Just One More Second…
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
We’ve all had that feeling. Just one more second. Just one more second of checking my messages. Just one more second of looking at Instagram. Just one more second of watching a TikTok.
Before you know it, that one second turns into hours of mindless scrolling, unable to look up until someone tells you to stop. That time that you allotted to finish that project is gone. Gone for something that you’re simply going to forget the next day.
Why do all of us get stuck in this endless trap? I recently watched The Social Dilemma, a documentary centered around discussing the harmful impacts of social networking. It talked about how social media companies like Facebook and Instagram develop specialized artificial intelligence algorithms in order to pull teenagers in. Honestly, watching the movie scared me a bit because it showed how these companies prey on individual fears and interests to get a significantly longer viewing time for their app.
These large companies aren’t going to stop with optimizing their algorithm to draw viewers in, but maybe you can do something about it. I found myself stuck in this same trap a while back, but with just a few simple changes to my daily schedule, the time spent on my phone drastically reduced.
I’ll be going over some tips on how to reduce your screen time so that you can make the most of your day every day. Without further ado, let’s get started.
Negative Habits
Addiction to social media kind of feels like that nasty scab that you keep scratching, but it never falls off. No matter what you do, you can’t seem to stop that impulsive urge to look at your phone one last time.
This addiction falls into the category of negative habits, a harmful routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. After reading more about habits through books like Atomic Habits, I found out there is a pattern that always occurs before and after the negative habit. The process can be broken down into four parts: cue, craving, response, and reward.
The Process
The cue is what triggers your brain to initiate a response. Think of it as the smell of delicious cookies or those loud notifications that you always get on your phone.
On the other hand, the craving is the motivational force behind every single habit. Without this craving, there’s no reason to act. Often, individuals crave the change in state that many negative habits deliver, and these cravings can differ for each and every person. Individuals go to social media in order to feel validation or increase their dopamine levels to make them feel more happy.
Third, there is the response, which is the actual habit that you perform. In this instance, it would be going on your phone to look at social media. This response is guided on how motivated you are to do that particular action.
Lastly, there is the reward, which is the end goal of every habit. We chase rewards because of how much they satisfy your cravings. In this case, your reward could be getting away from doing homework for a while or simply just getting some relaxation time to yourself.
These four components form a feedback loop known as the habit loop; these habit loops can occur in a split second without you even realizing it.
Solving The Problem
Now that you have a general understanding of how habits are formed, let’s go over some ways on how you can minimize your phone screen time.
Tip #1: Make it invisible.
Making the cue invisible is, in my opinion, the best way to get rid of distractions the quickest. In the case of social media, this would be putting your phone in a place that is not easily reachable.
The main reason why there’s an urge to look at your phone is because of those pesky notifications that constantly force you to check social media, so cutting the problem from the source is a great way to get rid of the problem.
One additional tip that I would give you is to not let yourself know where your phone is. If you know the location of your phone, you’re more likely to constantly think about it and the relaxation that it gives you. Entrust a family member to hide your phone so that you don’t get pulled in. Make sure that your family member is strong and won’t give into demands!
Tip #2: Make it difficult.
Screen time limits are the most effective way to hold yourself accountable and make sure that you’re not going over your allotted time for social media. Just looking at that screen time warning pop up on your screen makes you feel guilty and creates this thought in your brain that you really shouldn’t continue further. Consider it like a wake up call so that your brain can get jolted from that lull that social media creates.
When you’re setting your screen time limits, make sure to not set it for extremely long amounts of time. That defeats the entire purpose of setting screen time limits in the first place. My suggestion would be to let your parents set screen time limits on your apps, but if you feel that they’re setting unreasonable screen time limits, feel free to tell them.
Remember that this is a slow process, so don’t rush into it. By the end, you should reduce all of your social media screen time limits to five minutes per day and your gaming screen time limits to fifteen minutes a day.
Some ways to make it difficult is to simply remove social media apps from your phone entirely! But, if you feel that this step is too extreme, there’s no need to do it. Remember, do whatever works for you.
Tip #3: Make it unattractive.
One easy way to find social media unattractive is to simply find healthy alternatives that can replace your addiction. This can be anything from reading books, cooking, pursuing a field that you’re interested in, anything!
By making social media feel like a burden and seeing that it takes time away from your passion and the activities that you care about the most, you’ll be less inclined to go to social media and start to be more productive.
Final Thoughts
By implementing these three simple tenets, you’ll notice a huge change in your lifestyle and your efficiency. At least for me, these worked wonders on cutting down my social media to the point where I deleted apps like Instagram and TikTok from my phone.
If you are interested in learning more about negative habits and what you can do to suppress it, I suggest checking out Atomic Habits. It changed my mindsets and forced me to reevaluated how I was spending my day.
After trying these three tips out for a few months, come back to this article and comment below how it worked out for you!
P.S. Here’s a good article to check out for unplugging from devices in your home!
TL;DR
- Addiction to social media falls under the category of negative habits, a harmful behavior that repeats subconsciously.
- There are four parts to a habit: the cue/trigger, the craving/motivation, the response/action, and the reward.
- These four components form a feedback loop constantly inside of the brain without you even realizing it.
- Three ways that you can fight against negative habits are by making them invisible, making them difficult to do, and making them unattractive.
Hi! I am a 16 year old currently interested in the fields of machine learning and biotechnology. If you are interested in seeing more of my content and what I publish, consider subscribing to my newsletter! See what it’s like here! Also, check out my LinkedIn and Github pages. If you’re interested about personal mindsets or just stuff in general, sign up for a chat using my Calendly.
