4 Tricks To Reduce Your Addiction To Social Networks
You go with your cell phone to the bathroom, you go with your cell phone to the kitchen, you are with your cell phone watching televisionand if you could you would take your cell phone into the shower.
Don’t you think your use of technology is a bit exaggerated? In this article you will find several key ideas to prevent addiction to social networks or weaken it if you have already started to develop it.
We often feel tremendously dependent on using the mobile phone and different electronic devices in order to be super connected to the outside world and, above all, not miss anything (false belief).
The other day I saw an interview that psychologist Bertrand Regader conducted for BBVA, in which he talked about FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) Syndrome. In this one he explains to us what the fear of missing out on something that the rest is experiencing is (and although he relates it to saving, I would like to relate it to the addiction to keeping an eye on the networks); Due to this phenomenon, we spend the day on social networks looking to live those experiences, and in this way these virtual platforms make us want to continue consuming and accessing situations of this type (and also on a material level, as Bertrand tells us).
For these reasons, This attachment that we suffer, firstly to the mobile phone and secondly to the hypervigilance of the networks, generates a state of very high sensitivity in us. why we want to be highly attentive to something that never stops stimulating us (given that we follow many people on the Internet).
Given this reality, I have written a series of tricks or tips that I would like to help you with; I have used them personally and also with patients, so I think it’s great that you also apply them. Without further ado I leave you with them.
1. When you go to sleep, leave your cell phone in a fixed place
When you go to sleep it is important to leave your mobile phone in a place that is not within reach of your hand.. This way you will not fall into using this device and you will be able to start falling asleep without being distracted. Has it ever happened to you that you open your eyes at 4:00 am and the first thing you do is pick up your phone to check the time and there you see a WhatsApp, you read it, it makes you think, you wake up, and in the end it hits you at 6 ? I propose:
@professional(2059071, “Are you interested in professional psychological support?”)
2. Notice moments of total disconnection
Fixed disconnection hours are essential. The brain also suffers from neuronal fatigue and letting it relax without any type of stimulus is very healthy. Why do you think that when we go to sleep with a problem in our head the next day we see it much better? To think, the brain needs to rest. For this I am going to propose:
You probably do many things in your free time there, such as games or other hobbies. There is more life beyond the mobile! Think about it. Surely you have abandoned activities from the past that you would like to rediscover. In this case it is important rediscover hobbies without using screens. Likewise, you can start going out on the street to run, or for example painting or any other activity where you focus your mind.
4. Locate your loops
Surely it happens to you that you enter an infinite loop of social networks, causing one of these hypervigilance and never giving up. It is important that you see them and stop them. I advise you to look at the time you use your mobile apps to become aware of which ones you use the most and thus begin to ration the use of them.
Gaining a new life without dependence on social networks
I recommend you follow all these tips and put them into practice. When asked the question of “how do I know if I am addicted to social media?”I would tell you to pay attention to the extent to which they lead you to stop doing things in your daily life or whether all your leisure is focused on them, thus generating anxiety when you do not have direct contact with these digital platforms.
Maybe you need a specialist’s opinion…
My name is Javier Ares and I am a specialist in anxiety and disorders related to it (such as addictions).
If you need help, do not hesitate to contact me through my directory where you can see other patients’ opinions about me. Click here to go to my directory.
