Social Media Is Killing Your Productivity and Maybe Even Your Mental Health.

Time, the thing we never seem to have enough of. Once it’s lost, it’s never found again.

Yet many people can admit to themselves there are a few activities that take up more of their time than they’d like to admit.

One of the biggest culprits? Mindlessly scrolling through social media. Sometimes we need something to pass a few minutes, but other times we check the clock and we’ve been watching TikToks for the last hour.

Scientists have been speculating that there is a correlation between increased social media use and increased mental health issues such as anxiety and depression for a while, but the past few years have given us concrete evidence that the connection does exist.

A study conducted with undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania showed that those who limited their time on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to 10 minutes per platform, per day, demonstrated a significant reduction in loneliness and depression compared to the control group.

This doesn't mean that we should delete our accounts, but we should be more mindful of how we use them. Reducing the amount of time we spend on these accounts reduces the amount of time we’re spent comparing our lives to others. This allows us to focus on things that matter in our own lives.

Here are some alternative ideas for things to do when you would otherwise start scrolling to help contribute to your mental wellbeing and be present in your own life:

• Check out the things you’re usually too busy for. Keep a few webpages bookmarked on your phone of research, blogs or other content you enjoy. This is the perfect time to catch up on things that you may not “typically” have the time to sit down and enjoy reading. Open these up when the time strikes to stimulate your brain and pass the time.

• Read a book. The Kindle app is free for phones, and ebooks off of amazon are affordable. Keep one on your phone to pull up.

• Listen to a Podcast. Even if you don’t have the time during a commute or other opportunities to listen to podcasts regularly, find one or two you think you might enjoy (ask some friends for some recommendations based on your interests perhaps). Most of us have headphones on us nowadays, so why not?

• Get Organized. Take this time to organize the rest of your day or the next day. Perhaps try to find some time in your calendar to schedule some self-care and book it in.

• Message a friend. Shoot a message to a friend you’ve meant to check in with for a while. Or better yet, send some dates and times you’re available to make plans with the person you last told “We should meet up for coffee sometime!” but never managed to get around to the planning part (unless, of course, you didn’t want to make plans with them, in which case, why did you even say that?)

• Enjoy the opportunity to do nothing. Take this as an opportunity to practice giving yourself grace just to relax. You’re in this line/situation either way, so why not make the most of it and try to meditate and turn off your brain for a few minutes?

Copy this list (or add other ideas you have) on your phone, so you remember them and can pick and choose what you want to do next time you find yourself with some unexpected extra time. Doing so may help to turn a potentially stressful situation into a positive one.

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Hunt, M. G., Marx, R., Lipson, C., & Young, J. (2018). No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media

Decreases Loneliness and Depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 37(10), 751-768. doi:10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751