Episode 020: Cutting Back Social Media

[00:00:00] Diana Rene

You're listening to The Decluttered Mom Podcast. A podcast built specifically for busy moms by a busy mom. I'm your host, Diana Renee, and in 2017, I had my second daughter, and it felt like I was literally drowning in my home. Okay, not literally. But I felt like I couldn't breathe with all of the stuff surrounding me. Over the next ten months, I got rid of approximately 70% of our household belongings, and I have never looked back. I kind of feel like I hacked the mom system, and I'm here to share all the tips, tricks, and encouragement. Let's listen to today's show. 

This episode is going to be even shorter than most of my short episodes, but it's because I just want to tell you about a specific app that I have been using lately that has drastically reduced my compulsion to pull up social media when I'm on my phone. I don't know if it's just me. I am a hundred percent sure. Actually, it's not just me, but how many times are you maybe scrolling on Instagram, and then you finally are done, you kind of get bored, and so you tap out of it, and you open TikTok, and then you're on that for a few minutes, and you scroll out. And then you tap out because you're kind of bored, and then you open Facebook, and then you close that, and then you open Reddit and like, you know what I mean?

Like there's this like constant, it's almost like an instinctual need to just keep consuming information. Um, looking for that next dopamine hit, whatever it may be. Right? So I have tried so many things, and there are, there are a lot of things, and I have a prior episode about this that I do to reduce my screen time when I feel like it's kind of like grabbing onto me.

Um, and I know I've said this before, but because I run my business mostly from my phone, I think that I get like even more hooked into this because I will get on Instagram to post a reel or to reply to DMS for my business, and then I am in that mode already of like, of needing those like tiny hits of dopamine.

And so I just keep going even if I'm done working, right? So there are lots of things that I have done that have helped me reduce that need or reduce the time spent on my phone, but I still struggle with that pull of just automatically opening apps when I do grab my phone. 

So, all of the tips that I provided before will help you not pick up your phone in the first place, but if you are picking up your phone and then you're still finding yourself, just like automatically opening up these different apps, then I found an app. I know that feels counterintuitive, right? But I found an app that really is helping me with this. I know of other people that it has helped them also, so I wanted to share it with you.  

So I have tried like screen time limits and things like that where you kind of like technically lock yourself out of an app that you can set up on your iPhone. 

But for me, like all I would have to do is click like the override button, and I would just do that, and it just became like a habit for me to open the app, see that thing come up and just click it or type in the passcode and be done and move into the app. Right? So this app is called One Sec. So the number one to think about that, I wanted to say letter, the number one, and then sec s e c as in like second.

So one sec. Um, and this app, it does cost money, but I think it's, like, less than $2 a month. So it's, it's an inexpensive app compared to many apps out there. What it does is that you have to set it up when you first start. So you do download the app, you add it to your purchases in the app store, and then they give you like a, uh, basically instruction sheet for how to install it for the apps that you're wanting to use it on. Which I appreciate because it doesn't like automatically do every single app in your phone. It's the ones that you constantly struggle with. 

So for me, I added Instagram, I added TikTok, I added Facebook, and I added Facebook Messenger. Those are the ones that I tend to tap into when I'm just like, mindlessly on my phone. So it also, what was nice is that it also allowed the option to email yourself the instructions so that way you could pull 'em up on a computer and not have to like go back and forth all the time, which my ADHD brain appreciated.

So I was able to pull up the instructions on my computer. I was able to figure it out how to install it for those apps pretty quickly. I think it maybe took me 10 minutes total to do all four of the apps and have 'em all set up. So what it does is every time you go to open one of the apps, let's say it's Instagram. For example, you click on Instagram, and this screen will pop up, and it will say, let's take a deep breath. And then it has this like wave, uh, that goes all the way to the top of the screen and then slowly all the way to the bottom. So, um, I really like that because it's just kind of a reminder to, like, it makes you pause. It makes you pause, and it makes you think about what you're doing instead of just mindlessly tapping into the app, right? 

So I believe that you can actually change whatever it's gonna say instead of saying like, It's time to take a breath or whatever. I'm pretty sure you can put in your own custom saying or reminder there. But I really like the, take a breath one, so I left it. The other thing is that you can change the duration of it. So I think the, the auto setting is like three seconds or something, but you can do it like up to a minute. You can also have it set so that, like the first time you try to log in during the day, it does with three seconds, and then every time you try to log in throughout the day, it slowly adds more time.

So if you're like checking it constantly, it's like, OK, forcing you to take an even longer pause. So I have that set up on mine also because I appreciate that. Again, because the more I try to log into something, the more I feel like I need that reminder. So once this pause happens, right, the breath that then it has like two options.

Um, No, I don't want to open the app, or yes, I do want to open the app. So if you hit yes, I want to open the app. Then you can also put in an intention box. So an intention box pops up, and it says, what is your intention with this session, essentially? And then, like the little box that you type in, your answer, it says like, Let's be honest here.

And so again, it's just, and obviously, you can like override it, you can click something, you can lie, but it's forcing you to pause for a minute and be like, okay, am I just mindlessly going in here or do I have to grab a recipe that I saved yesterday? Or whatever it might be. It just, again, gives you that pause.

Um, there's another thing you can set up on there where it like gives you healthy options. So it's like, go for a walk, stretch, read a book, open this other healthy app, so like your Audible account or podcast, or something like that where it's just another option of maybe something that you deem a little bit more healthy for you to spend your time.

So this app isn't magical. It's not going to like completely break your screen addiction if you have one, but I think that it's just a really neat tool that forces you to slow down, forces you to pause. And for me, it's annoying and, but in a good way, right? Like anytime I click on Instagram, or anytime I click on TikTok and the thing pops up, I'm like, ugh, that's so annoying.

I don't wanna wait. And so then, I won't. I won't wait. I'll click out of it. Cause I'm like, okay, this is dumb because I don't wanna wait for this thing to like make me take a breath. But then I also know that I'm going to wait, probably go on here and waste time and not feel great about it. And so it's really forced me to just put my phone down more and do the things. I want to be doing that I know are good for me instead of just mindlessly scrolling. I hope this is helpful. 

I hope this app can help someone else out there, too, as much as it's helped me. PS this is not sponsored. I am not an affiliate. They p creators of this app have no idea who I am. This is just a really useful app that I really love, and I wanted to share with you, so I just wanted to make it clear that I am not getting paid or anything for recommending this app. 

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