I recently quit a drug I was addicted to for years, and soon after started quiting major social media platforms using the same lessons I learned from getting sober!
Your brain is great at eventually returning to a natural baseline. But until that happens, You'll need replacement(s) to tide yourself over
Here are some options that have been helpful for me:
1. Coloring books + music. It might seem very childish, but its super fun and relaxing without putting you at the mercy of the algorithm or ads!
2. Frame reading as a scrolling replacement. Find some breezy, fun reads to start out with. Short story collections are good for this because its more digestable to read 15 stories over 400 pages than 1 story.
3. Going on walks *and leaving your phone at home*. It's exercise(always good), it puts you into the real world, and its an activity that can last pretty long.
4. Accountability to others. Tell your supportive loved ones that you're quiting social media. It gives you purpose, you're now doing it for yourself *and* others.
5. Phone calls. Bored but don't want to scroll? Call someone! Just put them on speaker and pretend they're in the room with you, just chat!
6. Last but not least, physically hang out with people *with your phone turned off*.
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Seeing people I know have legit withdrawal symptoms from TikTok is wild. Regardless of what you think of the ban, they reactions are a cautionary tale for all social media.
Iβve definitely always framed my usage of social media in this mindset, even when others joke about how Iβm βaddictedβ to my phone. I deadass am. This was a very helpful comment to see βπ»
number 1βs perfect i actually got a lord of the ring coloring book for christmas π
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Long story short, don't stress yourself when it comes to quitting social media especially cold turkey but what you can do is that implicitly quit social media.
You might ask how is that even possible ? and why you need social media ?
what you can do is, create other accounts for your social media, a kind of "alter ego" social media where you can express your true self when it comes to what you wanna do and achieve as personal goals.
What i would do to achieve that :
1. log out or deactivate your actual accounts.
2. create the alter ego accounts
Now the important part is what follows :
3. Immerse yourself in your interest :
You wanna read more ? download ebook and use your phone as a digital book
You wanna sleep well ? make your phone GREY (activate the greyscale on your phone to make it boring - schedule it for the evening)
You wanna learn a new hobby ? here comes your alter ego social media, where you will use the algorithm for your own good, where you will search and interact only with what you are interested in !
You wanna avoid scrolling and walk more, work out more, etc.. ? use a permanent focus MODE where the home screen is empty and only have one of your music players, hide the rest of the apps, make that phone a digital music player only.
you want study tips ? use youtube for your benefits, and only use it in navigator mode, never the app.
slowly but surely you will start getting bored of your phone and then quitting the usage of that device will be more easy and relevant and soon you will find yourself barely touching it.
4. detaching from your phone : you will soon be picking a book rather than your ebooks because it's more healthy for your eyes, using your study tips with music in the background (here is where you will be using your phone as a music player only again) etc...
Jan 21, 2025
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look up these words and figure out the best way to do it on your end. i was offline for years after a major addiction & it was the best thing I ever did for myself. I'm back now but I feel like I literally pressed "RESET" and I don't take it all so seriously anymore and actually crave being offline. The only way I was able to do this was about 2 months before I did so, I learned about this and did some research and was able to do it. The first month was hard but after that, it was addicting and liberating!!
Other things that help: turn your phone on night mode at all time OR take it one step further and make it greyscale.
Also look at WHY are you on the phone? Keep in mind, many companies and apps have paid people big money to answer that question and keep you on without even thinking about it. Figuring out your why and relationship with the device is a powerful thing you can do for yourself!!
Also fall back in love with the things you love. I promise there are things offline (& this is coming from a major online digital girlie who's basically an indoor cat lol) that you can throw yourself into. Think about all the things you love or any of your future career goals based on your interests. Even if your goal is to grow on social media/online! You will need to hone in and nurture your hobbies anyways to do so!
Apr 30, 2024
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For over a year I had the "world's tiniest ruggedized phone". I don't remember the brand but I bet you can google it. Regardless, I still found myself using Instagram and Facebook on the tiny little screen π₯². When they say social media is made to be addictive I fully believe it. App blockers, making my screen grey scale after 6pm, none of it works. I delete the settings, I remove the blocker.
The best things I've done for myself that is SO much easier said than done is 1. remove the thing from your life that you're trying to avoid and/or 2. Embrace the thing you're trying to avoid.
For me 1. Was a terrible job and 2. Was silence and boredom
Sep 30, 2024
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its overwhelmingly likely that most people have a neutral view of you, if anything!
Jan 11, 2025
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The free time and mental clarity is scary, but I'm so excited for what comes next.
Oct 16, 2024
