Staying away from social media looks like they’re easy, but actually, it is very difficult because social media is structured to be addictive, so we are the ones who after consciously away from social media.
Have you spent thousands of hours on social media, but now, I rarely check your timeline things?
Then why I could’ve managed to stay away from social media?
There are three things I tried to make it possible for media in a sustainable way
- Find a new non-digital hobby
- Meet people
- Delete the app from your phone
1. Find a new non-digital hobby
The first possible solution to stay away from social media is to find a new non-digital hobby; for me, it's Kendo and Coffee.
Also Read: Practising sports can be a digital detox method
The reason why I recommend finding the reason for a hobby is that when you focus on something and you really have fun with it, you don't think about what's on your timeline.
When I practice Kendo Tuesdays and Thursdays, I am so focused on Kendo practice that sometimes I even forget about I'm in Sweden not in my homeland Japan.
Finding a non-digital hobby it's very effective because it can make you psychologically fulfilled by achieving something.
I personally recommend a non-digital hobby to be sports because obviously, sports can boost your serotonin level so that you feel relieved, achieved, and relaxed.
( Medical Information in the above paragraph referred from the article "Working out boosts brain health" by American Physiological Association. )
This is actually completely the opposite of checking the social media timeline because spending a lot of time on social media, can make you depressed and you'll feel anxious.
Reference: The Social Dilemma: Social Media and Your Mental Health
My opinion here is that leave your smartphone and go do some sports.
2. Meet people
The second solution I can think of to stay away from social media is to meet people.
Texting with your friends and meeting with your friends is something completely different because when you meet people you are involved in real conversation and you can feel more embraced and safe to spend time with your friends.
(Information referred from "Skip the texts: Face-to-face meetings make college students happier")
I personally prefer to meet people in real rather than texting because texting can lead to misunderstandings.
In my case when I want to tell something really important, I prefer to do a face-to-face meet-up or video call if I cannot meet the person due to the distance.
One thing you need to pay attention to when you meet people is that it is better to try not to check your smartphone so often unless you have something in a hurry coming up.
Also Read: Using a phone while talking to someone is extremely rude.
Try to see the world outside the screen!
3. Delete the app from your phone
The third solution that I can come up with is to delete the app from your phone.
This is pretty easy because you check the password and login information just in case you want to log in again, then delete the app from your phone because this is one step easier than deleting the account itself.
I assume that the reason why you check your timeline is only because the app is on your phone.
According to "How Much Time Do People Spend on Social Media in 2023?", An average user spends 2 hours and 31 minutes daily on social media.
A day has 24 hours and given that you sleep 8 hours per day, if you spend 2.5 hours on social media a day, it means you spend 15% of your awake time checking what's happening to other people...
As you can see many people are losing their time only checking the timeline to know what other people are doing.
This sounds insane to me because I personally think that I want to live my own life and I really don't pay attention to how other people are doing well, especially on the timeline.
Also Read: A digital detox checklist that All minimalist should Follow
To sum up, The three things that you can do the stay away from social media are.
- Find a new non-digital hobby
- Meet people
- Delete the app from your phone
Thanks for reading and I really hope that the tips written in this blog post based on my experience will help you to do more digital detox for a better life.