The past few days have really shown me the down sides of social media I’ve long heard of. I found myself mindlessly scrolling feeling some sense of entertainment, while not really absorbing any of the words I was ready. In this post though, I’m planning on sharing ways that I’ve found to help with handling social media.
But First, An Update
As mentioned in the introduction, I’ve been getting empty satisfaction from scrolling through social media, especially Twitter. Overall, I’ve been pretty burnt out the past few days, and the mindless scroll offered by Twitter and Facebook have helped me feel like I’m becoming informed, when in reality it’s not providing much.
Another factor that I think has left social media feeling more empty was seeing family and friends while home. Before heading back, seeing what some people were up to through their posts was a nice way of catching up, but with the recent feel of physical interaction, I wasn’t getting that same buzz of prior social media sessions.
Best Practices
Before we touch on tools and technology to assist with the use of social media, there are a few simple techniques that can be implemented to cut down on time spent.
- Turn off push notifications
While they can be helpful for important alerts, push notifications can be a slippery slope into countless distractions. I may want to know when an important message comes in, but not when some stranger on the internet liked a Tweet.
- Erect Barriers to Entry
The longer it takes to access something, the more less likely you are to look at it. Scrolling through Twitter becomes easy when all you have to do is tap an icon or type “T” into the web bar.
By setting up barriers, such as not having apps available or signing out of your accounts before leaving, there’s a little extra work that goes into accessing your feed. If opening Twitter leads to a login page and not an endless feed of opinions, it might stop you from falling down a rabbithole.
- Use Twitter Lists, Not the Home Page
The Twitter home page has become a black hole for my time lately. Luckily, finding an alternative was easy, as it’s built right into the site. Lists on Twitter are a way to group accounts into a single feed. Perhaps you want to view posts by some friends without seeing the latest news story from a more politically active account. You can create a list of just those you want to see.
Tools to Terminate
If the above techniques aren’t enough to reduce your social media use, perhaps a more strict approach is necessary. Several of the extensions and services below are what I’ve used before this trial in order to share my posts without much direct interaction on social media sites.
This extension and service allows for posting updates to several sites with a single push of a button. For years now, I’ve used Buffer to post to my accounts without having to log in to each. It’s a great way to still post online without the risk of getting swept up in the latest trends and stories.
I’ve long used this extension to block the Facebook home page, as Facebook is the one site I log into directly to share posts due to its lack of integration with Buffer. However, I recently discovered it’s available on several other sites including Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, and more. If you need a solution to reduce use of a site, but still access it for notifications or direct posts, I definitely recommend this.
There’s even the ability to temporarily allow access for a few minutes or up to a full day should that be needed.
- Site Blockers, e.g. StayFocused
If the above aren’t able to help, you can totally pull the plug on these sites and add them to a site blocker. The one I use, although I seldom do, is called StayFocused. It’s simple and it gets the job done. There are a variety out there, so if this one isn’t right for you, there are plenty of alternatives.
If you find yourself spending too much time on social media, try any of the above techniques or tools and let me know in the comments how it works out!
Trying Out Before Buying In 