How to spend significantly less time on your phone without completely disconnecting from social media

I looked up my screen time some time ago.

8 hours 16 mins.

7 hours 51 mins.

9 hours 01 mins.

That’s more hours spent scrolling through my phone than actually sleeping.

Let me list some of the things I could’ve achieved in these approximately 8 hours per day if I didn’t spend it on my phone.

• Get at least 1 hour of a cardio workout per day
• Revise my organic chemistry notes and exercises
• Read 10 books
• Go work in the local grocery store and earn some money

What shocks me the most, is how I always have so many goals and to-do’s on my planner and then stress over not having enough time to “realize myself” while not realizing how much time I spend doing mindless activities like scrolling through the explore page of instagram from some three hours straight. While these things may be of temporary joy, they don’t do me any favor in life. I am not evolving or building myself through looking at some fashion blogger’s outfit but through putting my phone away and get up and do something that requires brain power.

I caught myself thinking about the cool places and the cool outfits and the cool food that they have and I don’t. I caught myself thinking about all the travels they could afford and I couldn’t. I caught myself wanting to be someone else.

While reading some articles on Medium, I came across one that suggested something called “dopamine fasting”. Apparently that’s what the tech nerds in Silicon Valley have started to do. I was eager to try it out for one day. And I did for three days. And it kind of changed my whole perspective on all things that used to bring me “joy”.

So le’ts cut all the rambling and go straight into some of the tips that helped me get off this little thing that is so evil and steals all the time in our lives. Let me show you some of the things I did to detach myself without completely isolating myself.

First things first. Do a complete shutdown. Throw yourself into the cold water and just put your damn phone away for a minimum of three days. Best would be one week. Don’t forget to have some kind of old school Motorola or Nokia phone with you in case of emergency and tell your closest friends on Whatsapp that you’re taking some time off. You don’t have to say goodbye on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter. People mostly won’t notice your absence there anyway.

After you took a bath in the freezing lake and passed your few no-phone days, go ahead and write down some of the things you liked the most about having no phone with you and the cons about having no phone.

If you did so, take your phone again and delete everything that you haven’t used or have no more intend of doing so. I would delete everything except for the five most used apps. Also go on and declutter all the other parts of your phone, the photo stream or your contact list. Do so with your facebook friends and your instagram subscribers too.

Now that you decluttered your phone, set yourself a timer for 20 mins and use all your social media and catch up on new posts etc. After your time is over. Delete your social media apps. The next time, you’re allowed to go through your social media accounts again, is in a week.

This schedule will help you stay on track with what your friends are up to while doing the best you can with your life and work on your goals without being distracted with notifications. You can use your phone throughout the week, but only for extremely important things.

This method helped me to effectively get off my phone while not being completely hard on myself and letting all kinds of social media go.

From time to time you will also realize how good it does to you, to actually be in the present and perceive your surroundings.

Good luck.