A lot of people in my circle are finding ways to spend less time on their phones. As we have found in The Next Social Media Era, this corresponds to the data showing that social media use is declining among younger generations. Gen-Z is literally done with it. I think a large part of it is caused by the immense amount of information spawning upon us every day, leading to cognitive overload. We feel more tired, have brain fog, and do not feel as connected anymore.
Therefore, many are setting up time limits. We can block apps after a certain hour of the day, or turn our phone into greyscale to make the screen and images we see on our feed less appealing. Quitting all the way feels too intense. There are certain reasons why we might feel like that:
- We are anxious about missing things from our friends: either their posts and stories, or the videos they send us via DM
- We get a lot of inspiration from social media: either in the form of styling tips, recipe ideas, or other similar interests
- We don't think we truly spend that much time on our phone / we do not think it is that bad
I tried a lot of the small measures, but I kept falling in the same habits over and over again. What turned out to be the most effective were three things:
- I removed the addicting apps from my phone. Not only from my homescreen, but completely removed from my phone.
- Putting my phone physically away. Not having it next to me while I sleep, watch TV or spend time on creative projects. Especially these moments are a reason to quit. Your ability to focus decreases when you are checking out your small screen while watching another big screen.
- I really really really wanted to quit. I was done with it.
These things were the only ways that led to me having deleted Instagram and TikTok for around 6 months now. Complete transparency: I think in total I downloaded it again 3 times, but I removed it again after a short amount of time (a day or so). The feelings that you get from picking up your phone and not finding the apps on the place they belonged on your homescreen give you two things: a clearer mind, but also a restless mind, especially in the beginning. You're so used to replacing in-between time with scrolling that you are not sure how to fill those gaps. I think especially in times of stress, fatigue, or friction, we turn to our phones for mindless usage, while those are also the most damaging moments because you keep piling up more overload in your brain. You have to face friction again.
What I noticed in myself was that I had this tendency to reward myself with scrolling time. After a long hard day, I would give myself some scrolling time to rest. However, I would still feel tired after scrolling for an hour, and possibly not do anything else for the rest of the evening. Not saying that your days and evenings should be productive, but they also weren't being spent to truly rest. I didn't feel more energized in the morning after.
What I noticed the most are the following things:
- No more brainfog. I cannot tell you how sick I was of this. This also helps me make more conscious choices. I go to bed earlier, and wake up earlier, which makes me feel better.
- So much more time in my day. I am reading more than ever.
- More creativity. I have started this website, I have built two other websites, I have written more in the past six months than in the past 5 years.
- Actually more connection with my friends. I am not overloaded with everything I have already seen, so I am actually more eager to text or call my friends and family. I am more keen to send voicenotes, and listen the responses! I send photos I took directly to my friends, and I actually like their responses better than the likes I would have gotten on an Instagram Story.
However, I do sometimes miss the inspiration I got on the internet. I try to find those in less-addictive ways, but I also trust myself to install an app for a day and delete it afterward. There's so much more grounding in my decision now.
I also think it is important to remember that our phone addiction isn't our fault. The big companies make it very hard for us to do differently, and it's not just discipline that can help you get out of it. I wrote in my digital garden about alternative ways of social media which are things that we forget are possible because we are so used to the way it is now. And of course, big companies won't do these things out goodness, but I like the idea of merging tech with more healthy, ethical ways of social interaction.