I have been addicted to social media since before I had a phone. I was OBSESSED with YouTube in middle school. I would come home and sit in front of my dad’s huge Mac desktop computer and watch DIY videos for hours.
My next phase was Musical.ly, which directly impacted my TikTok addiction. We all deal with doomscrolling, looking at the clock, thinking it’s been five minutes, when it’s really been an hour. I always notice the feeling that I’ve spent an hour of my day on the app, but I couldn’t recite a single thing I watched that was meaningful or taught me something.
Sometimes I can’t even remember a single video. This has always bothered me, and I used to have an all-or-nothing mindset around social media.
For some more background, I am a strategic communication major, and I hope to work in social media one day. I know it’s ironic. But I always went from loving social media and posting super often, to months of having the apps completely deleted from my phone.
I never thought I had the self-control to balance doing both. I want to post without scrolling for hours, but I always end up on the For You Page. Posting to me is a creative outlet. I love editing videos, curating feeds, and talking to a camera.
I have finally found a happy medium, and I wanted to share my discoveries.
The app Opal has been my best friend this semester. It is an app that acts like the time limits you can set in settings. The problem with those limits in settings is that you can easily turn them off with a password, which you will likely set yourself. I used to use those limits, but I would always turn them off for the instant dopamine gratification of scrolling on TikTok.
But Opal is different. This app allows you to block social media (or any apps on your phone) for certain hours of the day. You can still turn it off or just delete the app completely, but it makes you wait. There is a timer on the screen when you want to turn off the limits, and you have to sit for at least a minute with the app open before it lets you take a break or turn it off. The timer really allows me to take a minute and reflect on why I want to open those apps. It’s usually because I’m bored of doing homework, and then I realize I don’t need to scroll.
I have a limit set for Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram for the hours of five a.m. to five p.m. on weekdays. This way, I can’t scroll right when I wake up, and I have the entire day to focus on my classes, homework, or hobbies. I have never been on top of my work like I am this semester.
I used to procrastinate huge papers and projects until the day they were due. I have been getting all of my work done by the time the weekend rolls around. I am also able to read so many more books. I used to read about a book a month. With these limits set, in January, I read almost four whole books. It has felt amazing, and I would highly recommend checking out this app.
It also has a fun social aspect where you can add your friends (add me @saucysadie) and see their “focus hours.” It gives you a focus score depending on how much you have been on your phone in a day and allows you to apply fun themes and unlock gems.
I have learned I don’t need to completely delete all social media apps in order to be productive. I feel so much better when I spend the majority of my day off my phone.