Doomscrolling Blues
If you’re needing strategies for kicking your doomscrolling habits, here are a few ideas to kick you out of the funk.
There is another video of a talking goat, an opinion that aligns with your values, or a funny video of someone reacting to another video created. The list continues with the hooks and social media engagement methods. A platform is determined by its long-term success of long-term engagement through these exact tools, but scrolling through feeds to see what else sparks attention can be endless.
Doom scrolling can last for hours, thirty minutes, or all day, depending on the person and what they find entertaining. Today, the cellphone has created this placebo method of connection into the lives and talents of other people. If not monitored, it disrupts the quality of life or the ability to reach a goal easily.
Social media is a tool. It is not all bad. It is the way technology is used that can harm personal life. If you are not using social media to your advantage, for business growth, personal branding, or a social presence, but you want to cut down on time spent when you are trying to relax, here are the first five things to do:
Use Your Current Resources: Most Social Media platforms now have a way to set a time limit on your use, suggesting a break after your requested limit.
Turn Your Phone Off! Create a system for yourself where external systems are used like an alarm clock, or intentionally turn your phone off at a specific time.
Delete the App: You do not have to delete your account (unless you choose to go that route), but taking the app even off of your home screen will help relieve some level of distraction if your goal is to read more or spend less time scrolling on your phone.
Set a Timer on your phone or on a different device: Put the timer on the other side of the room, and it will make you get up rather than simply swiping away a timer on your phone.
Set Intentions: Go on walks to disconnect. Make a goal to walk so many miles without using your phone.
The average person can spend up to or more than two hours and twenty-seven minutes on social media daily. Yes, this is great for small businesses and the ability to reach people they may not meet otherwise, but it can also impact the completion of a personal goal if focused on too much. That age-old saying, “You can have too much of anything,” is true with social media, phone usage, and the habits produced from it. An idea of downtime or a way to relax can be seen scrolling through social media for the latest topic, favorite creators, and trends currently filling the mediascape.
The ability to change indeed begins with the decision to commit to creating it in everyday life. Believing is only a part of it, doing something is the challenge. Failure happens when giving up is the only option rather than creating a different strategy toward success. If the first five do not help develop a plan that works, finding the root cause can make a difference in seeing a shift in habits with social media use.
6. Find the exact number of hours used on social media.
7. List how that has positively or negatively impacted goals.
8. Take time to find something you can do around you to expose yourself to something new. (Even if it is just a book)
9. Exercise is an easy way to escape: Yoga, Pilates, running, CrossFit, weight training, cycling, etc. are ways to break routines. Baby steps are still steps.
10. Being transparent about using media to escape reality is an elephant-sized step toward change if there is a plan to get there, taking the daily steps to put that into action.
Everything is easier said than done, and it is an illusion for something to happen immediately overnight. A commitment that gradually grows from smaller to bigger can make the most significant impact on maintaining a habit within thirty days. The process can be just as fulfilling as the reward of endurance and completing our commitments. Our commitment to ourselves can help us maintain our commitment to others. Doomscrolling impacts how engaged anyone is in the present moment, which can be the difference in being there for someone. The ability to be self-aware and choose to grow in areas that impact daily life is all the difference when accomplishing the goal of being more present for a companion or even for yourself.
