📗 Understand
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Jun 3, 2024
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7 min read
What can we do about it?
We have talked about how social media can contribute to anxiety, but what can we do about it?
First, it's important to remember that social media isn’t a full representation of someone's life. It’s like how models are Photoshopped in magazines. The images we see on social platforms are often carefully curated and edited to present an idealized version of reality. People tend to post only the highlights and successes, not the failures or the things they struggle with.
With that in mind, here are some specific tips for reducing social media-induced anxiety:
🧹 Curate Your Feed
Unfollow accounts that make you feel bad about yourself or trigger feelings of anxiety. Instead, follow accounts that inspire and uplift you. This could be accounts that share useful information, positive messages, or funny memes.
🪴 Explore Alternative Offline Activities
Whenever we get bored or anxious, a lot of us turn to social media to make us feel better. But we often find ourselves feeling worse after scrolling, and this turns into a vicious cycle. Instead of using your downtime on social media, explore alternative offline activities like practicing mindfulness. One study found that mindfulness exercises, such as breathing meditation, are more effective for relaxing than spending time on social media.
Did you know that Jomo was offering a full widget to help you find healthier alternatives than screen time?
👐 Embrace the Joy of Missing Out
No matter how much we deny it, we only have 24 hours in a day. There will be things that we will miss out on. Instead of feeling regretful about what we’re not doing, embrace the joy of missing out.
We need to realize that FOMO is distracting ourselves from what really matters and that we already have everything we need. Rather than worrying about missing out on the latest celebrity gossip on Twitter, focus on the things that matter to you, like working on a new hobby or spending time with your loved ones.
Embrace the joy that comes from doing the things that matter to you, and the joy of missing out on things that don’t.
📉 Reduce Your Time Spent on Social Media
Research has shown that reducing social media use can help with anxiety and improve your well-being. While social media is designed to steal our time and attention, we can take control and reduce how much time we spend on it.
At Jomo, we don’t believe in digital detoxes. Instead, we believe that the key to digital well-being is balance. Instead of completely banning yourself from social media, use these tips to reduce the amount of time you spend scrolling:
Track your time spent on social media. This is the first step to being more mindful with your social media use. When you see how much you’re using it, you’ll be more intentional about how you scroll. In fact, just seeing the facts on how much time you’re spending can affect how you use it.
Disable non-essential notifications. Notifications are designed to distract us from whatever we are doing and pull us into the app. But one little check is all that is needed for time to fly by. By disabling notifications that don’t matter, we reduce the temptation to check our feeds and regain control of our time and attention.
Delete social media apps from your phone. Let’s face it, your phone is always with you. And when Instagram is one click away, it’s easy to fall into the infinite scroll. Instead of always having access to them, delete the apps from your phone and only access them from your tablet or computer. You don’t have to completely abandon them, but you can use them mindfully by making them less convenient to log in.
Fight Technology with Technology (we can help with that)
You can also use technology to fight. Use your phone’s built-in features (Screen Time on iPhone and Digital Wellbeing on Android) or a tool like Jomo to help you be more mindful with how you spend your time on social media.
At Jomo, we developed the “Conscious Use” method that blocks your social media apps by default. You can only unlock them by asking for a break, which gives you a moment to pause and reflect on whether you really want to use these apps.
Jomo helps you be more intentional with your time and attention by making it less convenient to access social media. Here’s how you can set it up:
1️⃣ Download Jomo.
2️⃣ Go to Rules > Sessions > Templates > Conscious Use.
3️⃣ Select the social media apps you want to block in “Apps & Websites”
4️⃣ Toggle "Breaks" and choose "Intention." This way, you’ll have to write your intention to take a break from your social media block. You can also pick the number of breaks per day and the maximum duration of breaks.
5️⃣ Tap on "Schedule."
This will help you be more mindful of your social media use. If you want to use social media, you can click “Snooze” on the session or open a blocked app and click “Unlock.”
I hope this article can help you take control of your social media habit. Give Jomo and these techniques a try if you are feeling anxious or inadequate when scrolling through social media. Remember, social media is a tool, and like any tool, it can be used for good or ill. It’s all about using it in a way that aligns with your values, rather than detracts from them.
