10 Tips to Limit Social Media Usage
To Practice Pratyahara
Few months ago, in a pursuit to get deeper in my meditation practice, I decided to do a social media (SM) detox. I was amazed at the results, my meditation became clearer and I was able to look inwards & evaluate where I wanted to go with my life.
Pratyahara, withdrawal of the senses, is a practice of yoga defined in the Eightfold path for exactly this reason. In order to look inwards & still the mind, we must limit the amount of external stimuli we are exposed to. I think the yogis who laid this out as a practice thousands of years ago, would be a bit overwhelmed today by the infinite scroll & information processing that has become part of our daily lives. It’s no wonder multiple studies have found a strong link between heavy social media, increased depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts (1).
Unfortunately for me, after my blissful social media detox, I realized that my purpose in life to continue the spread of yoga knowledge would be difficult without SM. However, I did figure out a way to game the system & preserve my sanity while using SM.
Below are 10 Tips I used to stay sane while using Social Media:
1. Keep apps out of sight
This is one easy change that makes a big impact. Pull out your phone right now (I realize the irony of making you do this) and check out your first screen. Does it have a social media app (Twitter, IG, FB, Slack, etc.)? If so, move those to the next screen — make it hard for yourself to find the apps that suck your time. Below you can see how I have set up my phone, I almost never accidentally stumble on IG with this flow.
A look into my phone screens where I hide my social media apps.
2. Delete Social Media After Posting
Think of the last time you decided to post something on IG, Twitter or facebook. How did you feel in the first 15 minutes after posting? Were you nervous, excited, all of above? What happened when you noticed a spike in likes?
According to an article by Harvard University researcher Trevor Haynes, when you get a social media notification, your brain sends a chemical messenger called dopamine — the feel good hormone — along a reward pathway. “Dopamine is associated with food, exercise, love, sex, gambling, drugs … and now, social media (2)”.
So now that we understand that we are cracked up on social media likes, what do we do to avoid addiction?
Us cracked up on social media (3)
Here comes trick #2 — POST & IMMEDIATELY DELETE THAT ISH. This one has worked wonders for me, as immediate gratification is a core component in addictive forming behaviors. When you delete your social media after posting, you delay the gratification that comes and avoid all the ups & downs associated with it.
3. Keep phones out of bedroom
According to BBC, a study done on teenagers found that those who spend five hours or more per day on SM, are around 70% more likely than average users to fall asleep late on school nights and after midnight on other days (4).
Can you relate to this? If you spend your last hour of the day scrolling, find a place in your house (not your bedroom) and leave your phone there. This will be hard at first, but you can use reading to replace the infinite scrolling pattern. You can even start a phone jar to lock your phone, like they have in the social dilemma, just make sure not to break it open in anger.
4. Get an Alarm Clock
But Meera, if I don’t have my phone at night how will I wake up in the morning?!
Ahh the trickery of dependency, making it hard for someone to live without you. Clocks, alarm, weather, GPS, connection with the world, is their anything that we don’t need our phones for?!
YES. Go get yourself an $10 alarm clock :)
5. Commit to a phone free dinner
This one is great if you are living with atleast one person whose company you enjoy. If not, practice mindful eating as you devour each bite of your meal in silence. However you do it, give your mind a phone break during dinner as you wind down for the day.
Don’t make Mama angry.
6. Find a daily news source
When I deleted my social media, one of the things I struggled with was this feeling that I had “no idea what was going on with the world”. This was mainly because I previously got all my news from Twitter.
How I felt after deleting SM
In the good old days, when newspapers were a thing, a delay existed between an event, reporting & distribution of the news. While this is not always great, such as when trying to track the COVID spread, having a delay in reporting does highlight important news. Think about ALL the news that you have read today, you can probably already identify the top 1 thing.
This idea of creating some space between an event and when it is reported is something you can practice today. I found out about NPR podcast UpFirst that reports 15 minutes of top news that occurred the previous day. Wherever you decide to get your news from (besides social media), schedule 15 minutes in the morning to catch up on news from the previous day. This will help you avoid the feeling that you are missing something critical without SM.
7. Utilize limits on phone (Screen Time alerts, Forest, Daywise)
According to research done by VerywellMind, People with social anxiety disorder are more likely to engage in passive use of Facebook (looking at other people’s profiles) and less likely to engage in content production.
This is a common pattern, mindless scrolling is so detrimental to our mental health. I found a few strategies that helped me stop myself from this habit:
Delete social media completely (not everyone can do)
Set limits on your apps for screen time & STICK TO IT (use Forest, Screen Time or Daywise)
Schedule a 15 minute timer to scroll & STOP once it is over.
This one might sound strange, but if none of the above works what the heck. Every-time you scroll, screen record your phone. Firstly who wants to waste memory on their phone with videos of themselves scrolling, secondly, when you rewatch it, it brings attention to how detrimental the habit is.
8. Use a post scheduling platform
If you are convinced Instagram is a soul sucking tool but need it to spread a message, promote a business, or influence others try posting through Hubspot (I work here so I am biased) or Later. With platforms like these, you can basically sit down, schedule out all your posts in one sitting and never have to go on Instagram. It’s wonderful and it is how I schedule all my posts on @truetoyoga.
9. If influencing schedule time slots to “work”
Similar to the above scenario, if you are required to go on SM for “work”, try putting a time limit on posting, following, commenting and liking other posts. With a time limit & a calendar event, you can prevent yourself from falling into the trap of mindlessly scrolling and utilize the time efficiently for your goal.
10. Start a daily meditation routine, hobby, and connect with loved ones
Limiting social media is not easy. With instant gratification & features like infinite scrolling, we really have to use ALL our will power to combat what has been created.
Mr. Raskin, the designer of infinite scrolling has even been cited saying that he now feels guilty about it…But that so many designers are driven to create addictive app features by the business models of the big companies that employ them (5).
It’s not your fault. So go easy on yourself as you try to form new habits to limit SM. Pick up a new relaxing hobby like meditating or reading, and reconnect with loved ones for support.