How to Limit Your Time on Social Media: A mental checklist for each time you open up a social media app
WRITTEN BY NICOLE ENTZEROTH | 5 Minute Read
We’ve all seen it - the person next to you texting during the movie at the movie theater. The couple at your favorite Italian restaurant glued to their phones for the entire meal. Your best friend saying, “Mhm, mhm” as you spill your heart out and she scrolls through Instagram. Whether we like it or not, social media’s permeated the world as we know it.
As I sat at my favorite coffee shop yesterday sipping on an iced Americano, it dawned on me.
What if I made social media less of a doomscroll and more of a scavenger hunt?
I thought about how any work task (or personal task) I do usually has specific objectives that need to happen in a specific order for me to accomplish what I want to accomplish. I.e., first I’ll open up Gmail (check), then I’ll craft the email (check), then I’ll hit send (check).
We can treat social media the same as any work task or personal task.
Instead of picking up your phone and scrolling without any real goal in mind, create the goals for yourself - or “clues” as I like to call them, because I frame my social media usage now as a sort of “scavenger hunt.”
Clue #1: Support
If you’re like me you’re well aware that social media is a highlight reel. Susan is in the Bahamas looking as fit as ever. Jeremey is crushing his new job and just got a promotion. Irena is taking her dog rescue passion to the next level and opening a shelter. You know how it goes.
Instead of comparing yourself to the peeps in your feed as you scroll, find one (key word: one) person to support by leaving a positive comment on their post or story. Once you’ve done this, move onto your next clue and don’t fall into the comparison hypnosis.
Clue #2: Learn
As the lifelong learner you are, I’m sure you follow accounts that post highly educational content like infographics, carousels, statistics, or how-to reels. Find one (key word again being: one) that piques your interest and actually absorb the lesson it’s trying to teach you. Once you’ve done this, move onto your next clue and don’t become an information overload stress ball.
Clue #3: Act
We hear great ideas everyday, but if we tried to act on each one of those great ideas we’d have to quit our jobs. Find one post or story that inspires you to act - maybe it’s a self-improvement technique or activity, a fun workout, a method to reduce your carbon footprint, or a girls’ night game to try with your friends. Whatever it may be, absorb the content and schedule it into your calendar to do it.
And for the grand finale, here’s the most important step.
After you’ve found your three clues and you’ve made a plan to act on Clue #3, exit out of the app and don’t log back in until tomorrow, if you want to.
Just as they say, nothing good happens after midnight.
By completing your daily social media scavenger hunt, you’ve already supported someone you care about, learned something new, and gained inspiration to make a positive change in real life. Spending any more time on the app has no point for you, or for anyone else. I promise you won’t get a knock on your door asking you why you didn’t spend more time on Instagram.
To Recap:
Treat every time you open a social media app like a strategic scavenger hunt, not a mindless doomscroll.
Clue #1: Find one person to support with a positive comment on their post or story.
Clue #2: Find one post or story that teaches you something.
Clue #3: Find one post or story that inspires you to act - and schedule it in your calendar.
Exit out and don’t log back in until tomorrow, if you want to.
If nothing else, remember this.
Social media isn’t your job. Social media doesn’t hand out gold trophies. Social media has its own goals and its own means of pursuing them.
You get to decide how you want to use it.