5 ways to (slightly) lessen your social media addiction...

Are you addicted to social media? Have you ever thought about deleteing your Facebook account? Ha! Yeah right! I read a post on Elite Daily recently that reported the average person checks their phone every six-and-a-half minutes, or 150 times per day. That is insane.

I love social media. It's not going any where and I don't plan to stop using it. I would however, like to decrease my usage just a teeny, tiny bit. I've found myself in this place where I've stopped reading books, having face-to-face conversations, and avoiding old fashioned phone calls. I'd rather be on my phone checking e-mail and looking at photos of friends, or sending text messages. Ick, it sounds bad when I say that outloud.

For one week, I read books while I was nursing my daughter rather than surfing the web and reading status updates, and guess what? I read two books! I don't think I've done that as quickly since college. Talk about productivity and feeding my brain some good food.

Here are a few new tips to try for loosening the grip social media may have on you:

1. Set healthy boundries. Try a '"no social media before noon" policy. Turn off your notifications and have confidence that whatever comments, posts, or pictures await you will still be there at 12:01p. Fill your morning with a healthy breakfast, a sweaty workout, or meditation. *If you want to be a bit more extreme actually delete the apps off of your phone and only will check from a laptop or desktop a couple times a day.
2. Get an (old school) alarm clock. Drop the excuse that your need your phone next to your bed becuse you have to use it as your wake up call. Charge your phone in the kitchen or office overnight.
3. Leave your phone in you bag, or pocket, while you're with others. Nothing says, "I really care about you," less than when you take out your phone in the middle of a conversation to check Twitter.
4. Keep a book or a magazine with you and pull it out while you wait for your doctors appointment or in line at the grocery rather than checking your social media. OR just practice sitting still.
5. Pick up a new hobby. Running, biking, stamp collecting, whatever excites you. Fill your time with activities that don't involve a computer or your phone.

Are you nervously sweating yet? You can do it! Try out a couple of these methods for a day, or a week, or if you're feeling a little crazy, A MONTH. Let me stress that I am not recommending cutting social media out entirely. I just want you to be aware of how awesome YOUR life is outside of it. We throw away hours every week on social media and still complain that there never seems to be enough time in the day. Take back that time, put down that phone, and reclaim your real-time life.

 

Posted with Blogsy