A social media detox, which is sometimes referred to as a digital detox, involves stepping away from certain online activities in order to protect your mental health.
What Is a Social Media Detox?
Detox is short for detoxification, which involves removing toxins or poisons from a person’s system.
In a mental or behavioral health context, detox usually refers to the process of ridding your body of alcohol or other addictive substances. When you take a social media detox, the toxin you’ll be attempting to eliminate is the negative impact that Facebook, Instagram, X, and other sites can have on your emotional well-being.
Social Media Detox vs. Social Media Break
When someone goes through detox as part of an addiction treatment program, they aren’t usually trying to just take a short break. Completing detox and then returning to active substance use will quickly put a person right back in the distressed state that they had been trying to escape.
The same can be true of social media.
Taking a social media break can mean not posting or scrolling for a bit, then returning to your old habits. This can offer temporary benefits, but it doesn’t promote long-term improvements.
Social media detox, on the other hand, can fundamentally change how you use and are affected by social media. You may not remain away from the apps forever, but detox can help you adopt a healthier attitude toward social media, so the platforms no longer exert such a powerful negative influence on you.
Why Take a Social Media Detox?
The success of your social media detox can depend in part on why you chose to take this step. When you’re able to identify specific problems that your social media use has caused, you may have a greater motivation to stick with your detox plans.
Here are a few reasons why a social media detox could be right for you:
- The barrage of negative news stories that are common on social media can undermine your efforts to retain a positive outlook on life. A digital detox can give you the separation and perspective you need to acquire a more balanced view of the world.
- Social media encourages users to compare their lives to others. Often, though, the more popular social media users are creating highly curated or staged glimpses into their lives. Stepping away from these unrealistic expectations can do wonders for your self-esteem.
- Social media sites feed on arguments that never seem to end. Spending more time offline can remind you of the value of having actual conversations with friends instead of angry interactions with strangers.
- Social media use can take up an inordinate amount of time, which could be better spent by taking part in healthier real-world activities.
Benefits of a Social Media Detox
The specific benefits that you receive from your detox will be influenced by factors that are unique to you and your lifestyle. But you may discover that:
- You’ll have more time to put toward more productive pursuits.
- You’ll be less likely to suffer from FOMO.
- You can escape the pressure to follow the latest trends.
- You can make decisions based on what you actually want to do, not what will help you attract and keep more followers.
- Once you’ve decided what you want to do, you can actually enjoy doing it instead of worrying about the best way to document it for social media.
Ideally, the combined effect of these many benefits can help you to:
- Be more present in the moment
- Stop comparing yourself to others
- Focus on what’s truly important to you
- Begin to feel better about yourself
Here’s How to Do a Social Media Detox the Right Way: Top 12 Tips
One of the more difficult aspects of doing a digital detox is deciding how to get started. Here are 12 tips that can help:
- Post (and scroll) with a purpose: Before you open a social media app, think about what you’re doing and ask yourself why you’re doing it. Social media can become an automatic distraction while you’re waiting in line or just bored. Pausing to consider what you’re doing before you post or scroll can help you cut down on your social media use.
- Curate who you’re following: Purposeful social media use should also include an honest evaluation of who you’re following. Unfollow anyone who doesn’t add value to your online experience, or whose posts consistently provoke unpleasant emotions.
- Set time limits for yourself: Your phone may allow you to set a daily social media time limit. If not, there are apps that will do this for you. Timers like these force you to acknowledge how much time you spend on social media each day, so you can start to reduce your use.
- Taper your use: If you’ve been spending a significant amount of time on social media, it can be difficult to abruptly stop altogether. Start by setting a generous time limit for yourself, then gradually lower this limit every week.
- Schedule your social media use: Pick a certain time of the day – such as before work or during your lunch break – and only access social media at that time. If you miss your window for the day, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to catch back up.
- Follow the “one screen at a time” rule: Watching TV? Turn your phone off, or at least put it in another room. Scrolling through social media? Pause the video you’re watching and close your laptop. Force yourself to decide if scrolling social media is more entertaining than the many other options that are available to you.
- Delete the apps: Removing apps from your phone or tablet doesn’t mean your account is gone, but taking this step can make it a bit more difficult to access your social media feed.
- Close some accounts: Take a hard look at your various social media accounts. Rank them in order of how much you enjoy each one, then delete the ones at the bottom of your list.
- Let people know what you’re doing: If you have a significant number of followers or even a handful who regularly engage with your content, let them know they may be seeing a little less of you as you take a social media detox.
- Find a detox partner: Any significant lifestyle change has a better chance of success if you have help. If a friend or family member is also trying to limit their social media use, you can support each other and keep each other accountable.
- Find other ways to spend your time: When you discover enjoyable ways to fill the hours that you used to devote to posting, scrolling, and commenting, you may find it much easier to stay off the apps.
- Reward yourself: Giving yourself “a little treat” isn’t just a social media trend. You can actually do this in your offline life, without sharing it with the rest of the world. Set a goal for your social media detox, and decide ahead of time how you want to reward yourself when you hit that goal. Then celebrate your success!
Contact Montare Behavioral Health to Improve Your Mental Health
If a social media detox doesn’t yield the mental health benefits you had been hoping for, it may be time to seek professional help.
Montare Behavioral Health offers compassionate inpatient and outpatient care at several convenient locations in California and Arizona.To learn more about how we can help you or a loved one, please visit our Admissions page or call us today.
