Digital wellness
None of this is expert advice. It's what people worked out for themselves, usually the hard way — what actually helped, and what they'd tell someone standing where you are. Take what fits and leave the rest.
If you only read a few
Delete all social media apps from your phone and block the websites on your laptop.
The first week is hard, but eventually you stop caring.
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- Delete social media apps and internet browsers from your phone to prevent using it to kill time; wait until you are at your computer if you need to look something up.1
Turn off your mobile phone completely for short periods to reconnect with real-life activities.
It helps you feel like you are living a real life.
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Spend time enjoying the world instead of scrolling, recognizing that life is short.
Life is short.
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Ensure your reason for quitting social media is strong enough to sustain you through the initial difficulty.
The first 14 days are the hardest part of leaving.
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Check all social media only after work is done.
This is non-negotiable.
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Gain time for artistic pursuits and hobbies by removing social media distractions.
It feels pretty good to have gained time in everyday life.
- One person noted they lost many people in their life.
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Turn off all notifications, including banners, lock screen alerts, and badge numbers, so you only check social media when you intentionally open the app.
It stops the app from being 'on call' for you.
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Fill free time with studying, caring for pets, or reading to improve the quality of your days.
One person found that doing this made their days much better after losing their phone.
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Replace doom-scrolling with activities you truly enjoy, such as reading or working out, to reclaim time and improve focus.
It helps you fall asleep on time and concentrate for longer periods.
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Continue to socialize and meet new people in person when quitting social media.
Humans are social animals.
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Stop using Instagram to reduce doom-scrolling and comparison, leading to greater peace, contentment, and presence.
Deactivating Instagram reduced time spent doom-scrolling and comparing oneself to others, resulting in feeling more peaceful, content, and present.
- One person reported feeling isolated at times after stopping.
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Identify real friends by observing who reaches out directly after you leave social media.
Friends who really want to connect will reach out directly.
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Find a replacement activity to fill the void left by social media rather than just uninstalling apps.
Social media fills a void inside us.
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Completely abstain from social media for a period.
It serves as a learning tool for regulation.
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Garden to engage in a productive hobby where you can see the tangible results of your labor.
It is rewarding because you can literally see the fruits of your work.
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Discover alternative, productive ways to waste time, such as reading or cooking, to retrain your brain to view these activities as replacements for social media.
Making your brain think that productive activities are the new social media helps fill the void.
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Delete Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
It reduces online shopping and doom-scrolling, gaining attentive quality time for other things.
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Redirect the time gained from deleting Instagram toward learning new skills or languages.
Deleting the app reveals a surprising amount of available time in the day.
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Before quitting social media, build a foundation of initiating contact, such as calling friends weekly, to replace passive connection.
This normalizes you as the initiator and helps maintain connections without social media.
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Spend a month doing offline activities like reading, painting, or doing nothing to return to a sense of normalcy.
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Unfollow unnecessary people and keep only close friends or family to reduce feed clutter and decrease time spent scrolling.
Fewer people followed results in a less cluttered feed and less time spent scrolling.
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Embrace boredom to build patience and feel more grounded in reality.
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Delete social media apps from your phone but keep your profiles active to avoid feeling stupid if you reactivate them later.
If you delete or deactivate profiles, you may feel stupid and face awkward questions from friends when you inevitably crash and reactivate.
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Delete social media temporarily to focus on specific goals like getting an internship, but be aware that reinstalling later may lead to regret.
- Reinstalling after achieving the goal led to regret for one person
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Limit social media exposure to reduce drama, worry, and bullshit.
This conserves energy.
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Build real, slow, and solid connections by journaling, walking, reading, or volunteering to find meaning beyond the screen.
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