How To Detox Your Life in the New Year: Social Media
The detox your life in the new year series continues and today we’re talking all things social media. For many of us, social media is a big part of our lives whether it is for business, blogging or personal use for fun. Because of that, it can become overwhelming and cause unnecessary and unwanted stress, comparison and more.
I have no problem taking a break from social media when those feelings start to take over. It’s not healthy and the break allows me to refocus on real life in front of me and not in my screen. The start of the new year got me thinking about how I can take steps to detox the social media I’m involved with without taking a full cut and break. These are extremely tangible ways that you can clean up your social media to make it work best for you and avoid that terrible comparison trap and endless scroll.
So without further ado, here are some tips on how you can detox the social media in your life in the new year!
TAKE INVENTORY: HOW IS SOCIAL MEDIA MAKING YOU FEEL AND ACT
The first step in detoxing the social media in your life is to take a step back and really assess how it’s making you feel. Have you fallen into the crippling comparison trap? Are you feeling too influenced? Does being on social media make you anxious? Has social media lost it’s fun factor? Do you have mental fatigue, brain fog or trouble sleeping but don’t know the cause…as you endlessly scroll all day and night?
You also want to evaluate how social media is making you act, which is probably a piece that gets overlooked by many of us. Are you more focused on life in the squares than the real world around you? Is social media the first thing you check in the morning and the last thing you check at night?
If you said yes to any of these, a social media detox should be in your future! It’s a wonderful tool when used and enjoyed with realistic boundaries. Remember: you consume social media, it shouldn’t consume you.
HIT THE UNFOLLOW BUTTON
Is your news feed clogged with people that make you feel inferior, like your life is boring, like you aren’t where you should be, or anything of the like? If so, it’s time to hit that unfollow button. Is your news feed clogged with content that just doesn’t serve you anymore? If so, it’s time to hit the unfollow button. Are you hate following people out of jealousy or to secretly stalk their lives? Girl, it’s time to hit the unfollow button.
The unfollow button is going to be one of your new friends this year and as you implement a social detox. There is no reason to follow people that make you feel less than, that share content that doesn’t serve you or people that you don’t actually like. Unless someone stalks their follower count and exact followers every single day, they are going to have zero clue that you unfollowed them. And even if they do, who cares!! Your social media is for you and should be for you and serve you. If someone gets offended that you unfollowed them, so be it!
REMOVE FOLLOWERS
You’re probably wondering “um, Stepf, why would I remove followers?! Isn’t the point to have them?!” Well, yes, in the grand scheme of things followers on social media are somewhat a necessity but they aren’t the end all be all. I actually talked about this briefly on Instagram a while back on how I regularly remove followers. At first, it felt so weird doing so and watching that follower number go down. But the more I did it, the more comfortable I became with it and actually found it freeing!
When I remove followers I’m not blocking them, I’m actually removing them from my follower list. To do so, click to view all of your followers. Then click the 3 dots next to their name and hit “remove follower.” That’s it! When I do my remove follower sprees, I’m typically removing any fake accounts…you know, detox teas, hair extensions, those sorts of accounts. I’ll also remove any super creepy old men following me. This is my account and I don’t want that seeing my life…sorry not sorry! I’m also removing any inactive accounts, those that don’t have a profile photo, have zero posts but are following 2983479389283439 people.
If you’re a blogger your head is probably spinning by this but think about it. Most of the people I mentioned above that I remove from my follower list most likely aren’t engaging with your content. By removing them, you are actually helping your engagement rate! MIND BLOWING, right?! I always say that any blogger/influencer who says they don’t care about followers should do a remove followers spree. It’s truly freeing and such a simple way to detox your social media.
SET USAGE BOUNDARIES
One thing I’ve focused on a lot over the past year is setting boundaries and limitations with my social media use. I found myself grabbing my phone first thing in the morning and endlessly scrolling right when I woke up, and doing the same thing at night before bed. What a terrible way to start and end your day! Since implementing a morning routine [and evening], I’ve stopped this endless scroll to start and end my day and WOW has it made a huge difference!
Another thing I’ve done is set limitations on my phone. I don’t allow myself on social media before 9am or after 8pm. I also try to limit myself to just 1 hour of social media use each day. Sometimes that is easier said than done but getting that notification that I hit my daily limit sends an internal signal that I need to stop scrolling.
I’ve also been really focusing on being more in the moment and less on sharing it with the world. If I’m visiting a new place, at an event, with family and friends, or anything real life for that matter, I’ll take whatever photos and pictures I feel necessary to document it for my personal use and then put my phone away. I don’t set my phone next to me or put it in my pocket, I throw it back into my purse and basically forget it exists. This allows me to have personal snapshots of the moment while also truly enjoying the moment in real life. Then later on, I have the ability to share any photos or videos as a recap of my day. This has truly made such a difference in my life and created great balance!
And there you have it, realistic and tangible ways you can detox all things social media in your life in the new year. Do you set boundaries with your social media usage or have tips for separating real life from digital life? If so, share below in the comments!