I’m seeing more and more Gen-Zs and Millennials logging off Instagram and Snapchat, and leaving their phones behind on a night-out or day-trip. So, what’s happening to our generations when it comes to social media?

If you’re surprised by this, well, me too. As someone who works in social media, the thought of doing any of that scares the shit out of me – and, well, I can’t exactly do any of it either. We all say that Gen-Z and Gen-X are obsessed with Instagram and Snapchat, and that Millennials are glued to Twitter (now X) and FaceBook. Don’t even get me started about the new generation of “iPad kids!” The truth is, though, as these generations are getting a little older, and their brains are developing, they’re seeing the addiction and obsession with social media and streaming services, and saying no to the trend.

I’m guessing you reading this translates to you wanting to have a bit more time away from the unrealistic and fake world of social media, so let’s get into how we can do this (in the right way).

Limit screen time

I don’t mean just for social media apps, but for everything. The act of doomscrolling often pops up at night-time, when we’re sat in bed mindlessly surfing the internet or Instagram. So, by limiting screen-time for our phones in general, ie turning off your phone at 10pm, it stops the urge to flick through X or YouTube – and we all know what a YouTube rabbit hole at 1am looks like!

Find your news sources elsewhere

More and more of us are getting our news updates from Snapchat, Instagram (LadBible is a huge network now) or TikTok. And, a lot of the time, this can be fake news. Platforms like Meta are pretty good at filtering out all the false news stories, but it’s never 100% accurate. Tip one is to make sure you’re getting your news updates from various sources (even if you read or watch the news not online – use more than one source to garner opinions and facts!). Tip two is to simply stop getting news from social media! Your opinion can be heavily altered by the comments you read, or how the information is portrayed, so switch to the News App on your phone, or watch the morning news on a TV.

Use WhatsApp for direct messaging

My friendship group is slowly all logging off Snapchat and Instagram – and it’s weird as since we were 12, these were our ways of maintaining communication in Snap groups or Instagram DMs. Now WhatsApp is a favoured way of this, especially now that we’re older and we don’t have the time to be commenting on things in the group chat all the time (and we don’t have the same amount of gossip anymore – life has become pretty boring if I’m honest). Snapchat is a dying platform, in my opinion, other than Gen-X and the other upcoming generations. It’s a childish platform – like, who wants to send pictures back in forth to other to retain a “streak”?! Remember when we’d give our login details to a friend when we were somewhere without wifi for a week… It was painful back then and even more painful now to think about!

Migrate to WhatsApp or iMessage for main comms. It’ll make your life so much easier and you’ll see your screen time on socials significantly reduce.

Turn off notifications

Or put your phone in do-not-disturb. Either way, this will be good to stop the scrolling! Enough said.

Get a second phone

As I’ve mentioned, if you’re in the world of social media marketing (and I know that there’s a few of you reading this that are), get a second phone. Yes, a lot of you might not be able to do that so easily, but a spare old phone might just do the trick. I set one up a few days ago, which I’ll now be using as my work phone. This second phone has my social media apps, blog apps and podcasting tools, whereas my personal phone just has WhatsApp, shopping apps, and things I use on a daily basis not connected to work. This way, when I’m out and about, or with friends, or doing something where I really don’t want to be online, it’s a lot easier. There’s nothing worse than being out for lunch with a friend whom you’ve not seen in months, and just sitting on your phone trying to find the next trend!

Create a social-media-free space

This sounds like a silly one, but it can help. Designate areas in your home, like your bedroom or dining table, as no-phone zones. Even if you have notifications turned off. Leave your phone in your office or even in a bedside table. Doing this will help you get out of the habit of mindless scrolling, and your mood will increase because of it.

Engage in DIY hobbies

I feel like a lot of us use our spare time to scroll, or watch YouTube – basically stay on screens all day long. When 80% of jobs now require you to sit and stare at a screen, it’s crucial that we use our remaining time in the day to do something “in real life”. I’m being a hypocrite here, as my spare time includes blogging, social media management, or shopping. Nonetheless, the time I do have away from my phone, I make sure to use it. Simple things like reading (not on a Kindle!), home DIY projects, outdoor sports, painting, cleaning… anything like this that’s on a screen is very much welcome.

---

At the end of the day, it is pretty hard to sign out of all social media apps and not get FOMO. I’m saying you have to. Instead, be a little more mindful of how much time you’re spending online, and bring it way back down. Get in touch with yourself, your opinions, and your way of living. Ensure you’re spending time with others in real life, and getting outside too.

Trust me, you’re not missing out if you start to spend less time on socials… there’s so much crap on there that it will actually do quite the opposite!