Whether social media is a force for good or bad depends on how you use it, but many people benefit from taking a few months—or even years—away from their accounts. If you’ve used these apps for decades without really taking a step back, time away can help you reconnect with yourself and think about how you’ll use the internet more mindfully.
However, many people make several mistakes on their social media detox. Picking another bad habit to replace mindless scrolling is one common error. Another pitfall is not thinking about how you’ll reintroduce social media into your life healthily.
Today, you’ll discover four common social media detox mistakes. We’ll also identify what you can do to stop them from occurring.
1. Focusing Too Much on Quitting Social Media
Stepping back from social media is a good starting point, but the challenge has only just begun. Considering how many people are active on the likes of Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, it’s easy to want to make detoxing a part of your personality.
This, however, is where many people slip up. Rather than enjoying a healthier relationship with the internet and improving their quality of life, it’s all too easy to place the onus on specifically quitting social media.
Speaking from personal experience, I’ve sometimes spent the same time that I’d normally be on Instagram watching YouTube videos about people who quit social media. Once you’ve gotten the core message, consuming content like this becomes a waste of time. Thinking more about social media also means that you’re more likely to reactivate your accounts before you gain the benefits of a detox.
The Solution: Add Something Else Into Your Schedule
You should use your time away from social media to rediscover your hobbies, or—if you already know what you like doing—spend more time doing those. Allocating more time to your friends and family is another meaningful way to do things that’ll be more fulfilling to you in the long run.
Making simple changes and readjusting things already in your schedule can also help. As an example, I used to work out in the mornings but noticed that I was wasting my evenings mindlessly consuming social media content for hours. Now, I join a class in the evenings instead—which has the added benefit of better social interaction.
If you’re looking to pick up a new hobby, consider thesecreative hobbies for adults that will improve your happiness.
If you’re taking a break from social media to reconsider your usage, you must be careful not to replace one bad habit with another.
While you might no longer spend three or more hours a day on Instagram, it’s very easy to end up distracting yourself with another bad habit. For example, you might replace your social media time with reading negative news headlines or checking your emails more often than you need to.
The Solution: Find Useful Replacements (and Use Website Blockers)
Like the first mistake, replacing your time on social media with a meaningful project is a good idea. For example, with two extra hours per day, you could start that blog or podcast that you’ve always wanted to try. Going outside and exploring your surroundings can also improve your quality of life away from social media.
Detaching from social media becomes easier over time, but you might need some extra assistance in the beginning. Using one of thebest website blockerscan help you stop getting distracted when online. And if you want to reduce your news consumption, it’s worth trying out some tips forescaping from the endless bad news cycle.
3. Not Deactivating Your Accounts
You can technically take a social media detox or break by simply logging out of your accounts and deleting the apps from your phone. That might work for some people, but if you’re like me, you might find it difficult not to think about something unless you go cold turkey. How many times, for example, have you deleted social media apps from your phone and re-downloaded them a few hours later?
The Solution: Deactivate Your Social Media Accounts Completely
Most people would benefit from completely deactivating their social media accounts during a detox.
If your job requires you to use social media (i.e., you make money from social media), you might not be able to deactivate your accounts. In such cases, trymaking your phone less distracting while you workand set strict limits.
4. Not Thinking About How You’ll Reincorporate Social Media Back Into Your Life
Taking a step back from social media is useful for having space to think. But if you later reactivate your accounts and do the same things that made you want to take a break in the first place, your efforts are ultimately pointless. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is to quit social media for a while, but not think about how they’ll change their habits.
If you don’t reflect on what you want to change about your social media usage, you’ll find yourself on an endless cycle of feeling directionless when you use these apps.
The Solution: Reflect on Your Previous Social Media Mistakes and What You Want to Change
When you take a step back from social media, it’s a good idea to do some serious introspective work. Here are some questions you may begin with:
It’s worth writing your thoughts in a journal, and you should also make a document somewhere online with your new guidelines for social media use. You canuse Notion for several useful things, and it’s an ideal app for keeping track of your social media rules.
Don’t Make These Social Media Detox Mistakes
Social media detoxes aren’t a permanent solution, and you should use your break to reflect on your previous usage and what you want to change about it. Focusing on other things that bring you joy is a good starting point for ensuring that you don’t replace one bad habit with another.
Noting how you want to change your social media usage will also make it easier for you to follow a framework later. It’s also worth thinking about streamlining your social media presence and deciding which apps genuinely bring value to your life.
