchat, but I can only use it for 15 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening. Keep a timer every time you go on the app. This is hopefully how you will remain conscious of your social media intake.
I hope you have enjoyed this article and I hope it helps you. Use this procedure to your own risk and hopefully one day you will be able to tackle this. Please share it with your family and friends if it does help. Also, check out my other articles and poetry:
Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day!