Stop scrolling & start working
Doomscrolling is unhealthy but investing in your self is not. Let’s chit chat about doomscrolling, social media breaks and how you can take your scrolling power back.
Starting strong with reminding you that you are the thumb master. You are in control of what you click, views, like, comment and share. Let that sink in.
Have you ever picked up your phone to check your email or reply to a text, only to look up an hour later you’ve scrolling social media wondering where did the time go? Have you ever picked up your phone to check one notification, reply to that comment, only yo look up an hour later wondering where did the time go? Maybe wondering how did you scroller for almost two hours? You tell yourself you didn’t see what is going on today or you need a good laugh. You catch a nice laugh but before you know you realize your emotions have shifted and you are sucked into business that has nothing personally to do with you. You’ve scrolled through negative timelines, strangers opinions on other strangers, arguments, tragedies and endless streaming content that leave you feeling drained.
Doomscrolling is an unhealthy in a scary way. Why is it scary? Because its so effortlessly done you do not notice. You do not notice how much it is shifting your thought process, changing you cored likes and beliefs, stripping you from human connection, dehumanizing individuals, not knowing what is real or what is fake, your attention span suffers, your body feels tired from scrolling, and things you once enjoyed begin to take a backseat in your life. All of the things go without notice if you are not self-reflecting, being honest w/yourself and taking social media breaks. You begin to say, “I don’t have time,” while spending hours scrolling social media watching others live their life, share unpaid opinions, not inspire others and share their personal business and problems. Continue reading to learn the negative impact of doomscrolling, benefits on social media breaks and how you can begin taking breaks.
Negative Impact of Doomscrolling Social Media:
Losing hours of your life without realizing it - 1 minute turns into 20 minutes, 5 minutes turn into 30 minutes, and 20 minutes turn into 1-2 hours. Those small moments add up, taking time away from your goals, hobbies, relations, rest and personal growth. Just think about the times you said, “I don’t have time.” In reality, you had time and more.
Productivity takes a hard hit -You sit down to work, study, clean or plan but your phone keeps pulling you away. You begin said task but 10 minutes in a notification that took 20 seconds to reply lead to 30 minutes of scrolling. You procrastinate, lose momentum, and push important tasks to tomorrow. Eventually, tomorrow and you push them off another day. You being yo feel overwhelmed by everything you have not accomplished and blaming it on time. reality is you have all of the time in the world with poor time management skills and a mindset that isn’t prioritizing you. Doomscrolling because you are reading, learning and taking note (Youtube University) is great because you are productively applying what you’ve learned.
Missing out on real life - The best moments in life are not planned, recorded or posted. They are living in the 90’s focused. Very spontaneous, random conversations (family &/or strangers), sunset views, laughter with friends, walks outdoors and going with the wind. Taking a solo ride to a nice park, eat ice cream and people watch. Being blessed in that moment. Getting into things that make you happy without worries about what someone would think. When you attention is always on a. screen (dinner, party, concert, date, vacation, while walking) you risk being physically and mentally present and aware of your surrounds. You miss what someone is telling you, an opportunity to learn, and random cool things that happen, It can be seen a disrespectful to others scrolling while they are talking.
Physical fitness can suffers - Feeling tired, drained and looking dull from doomscrolling. Your eyes may feel strained, your heard may ache, and your body may feel stiff from sitting in the same position for too long. You begin to lack on your exercise or simple not show up at all. Late night scrolling can also interfere with sleep leaving you exhausted and cranky the next day. Remember, your body needs hydrations, daily movement (20 minute HITT, 30 minute walk, stretching), proper rest, nutritious food, skin care routine and sunlight.
Mental fitness can suffers - Your peace is interrupted which is not helpful to your mental fitness. Your mindset can begin to weaken with constant exposure to opinions, distressing news, conflict, ourage, maybe a laugh here and there, criticism and other’s people problems. They can leave you feeling anxious, overwhelmed, confused, and helpless. You begin comparing your life to others, worrying about situations you’ve never worried about, things you can not control and/or taking on the weight of others. Overtime (weeks or months) you can begin to behave and react in unusual ways based off of the informations you’ve consumed from social media. Remembers, keep your mental fitness tones, strong and stretched but protecting your peace, being positive, realistic and not seconding guessing what you know.
You start absorbing opinions that do not reflect your values - This one is the most overlooked. Yes, your beliefs can be influenced by what you repeatedly consume. People will share their opinions about money, success, education, parenting, marriage, beauty, politics, happiness, relationships… Oh especially relationships. Some speak confidently, firm, some provoke outrage (for clickbait most of the time), and other present their opinions as unquestionable facts. You may begin adopting someone else’s fears, questioning what you know works for you, comparing your choices to others, etc.
You keeping saying, “I don’t have time.” - You keep saying, “I don’t have time to exercise.” “I don’t have time to read.” “I don’t have time to build a brand.” “I don’t have time to clean my home.” Yet, somehow, there is time to scroll through dozens of videos, check multiple apps, and hours throughout the day of reading comments that will not matter tomorrow. The fact is you have time, it is managed poorly and incorrectly.
You neglect relationships while feeling connected and completed to others online - Social media is not real. it is an illusion that you’r socially connected because you know what hundreds of people are doing. you see their updates therefore you feel like you are in the loop. Reality is watching other people live their live is not the same as being it in. It is not the same as living yours. The connections you have are lacking. real connection requires presense. It means listening, sharing, and making each other feel valued with cell phone distractions.
Procrastinating on become the person you are called to be - Maybe you’ve been meaning to start that business, build your brans, change careers, go back to school, travel more, develop a new creative skill, or finally follow through on a personal goal. You have watched videos about success, save motivational posts, and consume advice from people who seem to have everything figured out. For a moment, you feel inspired so inspired you purchased a course but you never putting any of the work to action. Days, weeks and months pass by but your goals remain untouched. Next thing you know another happy New Year has passed you by. Remember, in life it is never what you do but how you do it. Stop watching everyone else build their life while postponing the work of building yours.
You’ve never taken a social media break before but it has been a thought. This is a thing that is easier said that done for most people in the world. You do not have to delete every app, disappear from the internet, or change your entire lifestyle overnight. the goal is to create a healthier relationship with social media, one that allows you to use it intentionally without letting it control your time, attention, mood or joy. Down below are ways you can begin your social media break:
Start by checking you screen time - A little reality check of honesty can wake you up.
Set a realistic limit - Set a daily limit for yourself. Small, consistent changes are easier to maintain than an extreme cut off. If can do an extreme cut off, mentally tell yourself you are not missing anything and those who love you or need you have you phone number. This is the true.
Turn off notifications - Yes, turn them all off. What’s going on doesn’t concern you, it is not paying you and doesn’t not serve you. If that seems to extreme then turn off the unnecessary notifications. Remembers, doing anything new (big or small) seems extreme but it only works if you do the work.
Create a phone free zone - Make your bedroom, time with friends, dinner, workouts, or morning routine phone free time. Remember, you are not missing anything important.
Unfollowing unhealthy/draining accounts - You still can’t take a break? It’s okay. This is a great start to a SM break. Pay attention to how different accounts make you feel. If certain content takes your time, mind, attentions, leaves you feeling said, insecure or emotionally exhaused please unfollow them. Follow education, inspring and uplifting content that can better your life.
Replace SM scrolling with real life activities - Walking, jogging, cooking, online reach (desktop or laptop), deep cleaning, DIY project, journaling, solo outing, etc.
Set morning time and bed time boundaries - Try no SM the first hour of waking up and the last hour before bed. If you wake up at 5am then no SM until after 6am. if you go to bed at 9am then no SM after 8pm.
Pause and catch yourself - Ask yourself, “Why am I opening this app right now?” or say, “Oops, I am scrolling again.” Catching ourselves a few minutes in is great accountable and self-awareness skills development as well.
Start with 24 hours - Yes, do not get on SM for 24 hours. Friday 8:00am - Saturday 8:00am Choose one day to log out of your nonessential SM accounts and log in to yourself. Log into your life needs, wants and desires. You are worth the time and investment. It is time to move like it. Schedule activities you want to prioritize
Do not turn a setback into failure - You may catch yourself scrolling longer than planned. That’s okay. This is were self-awareness and accountability is built. Notice what happened, adjust and stop. Start again. A social media break is not easy for all and it is not about perfection, it is about taking back control of your life (attention, time, joy, to do list, prioritizes, relationships and goals)
For myself, a social media break was easy. To be honest, I have never cared for social media and I never had a true connection to it. I tried to engage with it and never seen the purpose. My first SM break was in 2014 or 2015. As time processed I have stay off SM months and years at a time without a thought or care in the world. Down below are a few mindset tips and things I said to myself to keep me from social media doomscrolling:
Reminding myself I am not missing anything
Just because I did not post doesn’t mean things are not happening.
“I am living my life in real life so I don’t have time to post everything when I am in motion.”
“If I am not staring a business, inspiring others, sharing resources, motivationing others or helping what’s the point?”
SM is not going anywhere
These people do not care about me in real life
SM is not real world or a real place - Love doesn't live there
My life, goals, dreams and priorities come first
I am missing money unnecessary scrolling
“Others are living they fly girl, fashion forward life traveling but what am I doing?”
I do not care what others are doing.
I could be making content and making an impact
“I am not living enough.”
“I could be getting so much more done.”
These comments to myself and reminders to myself along with creating a busier schedule has allowed me to use SM for branding only. I get on social media to post. I might scroll for a 20 minutes once or twice a day if I have time. I do not have time to doomscroll. I genuinely love and focus on living my life like the early 2000’s. Life before social media is the best things ever. Enjoy moments, meeting new people, engaging a health debating fun conversation on a random Thursday evening, getting my to do list done, and much more.
Your life is not happening in someone else’s comment section. it’s happening in the conversations you’re having, the goals you are pursuing, the places you visit, the people you love, and the small moments you overlook when your attention is in the phone. The world will always have another headline. There will always be hot tea spilling. there will forever be an unpopular opinion, another trend, and another video gone viral. You do not have to consume it all, be in the mix and know what’s going on especially if it is not paying you (mentally, spiritual, emotionally or financially). Your time is a blessing and it is valuable. You cannot get your time back. As I create this blog post I can not get this time time but this time is worth every second because I am doing something I enjoy, helping others, connecting with others to motivate, support and inspire while I also build.
Make room for habits that are going to move your life forward. Surround yourself with people that are going to help you move your life forward. Connect with who really matters, you. Connect with things that truly matter. Start small if you have to with a 24 hours SM break or putting your phone down for 1 hour. Go outside. Do some research online regarding your business idea. Create a health habits non negotiable daily and weekly to do list. Give yourself permission to experience a moment without feeling the need to capture it, post it or compare it to someone else’s. Remember, you do have to disappear for months and years at a time like myself but you need to remember that you are allowed to log off and live your life in real life.
Take a break. Reclaim your focus. protect your peace. Step back into the real world around you. You deserve real life attention too. You got it. We got this.
