I use the internet, social media, and my devices every day, entirely too much.

That’s a statement I had to say out loud to myself before I could begin any sense of healing and spend less time with screens. The irony that you are reading this on a screen and I had to type it is not lost, but bear with me.

I have a lot of anxiety, usually daily. And like most people, I spend an absurd amount of time during my days and nights with a smartphone in my hand. I’m on Reddit, or You Tube. I’m looking a news, looking at the constant feeds of the same information from different sources, and the reactions.

The constant barrage of information and opinions, both good and bad, are not the best for my mental health. To look at multiple subs and read basically the same comments over and over did nothing but make me feel more anxious and upset each day.

So why do we continue these behaviors?

Social media is designed to be addictive…

That’s really no secret. All social media platforms and websites need to keep your eyes and actions glued to the screen, to keep “rewarding you” with useless likes, emojis and notifications.

Every social platform has some form of the endless scroll. Content is no longer curated or presented to you by what you’re actually following or interested in. Algorithms try to predict what you want to see based on what they know already.

It’s been famously said that social media platforms (and the most used form of delivery, the smartphone) are like casino slot machines. Each time you log on, the content is a bit random … or is it?

The content you see is based on what the system thinks you want to see. It’s absolutely designed to feed you advertising and services relevant to your interests whether you actually are or not.

Platforms use notifications to keep you hooked and returning. The promise of a Facebook like on the photo you just posted, comments or reactions to the meme you replied to on Reddit- it’s all designed to “reward” you with the hope that other humans like what you’ve shared.

And if you post and you get no feedback, how does that make you feel? Upset, most likely. It’s part of our human connection to seek approval from others and feel as though we do the same for others. Social media takes this to an extreme and presents an overloaded world with more choices than any single person should endure in a day.

My journey to digital minimalism

I’m already mostly minimal in my life.

Once I got to the point I felt comfortable with what I had, I began to realize that I still wasn’t happy. And that inspired my No Buy year (which I have failed, and will update in another post), and also inspired me to start paring down my digital life.

I would consider myself a light social user, but even so I probably spent an average of 30-45 minutes a day on Facebook.

I spent probably an hour or more on Reddit. An hour on YouTube.

That’s roughly three hours each day of my life, and that doesn’t include the two hours (likely more) that I spent watching TV or a movie. Add that up and it’s an absurd amount of time each year doing nothing of value.

So as of now, I am embarking on a path of digital minimalism. My goal is not to become a Luddite and stop using tech and socials- no, I am evaluating my time spent with them.

I don’t need to waste my time on actions that provide no value. I want to regain time with my own thoughts that aren’t directing me to look at a screen.

Most of all, I want to see what I do with the time I gain back in my life.