Our attention spans have become shorter than one of Miley Cyrus’ skirts. Short-form content and quick dopamine hits on social media platforms have had a negative effect on our focus and concentration. It’s time for a social media detox.
In this article we’ll look at the negative side of social media and discuss limiting our screen time, as well has having a full-on social media blackout or “detox” for a prolonged period.
Here’s five reasons why we should have a social media detox
Benefits of a Social Media Detox
Regain Better Focus
Years of scrolling on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok have taken a toll on our levels of concentration. Videos have got shorter and shorter in length. Our brains have become used to getting a hit of cheap dopamine from videos that are just a few seconds long. Then we scroll down to the next one. Without realizing it this affects our focus and concentration when we are doing other things in life. It can especially affect our focus when performing tasks at work.
By having a detox from social media our ability to focus and levels of concentration slowly improve. In turn, our ability to focus on work tasks improves and we stop looking for forms of procrastination. For many, pulling their phone out and having a quick flick through social media while at work is pretty normal. With a detox the temptation is no longer there.
Boost Productivity
Now that the temptation of going on social media is no longer there, one of the biggest forms of procrastination has been removed. This slowly brings our levels of focus back to baseline. With higher levels of focus and concentration this instantly boosts our productivity. Place your phone is another room or lock it in a drawer while you work. This way you won’t go on it at all. This completely eliminates the biggest distraction when it comes to work.
Perform Deep Work
Now we’ve removed our phone from the equation and our focus and productivity has increased tenfold we can perform “deep work”. This is when we work on a task for hours uninterrupted. Working like this for 2-3 hours at a time can provide incredible amounts of productivity. With no distractions we are also more creative and come up with solutions to problems.
Prioritize Long Term Success
The cheap dopamine hit that social media videos provide has made the younger generations want immediate success. By detoxing from socials our attention span becomes longer, and we also become more patient. We realize that the best things in life take time. Often better rewards wait for us at the end of a longer road. After a prolonged social media detox the need for quick wins and cheap dopamine is no longer there.
More Energy
This is an anecdotal one from me. I’ve got no science to back this up whatsoever, but I’m sure that spending too much time on social media zaps our energy. It’s like our life force is being dragged out of us through the phone screen. If we refrain from going on these apps for a while we have time and energy to put into other things.
What Can I Replace Social Media With?
Have a look at your phone and check how much time you spent on it in the past week. Minus work calls, email, and messaging friends, a big chunk of that time will have been spent on social media. Say you’ve spent 3 hours a day on social media on average. That’s 90 hours per month you could have utilized better. In a year it equates to 1,080 hours! We need to start using this time to better ourselves. It’s time to concentrate on our own self-growth. So, what can I do with the time I’d usually spend on social media?
- Learn a new skill
- Read books on self-growth & self-improvement
- Go to the gym & become a Greek God or Goddess
- Build a new income stream
- Learn a new language
- Enhance spirituality
A lot can be achieved when 90 hours per month or 1,080 hours per year are now available.
How do I do a Social Media Detox?
You could throw your phone out the window of a high rise block of flats and be done with it. But, a more reasonable way is to uninstall your most frequented social media apps from your phone (just remember your passwords for when you re-install them at a later date). Initially, do this for a week and note down any benefits you see from not spending multiple hours a day on these apps.
If you’re seeing good results in focus, concentration, energy and productivity and you don’t seem to miss going on these apps – keep the experiment going for as long as possible. You may realize that you don’t need these apps at all. Eventually you will get to a point where if you re-installed these apps on your phone you’d be in control and you’d be able to limit how often you go on them naturally.
A less extreme way of having a detox is by installing an app which limits how long you go on apps such as Insta and Tik Tok (some phone settings have this inbuilt). Once you’re allotted time is up it will kick you off the apps until tomorrow unless you override it. You want to make sure the time you allow for each app is low – something like 20 minutes per app each day. This won’t be as effective as a full detox but it’s a start.
Summary
Social media apps are consuming us. It’s time to regain control by having a detox from these apps. A social media detox provides benefits such as improved focus and concentration, better productivity when it comes to work, the ability to complete long and difficult tasks, more energy, and we no longer crave instant gratification. We can also replace our screen time with something productive. We can focus on improving our own lives rather than watching other peoples' lives.
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