Gen-Z is infamously one of the most tech-savvy generations the world has ever seen. We were born and raised in the time of smartphones, we carry laptops from class to class, and especially with the introduction of a global pandemic, we’ve got a bit of an issue with phone addiction. According to the Common Sense Media 2021 Census, screen media usage is up 17% since the beginning of the pandemic. But how do we break the cycle?
We’ve devised a list of ways to decrease reliance on phones and social media to help you start feeling like yourself again.
- Don’t go at it alone. If you ask around your friend group, you’ll likely find that most students will admit to being dependent on their cell phones. Plan after-school study sessions or Starbucks runs where nobody uses their phone. Or, go out for lunch and place all of your phones in the middle of the table. The first person to take their phone has to pay for a portion of everyone else’s meal. It’s possible to have face-to-face interactions with others without relying on the comfort of the infinite scroll. You’d be surprised at how many people are willing to go along.
- Find something equally stimulating. One of the keys to social media’s success is that it provides an extremely face-paced dopamine boost throughout your scroll. Especially with consideration to TikTok and Instagram, teens no longer have the capability to consume long-form media anymore. Instead, check out a few graphic novels from the library. Bright colors, action sequences, and limited dialogue still maintain a highly visual experience but allow you to be enveloped in a narrative instead of other people’s lives. And although it can be hard, replacing the dreaded “before-bed scroll” with a flip through a Marvel comic or Tillie Walden story can leave you feeling better than when you began, a rarity for frequent phone users like myself. Even reading through a few Wikipedia pages about true crime or a topic that interests you can be the perfect relief from social media.
- Install an app. If there’s one thing young people are good at, it’s finding apps to do our job for us. There is a myriad of options ranging from apps that’ll block social media from your phone entirely to time limits that’ll notify you when you’ve spent more than fifteen minutes on an app. Although they won’t guarantee you’ll ditch the bad habit, they can be a great place to start if you’ve already tried out some options.
- Consider what you consume. I often find myself rationalizing time spent on TikTok or Instagram with the justification that it’s always good to consume content that makes me smarter, more aware, and/or more worldly. But once I really started examining the content I consumed, I realized that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. With a pen and paper, write down the content in 50 consecutive TikToks as you scroll through the app. Soon you might realize that most content is merely regurgitated as a slightly different variation of itself. The exercise might be enough to convince your logical self that the internet is not as intellectual as it pretends to be.
- Reward yourself. Quitting social media is really hard. It’s entirely possible that you may experience withdrawal, even if you’ve only deleted social media temporarily. Instead of giving in and re-downloading, buy yourself a treat to replace the dopamine rushes you miss. The experience can be isolating and you might feel like the effects of social media may be worth it if it means you can slip back into scrolling. Remember that the time you get back from removing social media can give you the opportunity to start a new hobby or spend more time with your friends. We may believe that social media connects us all, but if you take a step back and examine the world, social media creates bigger divides than it addresses. It’s not fair to put yourself through FOMO, insecurity, and addiction-like experiences under the guise of kinship.
Although it’s difficult, building distance between you and social media can make a life-changing difference. By putting your own well-being first, you make the decision that life means more than ease. It’s not always a fun process, but by taking care of yourself and listening to what your body (and especially your mind) tell you, you can feel better prepared to face the world with dignity.
