The new year is here and resolutions for the new year are being made. Many must have decided to quit or limit their social media time. During the new year holidays trying to change this Social Media Addiction will be a good choice. As everybody will busy celebrating their holidays. Some must be traveling with their loved ones, friends or families; so giving their companions more time than their their devices will be a good exercise of implementing the new resolution. Getting rid of any habit in a jiffy is not possible nor does it bear good fruits in the long run. In a slow and steady pace, by changing small things, making small changes in he routine will have a better long lasting result. Below we have a list of few changes that can help changing habits for better. Never make very firm or Strict Resolutions. Deleting all social media accounts is not a clever step. It will work for may be a week or at the max 2 weeks. By the next month all the deleted accounts and their respective apps will be restored on the device. Like when we are going on diet, if we strictly cutoff or favorite foods, it works and we get results too but they are all short-lived. Rather it will be better if we divide our free leisure time mindfully. We should understand the intent behind the change of our habit. We should make it a habit of giving our other engagements full and focused time. No distractions by the social media when with our family, friends or loved ones. Making a rule of not using our smart device after a specific time will be better than stopping it altogether. When dinning-out or hanging-out with friend, family or loved ones, always keep your smart-device out of sight or on airplane mode. According to research by doing so you will be more likely to be more focused and engage properly with those around you when the device is not showing continuous notifications. With the implementation of new habit, one should always review their feelings. How they felt when they limited their social media time? How did their friends and family or loved one react to this new habit? Such reviews always boast one’s determination in keeping the new habit. When it is the “social media” use time, always try to be an active user rather than a passive user. Do not just go through others media and postings, like a secret viewer. Always interact, respond to posts or video. Share your understanding and intellect on these mediums. Research shows that just using social media passively is more harmful to your mental health. If one does not like to respond to the videos or posts, one should try to engage actively with content occasionally if not always. In short the time spent on social media should not only be of viewing but must be interactive and with the interaction something fruitful will always be gained. A very important step that should be practiced is the content of friends or acquaintances on the social media that impacts us negatively, like leaves us angry or frustrated or depressed, should be unfollowed or defriended. Or settings changed so that their content is not visible to you. Also Read: Is Instagram and Other Social Medias Platforms a Curse or Blessing?
