For our generation, social media is commonplace in our lives and ingrained in our daily routines. Most mornings I wake up, turn off my alarm and immediately open Instagram for a ‘quick’ morning scroll which can turn into at least half an hour of mindlessly consuming content that I am not even interested in. For the past few weeks, I’ve deleted Instagram, TikTok, and BeReal- the apps I found the most time-consuming or the most damaging to my mood. However, to combat my slight social media addiction, I haven’t been able to go cold turkey. Instead, I’ve found some other social media apps that I personally find more relaxing and less pressure which you may enjoy too.
Letterboxd
If you are a big film fanatic, Letterboxd is the perfect app for you. The app, which launched in 2011, allows you to rate, review and share your favourite films with your friends and other movie fans. I find it to be a quite light-hearted app, as although you can like others’ reviews, there is not a similar pressure like Instagram to see how many likes you can get. I usually attempt to make my reviews more on the comical side, although you can add more detail if that’s your style. So, if you are fancying a quiet movie night, Letterboxd is the perfect app to pick what movie, and then you can rate it afterward!
Strava
Strava is an app to track runs, hikes, cycles and more. But don’t stress! You don’t have to be an experienced athlete to get involved in Strava. I use it to track my running progress and my walks back from the University Campus, although the trek up the Lenton triangle hill does ruin my pace! It is also a great place to involve your friends in your fitness journey, as you can record activities together and share kudos [Strava’s alternative to likes] to motivate your friends. I also love that you can share routes and pictures of your runs or hikes, which is usually a very sweaty red-faced selfie at the end of my run! It is like Instagram, but without the same hassle or anxiety as there are fewer people involved. And although I am very proud of my 7 followers [big achievement I know] it does mean I don’t feel embarrassed about posting a very slow run, more of a trundle really, as it’s only my close friends so I don’t have to fear for any judgment.
Spotify
I know this is a very popular app, but particularly with the recent Spotify Wrapped, it made me realise how much I use Spotify, exactly 48,770 minutes according to their algorithm. But I never really considered it as social media, there are followers, and you can save other people’s playlists. But because it has slightly more anonymity it does make it an easier and more relaxing app to use. Spotify is also one of the apps where you can have the best of both worlds, scrolling to find new songs and artists to craft the perfect playlist, or just putting your favourites on shuffle and tuning off from the outside world for a little bit.
I have felt sight FOMO from deleting certain apps, occasionally even checking Instagram on Google just to make sure I’m not missing out on anything fun [a new low I know]. For me, this will not be a permanent change, but it has felt refreshing to take a break from social media and it’s allowed for more time to explore other hobbies whilst still feeling connected to media and the internet. Hopefully, these other apps can help you feel the same, and still have fun using your screen time but without any pressure!