All those bells, notifications, likes, comments, and follower counts can cause everything from annoyance to stress to FOMO to full-blown social media addiction. 

It’s addictive, it’s unhealthy, and it can cause loneliness, depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, and can even lower your self esteem.

Many studies have shown that limiting social media decreases these negative feelings.

So, if you find yourself getting annoyed, burned out, or bummed out by social media - well the fix is so easy.

Because you can just quit.

Just because it’s expected, or everyone does it, that doesn’t mean that you have to do it, too.

Do what makes you happy.

Social media can use a lot of emotional labor.

It forces you to post new things, stay updated on things, read things, like or comment or subscribe to things, and all the obligations can be tedious and overwhelming.

It’s a never-ending to-do list.

I turned off commenting on this website so that people wouldn’t feel obligated to participate and I feel the same way about social media.

Sometimes it’s just too involved.

And we don’t need validation from others to be happy.

I think we can all take a step back from the constant contact and relax a bit more.

Constantly checking social media feeds can be an enormous waste of time.

Without the continual distractions bothering you all day long, you’ll have more time to do things that actually matter.

You’ll be able to do what you want to do, focus on what you’re doing, and be more productive.

You can stop staring at your phone and be mindful and present in your life.

Focus your attention on real people in your real life instead of numbers on screens.

Maybe, like me, you will find yourself wondering why you didn’t do it sooner!

• Turn off the notifications on your apps.

• Then delete the apps on your devices.

• And finally, unsubscribe or delete the accounts.

• Enjoy your free time!