Strategies for decreasing a mobile phone use habit

It is very difficult to stop social media addiction or mobile addiction because engineers from different countries work day and night on platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube so that we can spend as much time as possible on those platforms.  That’s why we have to proceed very systematically to beat social media addiction or mobile addiction.

To reduce social media addiction, we need to understand how a habit is created. There are four steps to forming a habit.

1. Cue
2. Craving
3. Response
4. Reward

Cue:

The first step is the cue.  A cue is a signal that helps us to start the habit.  For example, if a notification appears on our phone or we see the phone somewhere, this is our cue.

Craving:

Craving is the second step.  Craving is the attitude that if I check my social media, my boredom or stress will be a little less.

Response:

To satisfy the craving we go to the third step which is the response.  The response is that we’ll look at the phone and mindlessly scroll down the phone.  

Reward:

After responding we will get a reward.  The reward is a like or a notification on social media or reading an article or watching a video on the mobile phone.

Social media addiction or mobile addiction will continue if this four-step circle continues to run in our minds. So, to get out of social media addiction, we need to create obstacles in these four steps. Now I will talk about how we can create obstacles.

Create obstacles to the cue:

There are a few things we can do to stay away from the cue. 

1. Put the phone in a different room before you begin working.
2. Turn off all social media app notifications.
3. Set up demanding time blocks for work completed to keep us motivated.
4. Take a walk outside, drink water, or perform other relaxing activities when bored or under stress.

Create obstacles to the craving:

We have become associated in our heads, if we use social media, we will not feel bored or we will feel fresh.  This should be removed from our minds.  We can replace this thing with any of our hobbies.

1. Put good books on our table.
2. Keep Flipboard or similar news-related apps on the phone.
3. Delete social media from the home screen.
4. Log out whenever we use social media.

Create obstacles to the response:

To reduce social media addiction, we have to follow some ways.

1. Unfollow all unnecessary pages or people. Less followed content allows us to scroll to the page faster.
2. Read articles that provide information by following pages that offer informative material.
3. Set up a phone app usage reminder to notify us if we spend too much time on social media.

Create obstacles to the reward:

To get rid of the last stage of social media addiction i.e., the social media reward we can follow some steps.

1. Check the time we spent on social media apps and ask ourselves if we are okay with that.
2. Maintain a calendar where we crossed out a day if we spend less time on social media
3. Build other habits that help us refresh and destress ourselves.
4. Do a limited complete social media detox every now and then. 

Why do we need to decrease our social media addiction? 

Social media addiction can have a negative impact on our mental health and overall well-being. Here are a few reasons why we need to reduce social media addiction:

1. It can affect our sleep:

Social media addiction can cause us to stay up late at night scrolling through our feeds, which can affect the quality and quantity of our sleep.

1. It can lead to feelings of anxiety and depression: 

Social media addiction can lead to feelings of anxiety and depression, especially if we constantly compare ourselves to others on social media.

• It can affect our productivity: 

Spending too much time on social media can be a distraction and reduce our productivity. 

• It can impact our relationships:

 Social media addiction can cause us to become disconnected from those around us.

Overall, reducing social media addiction can have a positive impact on our mental health, productivity, and relationships. It’s important to establish healthy habits and boundaries around social media use to ensure that we’re not negatively impacted by it.

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Joyosree Sikder

Intern, Content Writing Department

Youth School for Social Entrepreneurs (YSSE)