Life Without Social Media? 6 Helpful Tips To A Quick Detox

A life without social media? Is this even possible, as we’re literally glued to our phones, I included? I don’t even want to look at my screen time because I know it will shock me.

Especially Social Media is what I’m using. the. freaking. time and I assume you are too. To stay sane, it’s always a good idea to do a social media detox now and then. I’m going to show you how to do that!

Life Without Social Media?

I think there are two sides to a social media detox. The first side is taking a closer look at the people you’re following, the content you read or see, etc., and deciding if this makes you happy or leaves you frustrated, scared, angry, or any other negative emotion.

Having a toxic-free social media feed is the first step in your detox because living in an entirely social media-free world isn’t realistic, so let’s make sure we enjoy what we see, right?

The second side to a social media detox is to have a social media break now and then. It’s good to be offline every once in a while. You don’t have to be online and available every hour and every day of the week!

I think it’s up to you to find out what’s achievable for you, but a social media break could be just one day without social media, a weekend without it, or a whole week, two weeks, etc. Whatever you like!

If you’re a blogger or content creator just like me, it’s even harder to take a social media break, in my opinion. Most of us probably feel we need to be active on social media 24/7 to grow. But I’m going to help you with having a social media detox without feeling stressed about “not being active” on social media.

How To Have A Proper Social Media Detox

1. Unfollow Accounts

One of the most critical steps is unfollowing the accounts that don’t bring you joy. Using social media, you want to look at your feed and feel happy or inspired. The first step is to unfollow all the accounts that you don’t like looking at.

And yes, this could be your ex or old friends, even family. You might feel guilty or odd for unfollowing them, but you shouldn’t because your happiness is your priority. If you really can’t unfollow someone, make sure to mute them. They won’t know you’ve muted them, and you won’t have to look at their feed anymore!

2. Unfollow pages, hashtags, groups, etc.

It’s not only accounts we’re following nowadays. It could be that you like pages on Facebook, follow hashtags on Instagram, or you might’ve been part of groups(chats) on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest.

If what you’re seeing doesn’t fit your interest (anymore), then make sure to unfollow the page, leave groups, etc. Again, if you can’t unfollow a page or a group, then mute it. Turn the notifications off. Make sure you won’t see it anymore.

3. Plan and schedule your content

This one is mainly for the content creators reading this. If you feel like you have to be active all the time, make sure to plan content ahead, pre-write your content, and then schedule your content!

It might not be realistic to have a life without social media, but at least, this way, you can include social media breaks into your life.

There are lots of free apps and platforms which can help you with that. Some of my favorite tactics and platforms are:

• Google Docs or Sheets to write down blog post ideas.
• Notion to braindump ideas, gather the best ones, and plan when I want to post a particular blog post.
• WordPress to schedule my prewritten blog posts.
• Tweetdeck to schedule tweets (affiliate tweets, inspirational tweets, whatever you like!).
• Planoly to plan my Instagram content (and actually to see how my feed would look), research and save hashtags, and write my captions ahead of time (on the free version, you won’t be able to post automatically, but the app can give you a heads up when it’s time to post).
• Mailerlite to prewrite email newsletters and schedule them to get sent out later.

4. Turn Notifications Off

You could permanently turn them off (I did this!) or only when you’re having a social media break, for example, on the weekends. I don’t know about you, but if I see notifications, I need to respond, check them out, or get rid of that little red ‘1 notification’. I can’t get the rest I need if I have my notifications on.

I decided to turn my notifications off during the weekend, and the funny part is that I never turned them on again. I turned the notifications off from only social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest) so that if I got a text, call, or email, I would still see them. I really enjoy this!

During the week, I check my socials quite often, so I don’t feel like I miss things, and during the weekend, I can really have life without social media and have a break. This works really well for me, and I would recommend you try this too.

5. Delete apps

If you turn off your notifications but think you won’t be able to stay off social media, it’s also possible to delete the apps for a day or the weekend. This way, you won’t be able to check your accounts to help, and it could be an excellent way to get yourself more used to life without social media and having social media breaks.

Decluttering your phone could also be nice to do now and then. Delete apps you don’t use anymore, delete photos, clean out your notes, etc.

6. Distract yourself

Another good method could be distracting yourself. Make sure you put your phone away and do what you like. This could be watching a movie, reading a book, listening to podcasts, etc. Just distract yourself!

Plus, this is obviously also an excellent way to relax as well. You won’t be able to stress about your socials if you’re doing the things you love.

How do you feel about life without social media? Are you planning a detox? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!