How To Succeed at a Social Media Detox (And Use What You Learned In Everyday Life)

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Everyone has a love/hate relationship with social media. Here’s how to complete an effective social media detox and apply what you learned to everyday life.

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Personally, I have a weird relationship with social media. It’s obviously a huge part of my life because I am a full time blogger and work in the space, however, I get overwhelmed by it just as much as the next person. I’m sort of an all or nothing with it where I will have weeks I post a lot and then I find myself needing to take a step back.

I don’t post much on my personal page on Facebook, but will share more personal things on the Project Motherhood page because I consider you all there truly my people. I shy away from Instagram because it’s just not my favorite, and the expectations there are just outside of my comfort zone.

That’s my truth.

Over Christmas I posted one picture of the kids on Christmas morning and then didn’t post on Instagram again until over a month later. I completed a pretty unintentional social media detox. And I’ll tell you what: it felt SO good.

And I learned a lot during that time about myself and my relationship with social media as a whole and thought I would share what I learned during my social media detox with you all, as well as ways to apply that knowledge to navigating social media in your everyday life.

How To Succeed at a Social Media Detox

A social media detox can come in so many different forms, depending on what you are looking to achieve. Here are the best ways to break it all down to be the most successful.

Set your intentions.

Make a list of what you want to achieve from taking a break from social media. Do you just need a break? Are you trying to figure out of you want to quit social media for good? Are you trying to figure out of you’re too dependent on social media? Are you going to do a social media detox for all social platforms at once? Etc.

Designate a time frame.

This is really important. You should set a goal for how long you want to do your social media detox for. A day? A week? A month? Set a goal and stick with it. If you are like me and work in social media on a daily basis, a social media detox can even consist of just shutting things down at 5pm everyday. You have to make this work with your lifestyle or you won’t be successful.

Take note of your urges to check social media.

This will be a key indicator of how addicted you might be to social media (honestly, we all are a little bit – no judgement!). I suggest during the first day or so, keep a tally of every time you reach for your phone to open up a social media app. We don’t realize how much time is spent scrolling instead of doing other things. It will be eye opening.

Put your plan into action.

Bit the bullet and just do it!

Slowly add social media back into your life.

Once you have reached your goal of detoxing from social media for however long you felt that you needed to take a break, try adding it back into your life in small doses. For instance, one hour a day, and see how that factors in with your new priorities.

How to Use What You Learned During Your Social Media Detox

Everyone will learn different things about themselves after completing a social media detox. For me, I learned that I really needed to start being intentional with my time spent on social media whether it is for business or personal use. For instance, I’m spending more time in the places where I get a return on my investment there. Such as using Pinterest more for business, Facebook for my Beautycounter business and the page for sharing strictly motherhood content, cut out twitter almost completely, and I use Instagram during moments when I’m inspired to do so.

But what you learn will be different for you.

Here’s a list of some social media detox scenarios to serve as a guide for every day life:

If you found yourself reaching for social media a lot….continue to take more time away or set a social media schedule.

If you felt content being away from social media…keep it up!

Set a social media schedule for yourself that includes designated times to be online, as well as time away.

If you found that social media was impacting your mental health, consider deleting it all together.

Only spend time on the platforms that bring you joy.

Don’t force yourself to post every life event on social media, some moments can just be for yourself.

Enjoy taking photos and videos, but post later. There is something so cathartic about just getting to capture these important and exciting moments in you life, but only posts them 1. if you want to and 2. during your designated “social media time” to allow you to be more present.