Getting Social Media Under Control

How much time do you spend on social media? Is it something you choose to do consciously, or are your prompted to do it by notification? Or has it become a default behavior? Today we look at how to get social media under control.

I had a year without social media. During my year as a high school teacher, I was quickly told that our principal monitored social media and on more than one occasion had reprimanded a teacher for putting something related to the school out there. It was easier for me to give up Facebook and Twitter than it was to add another worry to my plate.

When the year was over, I thought long and hard about going back to social media. And I did in the short term, but I realized that it was sucking up too much of my time and really not providing anything of value back.

The Addictivity of Social Media

Social media is designed to be addictive. It only makes money if your eyes are on the screen. So it does everything it can to keep your eyes coming back to the screen.

There has been a lot of research, books (remember those?) and articles about this phenomenon. Some from researchers, some from programmers who actually worked on the applications. Check them out, if you’re interested in seeing how I am backing up my assertions.

The Danger of Social Media

The danger of social media is that it sucks us in, and keeps us looking at it by serving up content designed to attract our attention.

It does this in two ways. First, by serving up content that an algorithm has decided will keep your attention. Every item is just a little more extreme, based on your behavior before. Admit it…you’ve been sucked in by click bait presented on social media. I can’t be the only one to click on a shared post and found myself staring at a “where are they today” article 15 minutes later.

The second way takes advantage of how we were trained. When you’re reading a book, there are natural breaks in chapter headings, section dividers, different font sizes in headlines, white space, and the end of the physical media (you can’t keep reading after the back cover of a book). All of these things give us cues that the content is done.

Social media doesn’t have those cues. It’s all one big list, and we keep scrolling and reading as our brain searches for those end cues.

I’m Not Anti-Social Media

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not against social media. It provides a way for communicating that is unprecedented in history. My mother-in-law can now keep up with the extended family more frequently than she ever could in the days of paper letters (thankfully my mother is not on social media. The mind shudders at the thought of what would happen from a woman who clicks on everything and forwards jokes and such with 1990’s abandon.)

If social media adds value to your life, then by all means, keep using it.

But if it has crossed the line from adding value into the territory of unconscious choice or time-wasters, then that’s a problem.

Getting Social Media Under Control

However you feel about social media, if you feel like you spend too much time on it, with or without your conscious choice, you can bring it under control with some easy steps.

Remove It From Your Phone

If you don’t want to get sucked into social media on your phone, the most obvious solution is to delete it from your phone. You will be less likely to use it to pass time if you can’t get to it. And if you have to sit in front of a computer to use it, that might add another impediment to getting sucked in without realizing it.

Use an App Blocker

There are lots of application blockers out there, from Freedom to NetNanny. Google it. You can get them for any type of device these days. (You may have to look under parental control). App blockers make sure that you are not wasting too much time and using apps when you should be doing other things. Sadly, most of these seem to only block web-based time wasters. (I would love one that turned off access to apps on my phone!)

Don’t Use It At The Table

This one might be a surprise. But not using your phone while eating is a surprising way to get back some of that time and connect. And if you’re eating alone, why not use that time to expand your mind or do something creative?

Get It Off The Front Screen

For those of us conditioned to hit social media as a default activity can benefit by removing it to a screen far away. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say.

Use A Timer

This is my goto for Pinterest. I use Pinterest as a reward for getting tasks done. But I don’t blindly surf – I set a timer on my phone, and when it rings, I have to stop. This trick works for any app or website, as long as you don’t ignore the timer.

Summary

Getting control of your social media time is not hard, but takes some conscious choice.

Call To Action

This week, I challenge you to pay attention and figure out how much time you spend on social media. Keep a log every time you use it. How do you feel about that number?

Getting Social Media Under Control

The Addictivity of Social Media

The Danger of Social Media

I’m Not Anti-Social Media