Digital Detox 101: A Step-by-Step Guide to a Successful Social Media Detox
If you’re reading this, you probably already recognize that you don’t have a healthy relationship with social media and need a detox. If you need further convincing, here are 5 benefits of a social media detox:
You’re more present. Is mindfulness difficult for you? It could be because you’re so focused on a screen that you’re missing what’s happening right in front of you.
You can be more efficient with your time. Have you checked your Screen Time? How much could you do with all the time you’re scrolling on your phone?
Your mental health will benefit. Social media usage has been correlated with self-esteem issues, sleep troubles, and decreased life satisfaction. Struggling with anxiety or depression? This could be one piece of treatment you’re missing.
Less comparison. We’re not wired to constantly see the best of other’s lives. It creates unhealthy expectations of ourselves and less appreciation for the things we do have.
More connection. Less time online actually improves IRL connections.
Of course, there are positives to social media too. For some that are struggling with health issues or physical isolation for whatever reason, online community might be the only outlet they have. You may not have anyone IRL that can relate to your struggle with addiction, childhood trauma, infidelity, or your rare condition. However, online you’re able to find those who can relate to your struggles, understand you, and provide unique insight. There is also infinite knowledge online, where experts freely share what once would have only been available in universities or libraries.
But for many, there is an unhealthy relationship with social media. Balance needs to be restored. A detox can be a place to start.
Steps to Your Social Media Detox
Step 1: Find Your “Why”
Without a clear “Why” it can become difficult to stick to your intentions. How is social media negatively impacting you? What would your life be like if you had a healthier relationship with social media? What do you want to replace the time you spend on your phone with? If you really want to stay motivated, write down your biggest “why,” take a picture of it, and use that as your phone background. That way, when you pick up your phone you will be reminded of your why.
Step 2: Assess Your Current Relationship
Do you know how much screen time you’re spending on your phone? Are you scared to look? It can be helpful to look at your screen time and to be mindful of where you started. Think about what you want this number to look like. Think about when you’re using your phone. Is it the first thing you look at when you wake up? When would you ideally like to start your usage?
Ask yourself: how do I feel when I reach for my phone? How do I feel after my phone usage? How do I feel while I’m scrolling? Why am I reaching for my phone in the first place? Are you bored? Looking for a distraction? Mindful awareness is the first step towards change.
Step 3: Create Barriers & Turn off Notifications
Have you ever gone to quickly check a text or skip a song only to get sucked into your phone for the next 20 minutes? Barriers make that more difficult. Delete social media apps, or log out of them. You can still check them, but only on your desktop computer. Something as simple as placing your phone in another room when you don’t want to use it can be a barrier.
Turning off notifications on all apps also takes away the initial catalyst for picking up your phone in the first place. You can also change the settings on your iPhone to allow certain contacts to notify you, and not others, if you’re worried about missing an important call from someone.
Step 4: Rearrange Your Phone
What apps are on your home screen? Moving social media apps off the home screen creates another barrier. Keeping only essential tools on your home screen (calculator, banking apps, navigation, camera) can make sure that when you go to use those tools, you don’t accidentally end up on socials. Making your phone appear grayscale instead of in color can also help social media addiction. A red notification icon is much more appealing to your brain than a gray one. Scrolling through social media in grayscale is also a much less appealing experience.
Step 6: Find an Alternative
Have you ever thought that you’d learn Spanish or start sewing or exercise if only you had the time? Now you do! Replace the time you’re spending on your phone with something you’ve been wanting to do for a while. Block out one hour for phone free alternative entertainment. While you may feel like scrolling on your phone while watching a TV show after work helps you relax, try doing something else and see how you feel.
Step 7: Practice Mindfulness
By now, you may have noticed how short your attention span has become as a result of being on your phone so much. Does it feel uncomfortable to sit in a waiting room without scrolling? Or to eat a meal without your phone by your side? Try practicing mindfulness to help your mind become used to being present again. There are apps like Insight Timer that have free meditation prompts, or they can easily be found on YouTube. You can start with just a 5 minute meditation, and work your way up from there.
Step 8: Spend a Day With Your Phone Completely Off
Does this idea sound impossible? Pick a day where you know you won’t need your phone. Maybe a weekend or a day on vacation. For an entire 24 hours, turn your phone off. Journal how you feel, what you notice, and what the experience was like for you. This isn’t a necessary step, but can be a game changer for recognizing how your life with less distraction would feel.
Step 9: Reflect
If you have practiced these steps for a while, you can reflect on how far you’ve come. How has your relationship with social media changed? How has your relationship with yourself and those around you changed? Has your mental health improved? Before reintegrating social media, reflect on what the experience of the detox has taught you. Think about what you want the relationship with your phone to look like going forward.
Step 12: Gradually Reintegrate Social Media with Boundaries
You may decide that you don’t want to go back to social media. But, if you feel like there are some benefits, you can re-integrate social media into your life with appropriate boundaries. You can use apps that limit your time on social media. Keep up habits that may have helped you like keeping your phone out of your bedroom, or only accessing social media on your computer. The best way to prevent a relapse is to to continually practice mindfulness and periodically assess your relationship with your phone.
Social media and phone usage is one way that we often numb ourselves in order to avoid painful emotions. If you recognize during your phone detox that your social media usage was a way to keep uncomfortable emotions at bay, working with a therapist during this journey can help. A therapist can help you unpack why you’re turning to your phone so much, how to process those hidden feelings, and assist you in finding other ways to meaningfully connect with yourself and the world around you. Our phones are amazing tools if we properly use them, but they don’t have to control us.
