How to Spend Less Time on Social Media (or Leave It Altogether)
If you’re feeling overwhelmed but don’t quite have the willpower to curb your online habit, your phone can help you manage your time online.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed but don’t quite have the willpower to curb your online habit, your phone can help you manage your time online.
Have you been spending too many hours on your social feeds feeling anxious, combative or just plain unproductive? Just as limiting exposure to social media has been recommended for children’s mental health, many adults may also benefit.
Even if you aren’t ready for a full digital detox (where you severely reduce your smartphone use or even take a week offline), small adjustments to your daily routine can help you make time for other activities. And if you’ve decided it’s time to move on, see what you can take with you before you close your accounts. Here’s a quick guide.
Set Limits
Social media platforms offer good reasons to stick around, like connecting far-flung family members or providing online community space to groups of people. If you want to keep using them — but in moderation — your phone’s settings can help.
First, try controlling any notifications from social apps. On an iPhone or iPad running iOS, open the Settings icon, tap Notifications and scroll down in the app list to silence selected apps. In the Settings menu of a phone running Android 15, tap Notifications and then App Notifications to get to the controls.
