Brian Nelson-Palmer 8/24/21 Brian Nelson-Palmer 8/24/21

How Many Hours Do You Spend On Social Media?

How much time do you spend on social media?

It’s time to get specific, how much time do you spend on social media? These days your phone will tell you. Do it right now.

So…let’s set some time limits for you, right now….

Social Media Addiction Series: Part 1

“Share your biggest time waster or time suck,” is the first activity we do in my workshop on the value of your time. “Social media” is the most common answer…by a landslide. Do you get that feeling too? Is it a struggle for you as well? If so, you’re not alone. During COVID-19, hundreds of people each month found my blog posts through internet searches on Social Media Addiction. Let’s discuss one of the first steps in improving your relationship with social media.

Acknowledgement: I recognize some people may need to spend more time on social media for business or other reasons. This is meant to help anyone who is interested in taking back the power in their relationship with social media.

Social media has been a struggle for me for years.

I was part of the very first wave of people to have a Facebook profile as Facebook expanded to more universities. I had a “.edu” email when it first launched so I was “in” back in 2004. I distinctly remember sitting in my room at Florida State University and registering for my Facebook profile, and marveling at this new way to spend my time online. Ever since then, social media has proven to be a constant struggle for people; constantly comparing ourselves to others, needing to see what others are doing, and getting lost in the ether of the scrolling. It’s not healthy. I have spent years trying to get better at it. Also, for me, I consider my time valuable, and all that time spent on social media platforms feels lost. I don’t tend to feel better when I spend hours of my time on social media. I’ve tried quite a few approaches, and I feel good about my relationship with (or really the lack of) social media in my life these days. I want you to feel better about your relationship with social media as well.

How much time do you spend on social media?

It’s time to get specific, how much time do you spend on social media? These days your phone will tell you. Do it right now.

iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch

To see screen time, go to Settings > Screen Time > tap See All Activity under the graph.

To set app limits, Settings > Screen Time > App Limits, then tap Add Limit. To set limits for individual apps, tap the category name to see all the apps in that category, then select the apps you want to limit.

Android/Google/Samsung

To track screen time, go to Settings > Digital Wellbeing & parental controls > menu > Manage your data > toggle on Daily device usage.

To set app timers, open Digital Wellbeing & parental controls > Dashboard > select app > tap hourglass icon > set a time limit > OK

So…how many hours do YOU spend on social media?

Do you know the number? I want you to know the number. You need a starting point. Go on your phone as described above and add up the average daily time you spend on all of the social media platforms that keep you sucked in and scrolling or watching other recommended content specifically. I don’t loop in messaging apps in this - communicating with others is different to me. I’m talking about Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, etc. I have a hunch you know exactly which ones I’m referring to. My total when I first started this journey was 2+ hours per day.

Okay, so how much time on social media is a healthy amount?

10 minutes per application and a total of 30 minutes per day. That recommendation comes from a University of Pennsylvania study. I have tried different amounts of time based on recommendations and research, and for me, I agree with this as a good amount of time to shoot for.

So…let’s set some time limits for you, right now.

The most common problem is that people don’t have any limits. We get sucked in, and there’s nothing to indicate or remind us how long we have been scrolling. Social media platforms control our time, instead of us controlling the time spent on social media! It’s your life, you control it, don’t leave it up to the app. You can tailor the limit to your needs, but don’t just wing it. Go set some limits on your phone right now, and see how you do. I recommend 10 minutes per app and 30 minutes per day total as a guide and a goal to work toward. If you spend more than an hour on social media per day currently, I recommend coming down in increments of 20-30 minutes per week, since “quitting cold turkey” might not work for everyone. Along that journey, I’m confident you’ll find the balance that works for you.

Wait, this whole post was just about your phone, what about all your other devices? There’s More!

SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION SERIES: PART 1 - How Many Hours Do You Spend On Social Media?
(**You’re Reading This One)

SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION SERIES: PART 2 - Free Hacks To Fix It

SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION SERIES: PART 3 - Fix It With Apps And Tech Hacks

I’m Brian. At age 4, I was diagnosed with insulin dependent (type 1) diabetes and told that my life was going to be 10-20 years shorter than everyone else. Time is precious. I created Productivity Gladiator because I saw what a difference it made to share small and specific actions you can take right now, right away, to achieve better work life balance, be more productive, and live your best life right now, today, not wait until retirement. I want you to start doing the things you WANT to do, not get stuck only chasing what you NEED to do. If any of this resonates with you, I hope you’ll subscribe, and if you’re so inclined, send me a note. It brings me joy sharing Productivity Gladiator with you.

Brian Nelson-Palmer 4/23/19 Brian Nelson-Palmer 4/23/19

Addiction To Social Media: Fix It With Apps and Tech Hacks

The good news is, technology and apps are being developed to help you keep social media under control.

Here are some of the apps and tech hacks you can use to help rein it in.

Social Media Addiction Series: Part 3

Updated 10/5/21: Removed app “Feedless” since the app is no longer on the ios app store, replaced with #Blockit which does the same thing even better

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we started discussing this issue, now we continue with more solutions!

The good news is, technology and apps are being developed to help you keep social media under control.

Here are some of the apps and tech hacks you can use to help rein it in. If you haven’t already, before we dive in here, we recommend you take just a few minutes to read or refresh your memory on our last posts

1. #blockit, iOS app (alternatives available for other systems), Free

If you didn’t try the first hack in our other post, do it now, delete the social apps from your phone and try this free app. #blockit is a content blocker for iOS that removes the entire feed, stories, and other things from facebook when viewing it in your mobile safari browser. At the time of this writing, it did not work for the Chrome browser on iPhone, only the Safari browser, so I just am in the habit of using Safari whenever I check anything social media. This app allows people to still access Facebook’s core features like checking notifications and logging in to websites with your Facebook account while removing the newsfeed completely from the screen so you’re never sucked in to checking it! I love this hack, as it allows me to still check my notifications, but once that’s done, there’s nothing else distracting to see, so I just naturally move on to more important things. I find I’m only on facebook about once a day thanks to this app! This app works for Instagram, youtube, Twitter, and more, it works on one for free or you get them all for a one time $5 charge.

2. Chrome Desktop Extensions, Free

A Chrome extension that eradicates the newsfeed and replacing it with inspiring quotes instead. There are other eradicator apps like this one, such as Distraction Free Youtube which eliminates the recommended videos on the right side of youtube. If you look, you’ll find many more of these for many of the other big sites many people get sucked into.

Another helpful Chrome extension is StayFocusd, it’s a productivity extension that allows you to place your own time limits for how long each day you can spend on time-wasting websites. After your time is up, it makes the site inaccessible for the rest of the day and your screen will simply say something along the lines of “Shouldn’t You Be Working?” in big text across the screen.

Newsfeed Eradicator Screen (left) & StayFocusd Screen (right)

3. Freedom App - Set Limits on all Devices

This is one of the all encompassing options. They describe it: ”Stop being distracted by your computer. Freedom is the app and website blocker for Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS, used by over 750,000 people to reclaim focus and productivity. Experience the freedom to do what matters most.”
For those who just can’t help themselves, and need a more all-encompassing solution that covers all their devices, Freedom is the next step.

4. Scheduling Your Social Media Posting

If you’re using social media for business, fresh content and keeping people engaged is important. With apps like the below which allow you to schedule your posts, you can log on only once or twice a week or even once a month depending on your content. Simply schedule all your posts, and then go back to more important things with the rest of your time.

For Facebook, try Facebook’s post scheduling feature. This enables you to save draft posts and schedule them for the future.
Note: Facebook changed it’s API in 2018 to reduce the utility of other services like the one’s below, so I recommend doing your facebook scheduling in facebook itself.

For other social media sources, like Instragram, Twitter, Linkedin, etc, you have Buffer and Hootsuite. These platforms allow you to schedule posts and even monitor conversations and analyze the performance of your social media account as well. Batch your time spent on social media through the use of these apps, to get back to other more important things, like your work, and your life!

Discipline yourself and take control of what you do with your smartphones and computers. Escape from social media entanglement. I’m leaving you with this quote from Alan Lakein, on personal time management, “Time equals life; therefore, waste your time and waste of your life, or master your time and master your life.” Time is an investment, spend it with discernment.”

SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION SERIES: PART 1 - How Many Hours Do You Spend On Social Media?

SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION SERIES: PART 2 - Free Hacks To Fix It

SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION SERIES: PART 3 - Fix It With Apps And Tech Hacks
(*You’re Reading This One)

Subscribe if you don’t already! Get these nuggets of knowledge in your email so you don’t have to go looking for them!

Brian Nelson-Palmer 4/15/19 Brian Nelson-Palmer 4/15/19

Addiction to Social Media & Free Hacks To Fix It

“Wait, I just spent 45 minutes on Facebook? Instragram?”

For many, social media has become a habit, and the longer they stick with that habit, the harder it is to break. For some, it becomes an unhealthy addiction or an unfortunate obsession. Are you a constant social media checker? In your leisure time at home? At work? On school breaks? While in line at the grocery store? While eating? While in the bathroom?

So what can you do? Here’s life hacks to get you started!

SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION SERIES: PART 2

“Wait, I just spent 45 minutes on Facebook? Instragram?”

In Part 1 of this series, we talked about just about smart phones, now in this Part 2 and Part 3, let’s look at the issue overall across all your devices.

Found at Digital Information World — *Found at* *Digital Information World*

Statistics from GWI in a report by the Digital Information World show that internet users are now spending an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes daily on messaging platforms and social networking applications. In a year, that’s a total of 863 hours!

Expand over a decade and that means the average person spent 8,630 hours on it during that time. If there’s 8,760 hours in a year, that means…

That’s one FULL YEAR spent on social media out of your last 10 years?!

Let’s assign some value to that time. Did you use the calculator in our earlier post and calculate how much your personal time is worth? If it’s $10/hr that means you spent $86,630 worth of your personal time on social media?

If you value your personal time at $25/hr, that’s $215,750 worth of your time you spend on social media over the last 10 years?!

That doesn’t even count the “opportunity cost” of the life experiences you missed out on during those hours. The best memories of the last decade likely haven’t involved the times you were on social media! How many real conversations could you have had with this time? How many games could you have played with your kids? How many dates could you have been on? How many romantic moments could you have had? Happy hours? Family movie nights? How much money could you have made if you picked up a side hustle instead?

Now this isn’t saying you should quit social media all together, though I support and admire those who do, and they often seem happier not to be on it! I’ve heard so many people in my workshops talk about how much they need it. “But I have to use it.” I hear you! For some it’s work. For others it’s family. For some it’s for a specific project. Social media is helpful and advantageous in many ways, but the time you consume for it is the problem, and it’s not too late to find solutions to that.

So what can you do? Here’s life hacks to get you started!

Productivity Gladiator is all about action. Here’s specific actions you can take right now to help get it under control. Start with one of these, then do another, then another, find the solutions that work for you, where you feel like you’re back in control. I recommend trying all of these below. Start at the top and try that one for a week, then try the next one. Once you’ve tried them all, you should have a combination of one or more that gets you to a better place where you feel in control. These are behavioral hacks you can change now, now costs or apps needed. In the next post we’ll share other apps and software to add another layer to your management of this time suck.

Turn off all of the notifications on all your devices.
Yep, your phone, your computer, your watch, your tablet, ALL OF THEM. This loosens social media’s constant nagging, “check me!” Now you’re back in control, it’s up to you when you check it, and won’t bother you when you don’t.
Uninstall the social media apps from your phone.
This way you must use the browser to access social media. The experience isn’t as good on the mobile browser, so it’s not as easy to lose track of time, it helps make you slightly more aware of the time you’re spending.
Sign out of your account every time you’re done,
Now you always have to sign in to access the social media sites. It’s the extra moment which makes you think about what you’re going to do.
Use an “incognito” or “private” browser window, on both your phone and on your desktop. Most people aren’t good at remembering to log out each time, and this way the computer won’t remember you’re logged in, and you’ll have to go through the act of logging in each time, which will make you pause and think about what you’re doing.
Change your password to something AWFUL.
This way each time you’re logging on, you’ll have to think and type that phrase, such as “IMworthlessONsocials” or “1kittenisdyingbecauseofme!” or “IMbetterTHANthisUGH” or much worse! BE AGGRESSIVE! BE MEAN! YOU NEED TO THE REMINDER!
Use an actual alarm clock instead of your phone.
In the morning, laying in bed. That’s the biggest time many of us fall into social media without meaning too. Avoid that completely. Get an alarm clock, maybe even one of the ones with a light that slowly gets brighter! I haven’t tried it, but something like this one could be an option?

Most importantly, if you find you’re unable to take any of the above steps, or it’s not making any difference, it may be time to talk to someone about this, a professional or therapist. There are real problems of addiction and depression that can come from social media. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America delves deeper into this. Please read, be self-aware, and seek help. It’s important! This is about the life you’re actually living, and you only get one of those, so prioritize that over social media!

Don’t stop here!

SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION SERIES: PART 1 - How Many Hours Do You Spend On Social Media?

SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION SERIES: PART 2 - Free Hacks To Fix It
(*You’re Reading This One)

SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION SERIES: PART 3 - Fix It With Apps And Tech Hacks

Subscribe if you don’t already! Get these nuggets of knowledge in your email so you don’t have to go looking for them!