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9 Ways to Overcome Facebook Addiction

9 Ways to Overcome Facebook Addiction

Written by Anthony Ongaro

On a day like any other, I was standing at my desk working on a blog post while trying to come up with the appropriate words to write. Frustrated at my lack of progress, I turned, looked out the window for a moment then looked back to my screen.

My blog post had disappeared, but the infamous blue and white website we all know so well had replaced it.

Later that afternoon while working on another written piece, a co-worker walked into my office and interrupted me mid-sentence. After a quick conversation, I looked back at my Word document and found a sentence that looked approximately like this:

The efficiencies of quantum mechanics determine that sevfacebook

While that sentence is 100% fabricated, the example of what happened to the end of it is 100% true. For the second time that day, I had subconsciously typed the word “facebook” without realizing it, and it scared the crap out of me. I knew it was time for a change.

9 Ways to Overcome Facebook Addiction // What was once a fun way to connect with friends and family has become a vacuum of time and attention. Use these strategies to overcome Facebook addiction. // breakthetwitch.com

What started out as a simple way to connect with college classmates has become an all encompassing communication hub where we get our news, updates on family members while spending a heck of a lot of our time.

The average user now spends about 50 minutes per day on Facebook.

I’d venture to guess that the 50 minutes aren’t in a solid block either, occurring in small 2-3 minute chunks as notifications come in throughout the day.

These bursts create small interruptions, pulling us away from what we may be doing, eating, working on, or creating. It’s no accident that Facebook brings us back as frequently as possible. For the company, our attention equals dollars.

Like any habit loop, Facebook is designed to work its way into our brain as a trigger-habit-reward cycle that is incredibly difficult to break. At the surface, Facebook is a tool—not inherently good or bad—but its impact on our lives is determined by how we use it.

Imagine picking up a hammer 35 times per day and using it wherever you happen to be. When you need to drive in a nail, picking up a hammer makes a lot of sense. Otherwise, it would seem quite ridiculous.

Facebook is the hammer and connecting with friends and family is the nail. Everything else gets diminished by the hammer— our personal lives, intentions, and meaningful connections to the world.

If you feel like you’re losing the battle against the Facebook addiction twitch, there is help.

These suggestions are ordered from least extreme to most, allowing you to choose the options that are right for you.

Log out of the website. Make it so that you have to manually log in every time you want to use Facebook. Doing this will give you a few seconds to decide if you actually need to log on, creating intentional friction in the process. This strategy works best when on the computer, but can also work if you don’t use the Facebook app on your phone.

Temporarily block the site. By using a productivity browser extension like Strict Workflow, you can hit a button that will block any websites you don’t want to visit for a specific duration of time. Once break time comes around, it will allow you to go to the sites of your choosing. Click the button again, and the sites will be blocked while you focus. These blockers help reduce the number of times you may bounce to Facebook during a focus period.

Turn off all app notifications. It’s best when you intentionally decide to check Facebook, without hearing an alert that triggers your attention. Reduce distractions and the urge to check and scroll by turning off all notifications in the app.

Delete the app. While you can still use your mobile browser to check Facebook, doing this significantly reduces the notifications and helps break the twitch of being able to check the site so quickly. The app is made to be as low friction as possible and deleting it will help you avoid using Facebook when it’s less appropriate. Even more powerful is if you use the first tip and log out of the site, forcing yourself to log in on your phone.

Kill the newsfeed algorithm. If you’re habitually checking Facebook, one way to reduce the desire to do so is to have no new content come up when you do. You can use a browser extension called FB Purity to automatically reorder the newsfeed into chronological order. That way, Facebook won’t show you new content every time you open the site, and it will be much less interesting when you do visit and scroll.

Block the newsfeed completely. Using the same FB Purity app, you can select an option to delete the newsfeed all together. It will show up as a blank space in the middle of your screen and won’t entice you to scroll down if you need to log on to Facebook to post something or check on one of your business pages. You can take care of whatever you might need to for work and then be done with it.

Deactivate your account. Unfortunately, Facebook has made it ridiculously easy to reactivate your account… all you have to do is just log in again. But, the best way to break a habit cycle is to detox and rewire your brain from that habit. I’ve found that it takes at least five to seven days to break the initial ‘twitch’ habit cycle, so commit to at least that. Deactivate your account and log back in when you’re ready.

Delete your account. You have to dig around in your Facebook settings to find this option—but if you feel that Facebook isn’t benefiting you in meaningful ways, just get rid of it. If you want to keep your content, you can download your entire Facebook history in one small zip file and backup everything you’ve ever posted. To continuing sharing with others, you can start a blog where people can find you with a quick Google search and where you can share your life updates and learnings.

Throw your phone and computer into a ravine. If all else fails, find a property on which to homestead, grow your own food, and throw your electronic devices into the fire river of Mordor. There are fewer things better than some quality time in nature to help beat an addiction, and perhaps we need to take some extreme measures to ensure our own progress.

Facebook is a tool that just like any other, should benefit us when we use it. If you feel like it’s controlling your life a little more than it should, take steps to get it back to sanity. When used intentionally, it’s a valuable resource that allows you to connect in meaningful ways.


Interested in learning more? Check out what it was like for me to deactivate my Facebook account for 60 days, and my friend’s experience taking a social media sabbatical.


 

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Anthony Ongaro

About Anthony Ongaro

Minneapolis-based writer and filmmaker exploring intentional living through minimalism, habits, and creativity.
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Comments

  1. betty bigger in michigan says

    April 13, 2018 at 1:14 pm

    I think I’d have to use the last suggestion and then check myself into a detox somewhere……but I am working on it….I did delete my old account and started bran new with my maiden name so I have less followers..just the ppl I love.

    Reply
    • Anthony Ongaro says

      April 14, 2018 at 1:03 am

      The fact that you’re aware and already working on minimizing social media is great! Thanks for reading and leaving a note!

      Reply
  2. Lenny Boniface Jubilee says

    March 6, 2017 at 9:36 am

    Nice tips. FB addiction really not good for anyone. Hope I will control my fb addiction. Thanks

    Reply
  3. marymargaretripley says

    October 18, 2016 at 6:09 pm

    One of my issues when deactivating my account was that I was the admin for multiple pages including my church’s page so eventually I had to go back on. Also I shared my blog posts on my personal as well as other FB pages I had to promote my blog. Without sharing the traffic to my blog is limited.

    Reply
  4. Cari Bentley says

    September 22, 2016 at 6:40 am

    I deactivated yesterday to the horror of my family (how will they find me, well it’s called a cell phone or email, ha ha) and my goal is to start with a full seven days, see how I feel and go from there. I was wasting so much time mindlessly scrolling through. I have found that it may be better to just subscribe to email newsletters, utilize twitter on a limited basis and get news the old-fashioned way.

    Great blog! I found you through Cait Flanders blog. 🙂

    Reply
    • Eileen says

      October 21, 2016 at 11:57 am

      I decided in Feb of 2012 to not use FB for a month. I was never really a huge user, but I could waste 10-20 mins a day on it . The political vitriol of even people I agreed with just made me sad (and I also hated any FOMO feelings I had). After 30 days of non-use I nuked it and never once felt bad about it. I recently made a new account due a friend who was in her final days of a cancer battle and I knew her husband was posting updates on FB. That’s the only “friend” I have currently (I made things as private as possible and didn’t provide any more info than req’d to start an acct).

      I’ve given some thought to staying on FB but I honestly have not felt like I’ve missed out at ALL in these 4+ years. I do feel bad that I don’t see family photos from people spread out, but I get them occasionally via text or instagram. It’s really fine.

      I’d highly recommend a break for anyone that has any negatives feelings about FB. If it makes you happy and you love, then of course keep it. If you have any trepidation, take a break!

      Reply
      • Miri says

        March 6, 2017 at 4:01 am

        I miss the days of purely texting!!

        Reply
  5. Monica says

    September 18, 2016 at 7:30 am

    I had a pretty severe case of facebook addiction. I had to admit I had a problem with it and one summer, when on holiday, I decided to take a holiday from fb also so I deactivated my account for a week. It was hard and liberating at the same time, so liberating that a few months later I did it for two weeks. Less than a year later I decided to cancel my account. First I deleted all my albums and photos, then I just cancelled the account. That was two and a half years ago. Never felt better, now I actually talk to my friends at the pub in front of a cool beer or on the phone or skype if they live far. And I found out that the world didn’t end nor my social life 🙂 I apologize if I made mistakes in writing, I’m Italian so English is not my mother tongue.

    Reply
  6. holly says

    August 31, 2016 at 3:13 pm

    We have friends in their 40’s who have never had fb accounts and they are perfectly happy. I wish I was one of those lucky people that had not opened an account in the first place. I only did it because my husband was joining and I had the classic “fear of missing out”. Dumbest move ever.

    Reply
    • Kathy Mader says

      August 31, 2016 at 8:52 pm

      Totally agree with you, Holly. I had deactivated my account and was pretty much off of Fbook for months. Then the other day for my birthday, Fbook got sneaky and announced it. My husband said, You have lots of birthday wishes on fbook. So I had to go on to reply to those. I felt the pull to come back, but I’m going to stay strong because all the bad feelings started coming back quickly. This was a helpful article, wasn’t it?

      Reply
    • Anthony Ongaro says

      September 4, 2016 at 8:46 pm

      It’s not too late to turn back! I hear you though, I have three or four friends that simply never signed up for it and they seem to be doing just fine 😉

      Reply
  7. Frugal Millennial says

    August 26, 2016 at 1:56 pm

    The Facebook addiction can get really out of control. I deleted the app from my phone, so that at least helps somewhat (although it’s still bad when I’m on a computer).

    Reply
    • Anthony Ongaro says

      September 4, 2016 at 8:50 pm

      It’s serious! Try installing one of the chrome browser extensions to help curb the bite. It gets better!

      Reply
  8. Sandy says

    August 22, 2016 at 6:10 am

    On day 7 of deactivating FB. I am feeling more peaceful and feel like I am living more mindfully. I may or may not go back , but for right now am enjoying non facebook living very much.

    Reply
    • Kathy Mader says

      August 31, 2016 at 8:54 pm

      That’s how I felt, Sandy.

      Reply
    • Anthony Ongaro says

      September 4, 2016 at 8:54 pm

      Enjoy it, embrace it, stay as long as you need. It’s practically guaranteed that it’ll be there anytime you want to go back. 🙂

      Reply
  9. ninaframbuesa says

    August 21, 2016 at 4:36 pm

    For years, I have found that keeping my friend list limited is really helpful. I clean out my friends at least once a year and check my liked pages every few years to make sure that the content I see is really what I’m interested in. As a consequence, I have a less busy news feed and spend much less time on facebook than I would if I had 300 facebook friends.

    Reply
  10. [email protected] and the Beach says

    August 21, 2016 at 10:05 am

    Thanks for the tips! I had never heard of many of them. At one point I had gotten FB under control and only checked once a day for any messages or people “getting a hold of me.” It actually made me happier because I wasn’t feeling any more FOMO (BTW I’m 45 and it seems ridiculous that I should be feeling FOMO-but I was). But then somehow I found my way back to the addiction. So I hope your tips will help!

    Reply
    • Anthony Ongaro says

      September 4, 2016 at 8:58 pm

      Thanks Tonya! FB is a helluva drug… that’s for sure. Also, FOMO does not discriminate based on age… that’s for sure.

      Reply

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