If Social Media Is Not Helping, Take It Off Your Phone

A social media app can be a tool or a distraction. In January 2022, I answered a question about losing time on social media with a practical rule: I kept it on my phone only while it was helping me make money. If it stopped doing that, I would remove it. That gave me a direct way to decide whether the app deserved my attention.

Give the app a job

A goal makes it easier to judge whether an activity belongs in my day. If I am learning something or putting knowledge into practice, that time may support the goal I chose. If I am scrolling without a reason and getting pulled away from it, I am spending attention without moving the work forward.

That does not mean every minute has to be productive. It means I should be honest about whether a tool is doing what I want it to do. An app can be useful for a chosen goal and still become a distraction when I use it without purpose.

Change the setup when the habit is not working

I do not need a complicated system to make this decision. If social media is not serving a purpose, I can take it off my phone. The decision is whether I need that tool for the goal I am working on.

If the answer is yes, I can use it for that purpose. If the answer is no, I can give my attention to the next useful step instead. The point is not to treat social media as always good or always bad. I want it to earn its place in how I spend my time.

In my article about focusing on one or two things at a time, I explain how choosing a small number of priorities helps me decide where my effort belongs. Here, I apply that same question to one specific tool: is it helping with the goal I chose?