We know that this may not apply to all of you, but for some of us, checking and updating social media is a daily ritual. Sometimes, you may feel like it’s taking over your life. Instagram for breakfast, Twitter for lunch and Vine for dinner, you may find yourself thinking. But if your overconsumption of social media during the day is affecting your social interactions, your work and your life, it’s time to say, “Enough is enough.” Here are a couple tips to help you avoid getting eaten up by social media:
Play the Phone Stack. If you are grabbing lunch or dinner with some friends, and you find yourself saying, “What?” every five seconds because you have to read Amanda Bynes’ latest tweet about ugly people, enough is enough! One way you can force yourself – wow, we know, hanging out with your friends is so annoying – to listen to your friends and not be the douchebag who never listens is to play he Phone Stack game. If you haven’t heard of it before, the way to play is each person stacks his or her phone in the middle of the table, and the first person to grab his or her phone has to pay for everyone’s meal. That way, everyone gets to have real-life conversations with one another without having to say “What?” or “Huh?” every five seconds. Yay, everyone wins! Except the douchebag who picks up his phone first.
Give someone else your password. If you find that you’re spending way too much time on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Vine or whatever else you’re consumed with, give your password to a friend. Make sure it’s a friend that you trust so that you don’t end up with a Facebook status that says, “Oh no, out of toilet paper :/” or, even better, a political rant that is in complete opposition to everything you believe in just so all of your Facebook friends will verbally attack you and then delete you off of their friends lists. You don’t want that, do you? So give your password to a very trustworthy person — that person can change it for you, and you won’t be able to get on it until you actually think you’re ready to get back into it!
Try Sself-Control or Freedom. Self-Control is an app for Mac users that allows you to “blacklist” websites for a prescribed amount of time, and Freedom is a similar app for PC users. This is especially helpful during midterms, finals and for any work that you’re trying to get done. So if you have any willpower or self-restraint in life, it doesn’t matter! Why do you need that when you can just download it instead?!
Have any other tips to prevent social media from taking over our lives? Let us know in the comments!
Image source: scragz under Creative Commons
Contact Gabrielle Nguyen at [email protected]