How to Delete social media without actually deleting them:
Content:
- Introduction
- Things you should know
- How to reduce your usage of social media?
- Conclusion
Nowadays, the world became like a small village where everyone is aware of what happens around. This is a result of the new turn the world is taking towards developed technologies in order to enhance the humans’ quality of life.
We are surrounded by social media every where. We can not lie to our selves and assume that we can live without them because they are the source of news and knowledge. Simultaneously, this source is the perfect place to buy laziness and failures. Hence, you can not delete them and expect yourself to survive having no updates regarding the current issues. For instance, I wouldn’t of heard about medium if it wasn’t for a Tiktok that I watched back in the day. Or even, no one of us would of known about that submarine that went missing in the depth of the ocean.
So how can we reduce our usage of social media in order to focus more on being productive without deleting them?
Things you should know:
- Once, I was scrolling through my FYP on TikTok for so much long that I did not notice how much time I spent looking at these videos. A friend of mine happened to ask me a question: “Talk about 3 videos you just watched”. This one hit hard. Well, I was capable of recalling some-little details about a girl who owns her own make-up brand and that was it. I recalled nothing else. This made me realize that I spend endless hours on TikTok every single day watching something I’ll never remember.
- Being used to constantly watching short videos makes it harder for you to concentrate when watching long ones and that is because your mind is used to receiving information in a 1 minute video, therefore it would get pissed off when you watch long ones. This can result in having hard time listening and focusing to school or college lectures which would undeniably pave a way for hurdles and burden.
How to reduce your use of social media?:
- Write a not to do list:
We usually write a to-do list on a daily basis in order to plan the way our day should go. But how about we also plan the way our day shouldn’t go? Well, one way to do this is by writing a list of the things which you do not want to do. For instance, I usually write the following:
- Not listening for music for too long
- Not waking up late
- Not watching TikTok for more than 15min/day
- Not arguing with my younger sister over the silliest things (This one is so important :) )
Since we as human beings love to cross things out for they give us triumph vibes, then you will find yourself abiding by this list which would later on turn into habits embedded in your daily routine.
2. The 10 videos method:
Once, I was watching a Vlog for a medical student called “Sara Nouh” on YouTube when she happened to mention a way to decrease the usage of the social media platforms like Tiktok and Instagram. She explaines that we can use the 10 videos method. All you have to do is that whenever you are scrolling through your TikTok or Instagram page, count the posts you see. if you reach 10 and did not find any helpful information between these posts, then you should leave the platform. On the contrary, if you happened to learn anything new or benefit from something, then the game starts all over again. In other words, you start to count 10 posts all over again.
3. Delete them but do not delete them:
This is a method which I came up with recently, and it goes on like this. If you have at least 2 devices, such as a phone and a laptop, or a phone and an iPad, then delete the social media apps on your phone and leave it on the other device. This is the way I got to effectively be more productive and spend more time away from these platforms. So basically, you can still have access to them on other devices, however accessing them is now hard.
I personally used to spend a lot of time on them because my phone was always around me, so when I come to check my whats-app and Gmail , I happen see Tiktok or Instagram, and the natural reaction is to open them immediately. However, after I’ve just moved those apps to my iPad, accessing them became harder sinceI do not have it with me all the time which would reduce your usage rate. Same thing applies to the laptops, you can not access social media that often for opening your laptop is not as easy as opening your phone.
4. Time restriction apps:
Currently, we have many apps that would put restrictions over your phone in order to help you decrease the wasted time on specific apps. According to my research, one of them is “Appdetox”. It allows you to control other apps. You can take a sneak peek here:
You have a myriad of options so you can choose according to your own preferences and situation.
5. One sec app:
Ali Abdaal, a productivity expert on YouTube was once talking about an app called “One sec” which is going to force you to take a deep breath whenever you open social media apps so that you can have the chance to reconsider your choice about where you spend your time. This is another method to spend your time wisely rather than on absurd TikTok videos.
Conclusion:
Social media is a double-edged sword, it can simultaneously be a great gate of knowledge and a time waster. At the end of the day we can not really ditch them nor keep them distracting our life, so taking action becomes a must. And here comes the role of my own personal experience on how to control this attachment which we developed over time using the techniques I happened to gather in an attempt to become more productive. And this is how you can delete social media from your life without actually deleting it…
