Don’t we all agree that we check our phones in the morning right after we wake up or instinctively amidst work when stress levels increase?
Yes, when we surf social media in the morning, we open ourselves to insignificant things, like the latest news, an advertisement to buy a refrigerator or a stranger’s happy announcement.
According to a study by IDC, the premier global market intelligence firm, about 80 percent of smartphone users check their mobile phones within 15 minutes of waking up every morning.
A World of Work Report states that around 32% of the total time spent on social media during working hours is used for personal work, indicating a huge loss of official resources and productivity. Published in the Economic times
Let us dig deeper into the impacts of social media in the mornings. Let’s learn how to start our own ‘no social media mornings’.
So why do we use Social Media in the Morning
Knowing why we use social media in the morning or during work hours will solve half of the issue. Some of the main reasons are stated below:
- Dopamine
We check our phones right after we wake up to swamp our brains with Dopamine. It is a happy hormone released in the human body and gives us temporary happiness for a short duration.
- High Stress levels
Whenever there is a red alert in our brain saying stress levels are high, we jump into an endless nefarious cycle of scrolling through social media applications to distract ourselves.
- Habit
Checking social media has become a habit. We can’t imagine not scrolling through social media most of the time. In fact, many of us start quite early in the morning, as soon as we wake up. We post every detail about our lives. We reach for our phones during family time, personal time, and even during meetings at the office.
Impact of Social Media in the Morning
There are many impacts of using social media in the mornings and also during our working hours:
- Procrastination and passive life
- Distraction and task switching
- Low Productivity and low creativity levels
What begins as a quick check will end up swallowing the biggest chunk of our productive time. Checking the phone in the mornings will mean you will end up procrastinating on all the tasks on your to-do list. At the end of the day, you will have an unchecked to-do list. All you will end up doing is sabotage your life.
Due to high-stress levels in the brain or due to the pop-up notification, we end up checking social media in the middle of work. This leads to a trap of endless scrolling, and it will swallow 15 to 20 minutes of your working hours. The constant switching from work to social media means constant distraction. This will not allow you to concentrate on work. This means the quality of your work and productivity will go down.
In the long haul, it also decreases your creativity, leading to fatigue.
How to Start your own no Social Media Morning
Mornings are meant to get up refreshed and ready to start on a new day. It is the time when many people relax with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. It is also the time that many industry leaders set the ground for a productive day at work. It is the time when you jot down ideas, check your mail, make your lists, etc.
If social media consumes that precious time, it will lead to the non-utilization of our creativity.
So what can replace social media scrolling in this newfound time? You can utilize this time by making a few lifestyle changes like:
- Meditating
- Relaxing with family
- Catching up with news and world events
- Journaling
- Exercising, running, etc.
How to replace your media activities with other things
We cannot start this challenge with the vague aim of not checking social media. After all, it is difficult to break away from a habit. Here are three ideas that can help.
Limit your time on social media
Limit your time on social media. Make specific plans:
- When will you check your social media during the day?
- How long will this commitment last? Is it for a week, a month, or a year?
- What will you check? List out the specific apps you won’t check, and be crystal clear about this. For example, checking email will not count as a social media application.
Raise the stakes with an accountability partner
Some of us will never stick to these rules unless we’re accountable to someone. You can make a family member or a close friend accountable for your actions. We can also specify a fine if the rule is broken.
Set up supportive circumstances
Set up supportive circumstances to achieve this. Make sure to mute all the notifications at night and specifically mute the app notifications that seem irrelevant now.
Breaking away from social media is difficult, but it is not impossible.
Follow these simple steps and gain valuable time in your everyday life, little by little. You will see a huge difference in health, creativity, and efficiency at home and work.
