Being intentional with social media and screen usage is getting harder and harder nowadays, especially when everything is going digital. As a blogger and online marketer, my time spent on the phone has increased drastically over the last few years.

Although the power of the internet has brought me many opportunities, there were still times when I felt overwhelmed and negative from being online so much.

A year ago, my habits with social media became so toxic, I decided to take a break for 3 months and deactivated from all my social accounts. I learned a lot from that experience.

Since then, I’m so much more intentional with my habits now. Of course, I’m not saying I have everything in control 100% of the time, but it was definitely a big improvement from before.

These are 5 tools/ apps that have helped me to be more intentional with my time looking at the screen and being on social media:

1. Space (IOS and Android App)

SPACE is a mobile app designed to help you break your phone addiction and find screen time balance. I love how it tracks my phone usage in detail including my screen time, time spent on each app, how many times I unlocked my phone, and sends reminders when I’m using the phone for too long. I can also block off notifications after a certain time too. The PRO version has more customization, but I find the free version very enough already.

> RELATED: How to Be More Mindful on Social Media

2. Forest (IOS, Android, Chrome Extension)

The Forest app allows me to set a timer on my screen to focus and not get distracted by my phone. While the timer is running, you can’t move away from the screen that’s planting the tree – or your tree will die! I really hate to kill plants haha so I’m super diligent when the timer is on and I get to see the forest I’ve built after. If you’re a plant lover like me this (fun) app is for you!

3. Toggl (Desktop)

Toggl is a FREE time tracking software for your desktop. I use it to track my time doing different tasks in front of the computer. The fact that I am timing myself as I work gave me so much motivation to be as efficient and productive as possible. This is also a great tool to track your hours if you’re working from home. It also comes with a chrome extension. Highly recommend!

4. News Feed Eradicator for Facebook (Chrome Extension)

I try to avoid getting distracted on social media as much as possible. I’m so glad I found News Feed Eradicator, which is a Google plugin to get rid of my news feed on Facebook. This plugin has honestly made me SO MUCH more intentional on Facebook because I only search and look for what I’d want to see.

5. Remove Recommendations Youtube VK Facebook (Chrome Extension)

For Youtube, I use this Google plugin to remove recommendations. Again, I only want to see the videos I was looking for, and not get distracted by other things.

> RELATED: How to be more Mindful on Social media

Thoughts on Self-Discipline and Social Media Restrictions…

These tools I recommended are all about time management, avoiding distractions, and self-discipline. I understand how hard it can be in the beginning to try to be disciplined and restrict your actions, because you were wired to respond a certain way for so long.

Besides using these tools, shifting your mindset on how you look at restrictions is also very important.

If you try to restrict yourself out of a place of hate (ex. hating yourself, hating social media, etc), it will be harder to change your habits.

However, if you know you need to have a better relationship with social media because it makes you a better individual and you see this disciplined practice from a loving perspective, naturally it’ll be easier to develop this habit.

For more reference, I want to share a recent podcast episode about Restriction Love that I heard from Brooke Castillo’s Life Coach School Podcast. It’s an amazing one and I’m sure you’ll love it.

Cheers,

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Do you have any other tools you use to manage your relationship with social media?

Shirley Huang is a Certified Life Coach, Podcast Host, and online educator. She provides weekly resources to help people become leaders in their life, while loving themselves and having fun a long the way. Check out her Life Coaching Programs here.