Detox Summer: Kick Your Social Media Habit

Are you tired of snapping out of a foggy, dissociative haze, only to realize you’ve been scrolling on TikTok for the last 45 minutes? Do you repost memes on your Instagram close friends story like it’s your job? Do you set app limits on your iPhone, only to ignore them every time? As ashamed as I am to admit it, I know I do. 

Three years ago, I permanently deleted all of my social media. It took a lot of self-discipline not to add it back, and, as a certified chronically online girl who’s practiced unmonitored social media use since the age of nine, I often felt like I was missing a limb. But for two glorious years, I was blissfully free of social media. 

I cultivated simple strategies to kick the addiction: If I took a good picture of myself, I sent it to my boyfriend and my friends. My best friend and I’s iMessages became the new Twitter. If the urge to endlessly scroll hit, I’d go outside and touch some grass. 

One year ago, though, I decided that I’d probably been away from social media long enough to come back and use it in a healthy way. I could not have been more wrong.

This summer, I’m making a pledge to myself: knock the social media addiction for good and learn how to use it in a healthy way. And if you relate to my experiences at all or find yourself feeling guilty for the amount you find yourself scrolling online, you should too.

Of course, this isn’t going to be an easy challenge. Social media — and our phones in general — deliver large amounts of dopamine into our brain’s reward pathways, according to The Stanford Scope. Not to mention that the content never really runs out, which makes it infinitely harder to disengage ourselves. 

However, it is possible, and there are changes you can implement in your life to kick the habit, even if you don’t want to permanently delete social media.

One great method is to delete all the apps for at least 30 days and have someone install parental controls on your phone that you do not know the password to. If you think you don’t have enough self-control to not break the 30-day-cleanse, you can always use your own website-blocking app instead… But I wouldn’t. At the end of the 30 days, it should be much easier to actually follow the app limits you set for yourself. 

Another method that worked well for me is to ask friends to help keep you in check. Simply say “Hey, I’m deleting all my social media for a while. If you see that I’m active or posting, can you shame me a little?” This makes it so that you’ll be genuinely embarrassed if you break your promise to yourself. Of course, shame is not a great motivator for change long term, but short term, a little embarrassment can help to break a habit.

If none of this sounds good to you and you’d like to keep the apps, there are certainly some small, incremental changes you can try instead. My favorite method is to put my phone away right after I turn my alarm off — sometimes I’ll straight up throw it across the room — and write myself a list of things I’d like to accomplish in the day before I allow myself to touch social media.

 For a little while, you might find you only accomplish a few of your goals before you break. The better you get at it, though, the better it feels. Pretty soon, you’ll realize that the longer you stay away from the internet throughout the day, the more you don’t want to use it at all.

If you struggle to implement these changes or find yourself falling back on old habits, don’t beat yourself up. Try to remember that change takes time, and be excited and confident about the change you’re trying to make. Most importantly, never tell yourself you can’t do it. You can, you will and it will feel really great. 

Once you successfully knock the habit, you’ll realize that your mother was right and it was that darn phone the whole time. I can’t wait to see how much I change as I break free of the chronically online shackles this summer — and I’m so excited for you, too.