After watching the documentary The social dilemma a couple of years ago I became aware of a situation I already knew: I was spending too much time on social media.
Therefore, I decided to take some steps in the direction of using them less and in a more responsible way. For avoiding wasting time scrolling I went as far as implementing While Model Trains as you may know.
Luckily there are easier, and more effective, ways that I tested to spend less time on social media apps.
The tools/strategies that I found useful are:
- Focus Mode
- E-books on smartphone
- Text based app launcher
Focus mode
Around 2022, the main platforms on which I spent my time were LinkedIn (you don’t want to miss the new take on remote vs on-site working!) and Twitter (you don’t want to miss that meme about AI and that thread about Bitcoin going to the moon/inevitably fall). As of today I replaced it with Bluesky.
Since I am well under 50 I used Facebook just for checking birthdays and Instagram just to take a look at the places my friends were visiting.
Anyway I had all the 4 apps installed on my smartphone. I didn’t want to never access them again, since I see each of the social having some utility, but on the other side I didn’t want to spend too much time on them.
As Oscar Wilde said “the only way to get rid of a temptation is to give yield to it”, so I used the Digital Wellbeing section of my (Android) phone to activate the focus mode and set the maximum usage time for an app. I gave to all 4, maximum 30 minutes per day.
By default these apps are grayed out and when you click on one of them a disclaimer appears telling you that the app is blocked and asks if you really want to open it. Just answering this extra question makes the use of the app more thoughtful.
When I decide to enter, I can enjoy the content with no worry that l would get sucked in infinite scrolling since after 5 minutes I am kicked out.
Moreover, as a general rule I try not to open them before noon, unless I need an info that I can retrieve only from there or someone sends me something “important” (like memes).
I think this system yielded pretty good results. The major drawback is that I started to spend more time on other sites (anyone said Reddit?).
But I am trying to work also on that.
E-book on smartphone
I prefer social media based on text rather than images. That’s why I appreciated Twitter. In the general public catastrophe that was the name change to X, I was lucky enough to use that as an excuse to not use the app anymore.
Posts on social media are for the majority for entertainment purpose. Fragments of hundreds of ideas that cause the reduction of attention span. But luckily an entraintenement medium that does not shatter the ability to focus exists (and for many centuries now): books. In their 21st century restyling that prefixed them with an “e-”, can be read also on the smartphones!
I have the two apps at the moment for reading. Of course one is the Kindle app that allows me to sync with the e-reader so I can switch to it when I have longer reading sessions.
The other is MLOL (that I always confuse with MLOps), a digital library app connected to the physical library of my city. It’s great because you can read two books a month for free, and if you don’t go for the latest bestsellers you don’t have even to wait. The only issue is that it provides books only in Italian (I haven’t found yet a way to use Libby being out of the US).
Reading a book on a smartphone screen is probably not ideal, but having a good book at your fingerprints at any time is a big advantage. Why do you need to know the last take of that influencer when you can jump into a thriller?
Text based launcher
The last tool that I added to my phone to make it less addictive, it’s a text based app launcher.
I was browsing some blog posts and I found myself landing on DHH’s blog (once again!).
Lately, he has been moving from Apple to Android/Linux and in doing so he documented his experience in particular in this blog post.
And my attention got hooked by one sentence:
I’m running this beautiful, minimal launcher called olauncher, which turns Android into a far less addictive mobile experience by replacing icons and app drawers with a simple set of text links.
I couldn’t resist checking it out! After some months testing I can confirm that Olauncher is great: not having the shiny app icons at your disposal makes the phone less interesting.
Now to get to an app, I have either to find it typing the name (or scrolling a list). This little friction makes wonders in using more intentionally my phone. And even when I type the letters, for the social media apps, I have still the second layer of friction of the focus mode.
All the hours that I saved from social media now can be used for something better. Like writing, reading or (even better) making memes.