Social media is a wonderful invention when used the right way. By the “right way,” I mean to enhance your quality of life, not lower it. However, it seems like that’s how it affects most of us.
Two years ago, I felt low, overwhelmed, and like I had brain fog with a case of ADHD. I could barely concentrate on work, my studies, and blogging. I also hated my life because everyone else looked like they were doing so much better than me. That’s when I knew it was time to step away from social media.
The detox worked so well that I came back with renewed energy and purpose, and I deleted most of my social media accounts. Now, I only use WhatsApp and Pinterest (which counts as a search engine.)
Continue reading this post to find out how to do a social media detox in the least painful way.
Table of Contents
What Are the Benefits of a Social Media Detox?
1. It Boosts Your Mood and Self-Esteem
Reducing the time you spend on social media will make you happier — because comparison is the enemy, and your feed feeds it to you regularly.
Logically, you know that a picture isn’t a true reflection of a person’s reality. However, it’s normal to still feel horrible seeing an influencer posing on a Miami beach while you’re crunching numbers in your work cubicle.
When you do a social media detox, everyone else’s life is out of sight, which means it’s out of mind, too. Your self-esteem will increase, you’ll be focused on your own goals, and you’ll learn how to validate yourself!
2. It’ll Increase Your Focus and Energy
Notifications chirping every minute, and the overbearing presence of your phone chip away at your focus.
Moreover, the physical effects of social media are staggering — from headaches to fatigue to poor posture.
What’s worse is that we don’t realize the harmful effects instantly. But doing the same thing continuously is damaging in the long term. For example, social media constantly stimulates you with new images, news, and videos — this crushes your attention span if you’re on it all the time.
I’m a prime example of this because I had symptoms of ADHD as an adult. And I used to be a well-behaved kid and teenager with the focus of a monk.
It took me months to reset my focus again after I deleted my social media accounts.
3. You’ll Have More Time to Do the Things that Matter
Twitter used to be the first thing I browsed every morning. That’s why my mornings only began at 11 a.m.
Social media is a time suck, leaving you with no time to actually rest, pursue passion projects, build new habits, and spend time with your loved ones.
When you do a social media detox, you’ll be surprised at how much more time you have to spend on your true needs.
4. You’ll Get Better Sleep
Not having social media enhances the quality of your sleep because of the elimination of blue light, negative online feeds, and limitless distractions.
Your brain will be more relaxed and, therefore, better primed to get a good night’s rest.
How Long is a Good Social Media Detox?
The length of your social media detox should suit you and your lifestyle. You could try a 30-day or even a 7-day social media detox.
The main aspect to remember is that your break away from social media should be a stepping stone to reducing your intake of it forever. There’s no use doing a 30-day social media detox only to go back to your old consumption methods and feeling low, unhappy, and unproductive again.
You eventually want to reduce the amount of time you spend on social media for the rest of your life. Therefore, choose a good amount of time to reset your old habits.
I recommend a 30-day social media detox, as this timeframe worked for me.
How to Do a Social Media Detox (9 Tips)
1. Wean Yourself Off in Stages
Building any habit should be done slowly, with patience. Therefore, I don’t suggest immediately deleting every social media app you have.
If you quit cold turkey, you risk spiraling back into old habits because you’ll miss your apps too much.
Instead, wean yourself off one app first and then another a few days later, and so on.
Related Post: 13 Compelling Reasons to Quit Social Media
2. Deactivate Your Social Media Accounts Once You’ve Deleted the Apps
Simply deleting the app from your phone or computer doesn’t mean you’re detoxing from social media.
You’ll still receive emails and browser notifications until you’ve completely deactivated your account.
Don’t be afraid to take this step because most social media channels have a temporary deactivation, so you’re not going to disappear forever.
However, it’s necessary to deactivate your account so you aren’t tempted by emails.
3. Keep Your Phone Far Away
Even though you’ve deactivated your accounts and deleted the apps, the sight of your phone might trigger you — because, let’s be honest, we’ve started associating our phones with the online world.
So, reduce the temptation by keeping your phone in another room.
4. Swap Your Social Media Habit with a Healthier Habit
Having all this spare time during the detox will feel shocking at first.
I felt extremely bored when I cut social media out of my life, and that feeling alone was enough to make me want to redownload Facebook.
However, I swapped my scrolling habit for reading. Reading filled the time, gave me an escape, and taught me far more than social media ever has. Plus, because reading cured my boredom, I didn’t feel the need to go back to scrolling anymore.
Instead of reading you might prefer exercising, journaling, or yoga — use the time you spend on social media to engage in those activities.
Related Post: What to Do Instead of Going on Social Media (+40 Useful Things)
5. Remind Yourself That You Aren’t Missing Out on Anything
We scroll more and more and update our feeds constantly because we’re so afraid we’ll miss out on something.
But trust me, nothing significant will pass through your social media feed. Your family will phone you if a tragedy happens, and you’ll hear about Taylor Swift’s new concert from a screaming girl in the street.
6. Learn to Focus on Yourself
When you learn to focus on yourself, you’ll be less interested in what’s going on in other people’s lives.
This detox will help you become more in tune with yourself; you’ll start to like who you are, and you’ll worry about your own goals.
You won’t care about others’ houses, careers, or relationships.
7. Learn How to Be Present by Journaling
When you live through a phone screen, you become out of touch with the present moment. You miss out on everyday wonders like rain, sunset, and the laugh of your partner.
Journaling helped me become more grounded, and I was able to track the progress of my social media detox.
Every day, I became excited to document my life as it was happening and to see how far I’d come without being attached to my phone.
Related Post: 9 Interesting Quiet Practices That Will Enrich Your Life
8. Start Learning Something New
The online world is over-stimulating. You hop onto one video only to get side-tracked by a more interesting thumbnail, or perhaps you start reading somebody’s post only to get distracted by a cute cat video (those things work on me every time.)
Our brains are constantly being fed new, more colorful information, which is why it’s so hard to leave social media.
However, I’ve found that learning something new, like taking a course, shoots up your dopamine levels in the same way as browsing social media. This is a much healthier way to get stimulated.
Related Post: How Cheap Dopamine Is Unraveling Your Life
9. Be Patient Because It Will Be Uncomfortable
Any detox is highly uncomfortable. You might find yourself reaching instinctively for your phone or hovering over the redownload button for an app.
You might also feel like you’ve failed this challenge. However, you have to be mentally strong and patient. Cultivating any habit takes time and hard work.
What Happens After a Social Media Detox?
So, what do you do when you’re done with your social media detox?
Do you redownload your apps, activate your accounts, and relive old habits? Do you activate a few accounts and reduce your social media intake? Do you quit social media for good?
Well, the answer depends on what you want. If you felt a positive change in your life during the detox, consider quitting social media entirely or reducing your intake.
When I finished my detox, I quit Twitter and Facebook altogether (I never had TikTok or Instagram.) However, I kept WhatsApp to stay in touch with my friends and family and Pinterest to enhance my creativity.
I felt like these two apps were the only ones that brought positive change into my life.
So, see what works for you. There’s no right or wrong answer to this. Although, I do wish you wouldn’t go back to using social media excessively as you did before the detox.
Final Thoughts
I hope this post gave you some useful information on how to do a social media detox.
Be proud of yourself for attempting this, as not many people have the resilience to do it.
If you’re done with your detox, please let me know how it went. Are you going back to all your social media accounts, deleting a few for good, or quitting entirely?