How to quit social media

Why it sticks

Social media pays out three things at once. Connection, the quick sense that people you know are there. Novelty, an endless supply of something new. And approval, the likes and replies. Quitting removes all three in one go, which is why the first week feels like loneliness. The cue is any idle moment, and the apps are designed to make that moment feel like the right time to open them.

How to quit social media

1. Write down what you would miss

   List what you get from each app: news about friends, a community, jokes, work contacts. Each item needs a replacement or a deliberate goodbye. Quitting without that list is why people reinstall on day four.

2. Delete the app, keep the account

   Remove the apps from your phone and leave the accounts alive. You can still log in from a laptop when you need something. Nearly all mindless use happens on the phone, and the browser version is too clunky to scroll for long.

3. Move the people somewhere else

   Message the five or six friends you mainly follow and start a group chat, or put a call in the calendar. If social media was how you kept up with them, that need does not disappear. It needs a new home.

4. Set a weekly check-in

   If cold turkey is too much, allow one session a week on a laptop at a set time. Fifteen minutes on Sunday morning covers anything important. It turns a reflex into an appointment.

5. Log out after every session

   If you keep the app, log out each time. Typing a password costs you twenty seconds, and that is where the question 'do I want this?' fits. Use a password manager that does not autofill for these apps.

6. Fill the first ten minutes of the day

   The morning check is the stickiest. Decide what happens instead: coffee and a page of a book, a walk to the shop, a podcast. The first slot of the day decides how many follow it.

What to track instead

A row that only records the habit not happening gets a tick on the days you were never tempted, and tells you nothing on the day it mattered. Give the row to the replacement:

• No social apps on the phone
• Message one friend directly
• Morning without feeds
• One weekly check-in only

Print a tracker with these 4 habits or open them in a spreadsheet.

Your first week

1. Day 1. Write down what you get from each app and who you would lose touch with.
2. Day 2. Start a group chat or a call with the people you mainly follow.
3. Day 3. Delete the apps from your phone. Keep the accounts.
4. Day 4. Decide your first ten minutes of the morning and set them up the night before.
5. Day 5. Message one friend directly instead of checking their profile.
6. Day 6. If you are keeping a weekly check-in, put it in the calendar now.
7. Day 7. Notice how the week felt. Write one line about it.