ad collaborative post // Internet addiction can be scary. The rest of your life slips past you when you spend so much time on your phone or computer. It’s an addiction not many people recognize, but when you start to feel the effects of it, you’ll discover just how much you miss out on by being connected all the time.
Here’s how to break the cycle and begin living life to the fullest again.
Why Internet Addiction Is Harmful
Internet addiction isn’t as simple as it seems. It’s dynamic, just like any sort of substance dependency. You may not see the signs at first, but symptoms include spending too much time on your phone or computer and lying to your loved ones about it. Spending the majority of your day online means you have a problem.
Social media can lead to depression and feelings of low self-esteem. You may find yourself playing the comparison game when you see people you envy online. If you find those intense negative feelings taking over, it’s a sure sign to step away until you feel better.
How to Beat Your Internet Addiction
Luckily, you can easily overcome internet addiction with a bit of practice. Try these techniques to pry your eyes away from your phone more often. Eliminating most distractions from your mobile phone will allow you to enjoy the world around you more.
1. Utilize Grayscale Mode
If you get distracted by the bright colors on your phone, try going into settings and turning it to grayscale mode. Your phone will lose all color until you turn it back on and you will only see shades of white, black and gray. Getting rid of the color temporarily can make your phone less enticing, meaning you’ll pick it up less and spend less time on it.
2. Disconnect Your Social Media Accounts
Most people have social media apps installed on their phones. Delete them if you open them throughout the day. Make it so you can only access these platforms via your cellphone’s web browser or your desktop computer or laptop.
Disconnecting from social media allows you to spend time alone. You can get active by taking a hike or finishing the book you’ve been hoping to read. All the time spent scrolling on social media can now be used for something more productive, like increasing your knowledge in a specific subject or getting to know yourself better.
3. Set up Screen Time
Many phones have the option to track how much time you spend on them. Most users are on the internet around 24 hours per week, and the need for treating this addiction is overwhelming. Turning on your screen time option lets you see which of your apps sucks the most of your attention away from the real world — and from there, you can choose whether to keep or delete them.
You may choose to go a step further and set limitations, almost like parental controls, so you can’t access an app after spending a certain amount of time on it in a day. Keep what’s necessary to stay in contact with family or complete work, but dial back your access to mobile games.
4. Busy Yourself in the Real World
Spending time in the world actively doing something means you won’t have time to scroll endlessly on your phone. Consider meeting up with friends and family when you can. Spending time with them, whether it’s face-to-face or over a video call, can keep you from distracting yourself via the internet. Being with the people you love can give you a health boost, both physically and mentally.
Otherwise, you can volunteer for a good cause. Volunteering makes you feel good, and it also helps out your community in need. The people who work there or benefit from your services appreciate your assistance.
5. Start Building Schedules
Building a schedule for your day may seem tedious, but it can help keep your priorities straight. You may suffer from having too much on your plate and not knowing where to start, leading you to do nothing because you’re paralyzed. A schedule can prevent this since you’ll always have something you should be doing.
Busy schedules require a bit of downtime. Make sure to pencil in time for you to be online. That way, you can enjoy time on your phone guilt-free and know that the things you need to complete are getting done, too.
Crush Your Internet Addiction Today
Recognizing you have a problem is the first step to eliminating internet addiction. Trampling your dependency lets you have more space to complete the tasks you need to — and make the most of your life by spending time with your loved ones and working toward your goals.
Great post, insightful and it’s hard to keep up with it, without internet and social media.
That’s so true. The internet has become so much of our lives and sometimes we don’t realize it. But it truly is healthier to keep a balanced life!
Liz Masu
Thank you so much for this post Jenny. This is definitely something I have struggled with on many occasions. Internet addiction can definitely be very concerning, and it can so easily happen. Some very interesting and helpful tips, thank you. Sometimes when I know that I’m spending too much time on social media, I delete the apps on my phone for a while, as sometimes when I’ve decided to not go on them, out of habit I just automatically open up the apps without thinking.
Clem xx
https://www.clemloves.co.uk
Great tips! I’m so addicted to my phone and it’s usually a means of procrastination! X
Thank you for these tips and tricks! I definitely have a bit of an internet addiction and find myself “doom scrolling.”
Gah, it’s hard to admit this, but I definitely am addicted to the internet, because it’s the first thing I reach for after every five minute interval. Having a schedule has helped, and so did leaving my phone in the other room. But freaking YouTube, that kills me. Anyway, thanks for this post, Jenny!
I find that I’m way more on my phone when I’m depressed or in a bad space mentally. So when I notice that I’m spending a lot of time on my phone I ask myself what’s wrong and get some help 🙂
These are great ways to conquer internet addiction, it’s so important to reduce screen time as and when you can during the day x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Great post and something so many desperately need to read! Although the internet is fully of positive messages and images we can always indulge in too much of a good thing and allow it to take over too much of our lives.
Really insightful post – it’s amazing how much time we spend online in different ways and I really strongly agree with the idea of temporarily deleting your social media accounts – that way you’re almost forced to go back on them which sometimes takes more effort! Thank you for sharing.
Tom
Great post! We’ve been trying to limit our time, especially in the evenings.
After watching that social media documentary (forgot the name at the moment), I decided to turn off my notifications for all my social media accounts. On top of that, I added a timer to all social media accounts (1 hour a day max for all socials combined). Nowadays it’s rare that I get close to hitting that timer, and I think I’ve just had a healthier relationship with technology overall. Great post xx
Melina | http://www.melinaelisa.com