With an endless array of mobile applications to suit any taste, it’s easy for smartphone users to spend too much time on their favourite social networks.
Fortunately, after the first step of admitting one’s addiction, many measures can be taken to manage social network usage better.
It should come as no surprise that social networking apps have taken responsibility for themselves and offer users scores of tools that help manage usage from within the app.
However, there are other less formal ways to better manage social media use. While some may require simple tweaks to a smartphone’s home screen, easier methods to manage social media usage may prove more effective than others.
How does one turn these management settings on, and what other, much simpler methods can be adopted? Here’s our list of tips to better manage your everyday social networking use.
Hide those addictive apps
All smartphones allow users to group apps into folders. Grouping addictive social networking apps and moving that folder to a less visible space on the home screen can significantly reduce use by simply being out of sight.
Just hide the whole phone
Findings among scores of studies have revealed that sleeping next to a smartphone is a bad idea.
Along with easy access to endless scrolling at night, the blue light emitted from a smartphone screen in the dark has been found to cause sleep deprivation.
Hiding your smartphone away from your bedside won’t just help an addiction, but result in better sleep too.
Finding your smartphone-free hobby, or just leave it at home
A study by BMC Public Health into mental health revealed that people who engaged in 100 or more hours per year of arts engagement reported significantly better mental well-being than other levels of engagement.
The study’s researchers suggest breaking the chain of social network addiction can be as simple as engaging in a hobby or simply taking a walk for an hour.
Screen time management tools
From Facebook to TikTok, each social network offers screen time management tools. These can be turned on by accessing the app’s settings, usually found on the app’s home screen or a user profile page.
While some apps offer better insight and analytics to understand how much time a user spends on the apps, it is smart to turn these on, regardless, to understand your smartphone use better.
IOL Tech