/ Turn off notifications. /
When I keep my notifications off, I have to actively open apps to check my notifications & inboxes. If they’re off, I check them less and I’m not distracted by negative thoughts or pressure about the number of unreads.

/ Use an app blocker. /
My social media apps don’t work until 9.30am when I’m up & have already forgotten about them. The craving to check my notifications is long gone. At night, I realise I don’t let myself feel tired – instead I’m continuously stimulating myself with timelines that feel like an emotional rollercoaster I never consented to, riding waves of memes between political turmoil. My apps are blocked at 10pm and I am more present with myself in the evenings.

/ Be honest with myself. /
As soon as I find myself scrolling I tell myself ‘this isn’t going to make me feel better,’ and before I tap on another link, I tell myself again, ‘this is going to make me feel worse, I know what I’m going to see and I know how it’s going to make me feel.’ I remind myself of the algorithms that will trace the tags I click on and stop myself from using the discovery page to cave myself into a hole of comparison posts.

/ State my boundaries. /
I tell others that I’m not on my socials, my notifications are off and I don’t regularly check inboxes. I don’t give an impression that I’m active all the time. I’ve turned off capabilities for others to see when I’m online, no read receipts, and there’s not an expectation that I’m available. It’s about setting boundaries for others as well as myself.

/ Unfollow. Unfollow. Unfollow. /
One of the best things I’ve done was unfollow all pages, groups & profiles and basically clear my timeline. I make sure that I’m only following people I know on a meaningful level or whose posts are giving me healing resources, a different perspective from my own or something joyous.