How to Prevent Social Media Addiction
Most people have heard that using social media can cause low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety, but did you know that some people can also become addicted to it? Welcome to the world of the dopamine feedback-loop. This scientific term describes how and why we become addicted to things such as nicotine, drugs, alcohol, gambling, and yes, even social media.
What Causes Addiction?
Dopamine is a chemical in our brains that causes us to repeat activities that are beneficial to us. For example, dopamine is released when we eat, which causes us to want to engage in that activity often.
If we did not have the desire to eat, we would not survive. However, there are unhealthy activities that also cause the release of dopamine in our brain. Some drugs like alcohol and cocaine cause dopamine to be released, but in much larger amounts. This high level of dopamine in the brain causes an even greater desire to use that substance again.
Dopamine:
Dopamine is also released when we connect with people and have positive interactions with them. This is where social media comes into play. The highly social aspects of sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, feed into our need to be accepted and cause us to keep checking these sites.
In addition, the likes, notifications, and shares can cause us to believe that there is real value and truth in the popularity we believe we are experiencing. However, once the dopamine has been depleted, we can be left feeling empty and alone and wanting to feel that ‘high’ again. These feelings can motivate us to continually search and engage with these sites.
Not everyone is addicted to social media, but we can all get distracted and fall prey to its addictive characteristics. However, there are ways to reduce your use of social media and protect yourself from becoming an addiction statistic.
The Following are 10 Ways to Reduce Your Use of Social Media:
1. Turn off notifications – when your phone notifies or alerts you every time you have a new message, you are more likely to open your app and view it. You can change the notification settings manually or you can use the focus feature on your phone.
2. Create phone-free spaces – areas designated where your phone is not allowed in your home (or at work) help you to reduce the amount of time you engage.
For example, you can set rules for yourself to specify that you don’t check social media in your bedroom. That means, when you get into bed, you don’t pick up your phone.
It also means that if you wake up, you can’t grab your phone to check your posts. This helps improve sleep and reduce negative thoughts before bed that can follow you into the next day.
3. Turn your display to grayscale – this reduces the visual appeal of the things you see. For example, when you look at that beautifully organized closet someone else posted that has you feeling bad about the messy one in your bedroom, it won’t look quite as nice in grayscale, and it won’t be as appealing to you.
4. Make it difficult to interact with your social media – change your automatic log in on your social media apps. When you are forced to use your password every time you log in, it becomes more difficult for you to get that quick ‘high’ from dopamine and forces you to be aware of the choice you are making to log in and engage.
5. Put your social media apps on a separate screen – if your apps are on your home page, you see them every time you open your phone. However, if you move these apps to a separate page and better yet, in a separate folder, then you must choose to find the app when you want to use it.
This conscious action forces you to be aware of your choice to engage with social media.
6. Unfollow accounts that negatively impact your life – if you find that you feel bad about yourself when viewing certain people’s accounts, take notice of those feelings and strongly consider unfollowing those accounts.
Remember, social media photos are made to look perfect. People use filters and manipulate their photos to look impeccable. If you are constantly comparing yourself and your life to unattainable goals, you will never be content with your life.
7. Remove media accounts that cause division – social media is ripe with people and organizations that want people to take sides. Much of this hype is used to create a buzz and gain likes and attention, which helps to these companies to make money.
Instead, make a conscious effort to seek out balanced news outlets that report actual news without a political or social spin.
8. Take a vacation from social media – taking a break from social media can help you to regain control over your life. You could take a weekend away and keep the phone in the hotel, (or off and in your purse or pocket), or you could set a day once per week and let everyone know that you don’t use your phone on that day, or certain hours on that day.
The key is to develop control over your social media use.
9. Follow accounts that spin a positive perspective on life – there are many accounts that exist solely to bring a positive outlook into the world. Make mindful choices as to which accounts you choose to follow.
Even people we know personally can be overly negative, so be aware of this and only follow feeds that can help to improve your life or leave you feeling positive about what you are seeing.
10. Install website or ad-blocking apps and extensions to your browser – some apps and extensions block newsfeeds, blur notifications, and remove recommended videos and content, helping you to be more intentional with your social media use.
Oftentimes, when we are on social media, other newsfeeds, notifications, and ads can make us visit these sites, further wasting our personal time on useless and possibly harmful content.
Remember, You Are in Contol!
The key to healthy social media use is to be very intentional with what you do. So, the next time you find yourself scrolling down the rabbit-hole on your social media feeds, use one of the tips on this list to help you readjust your behavior and reduce your risk of becoming addicted to it!
