
Is social media having a negative impact on your mental health? We hear you and are sharing some different strategies to curb the FOMO
Living in a digital age can be great for so many reasons. There are a number of dating apps to help us find love (or lust), Hong Kong apps make navigating the city way easier, and we obsessively follow these vegan chefs on YouTube. That being said though, screen time, and social media in particular, can all become a bit overwhelming. With many of us on the team here at Honeycombers having fallen victim to excess phone usage, we discussed some ways in which we stop social media from having a negative impact on our mental health. We hope they help.
1. Monitor your screen time
Statistics from various resources across the globe say that most of us spend about three hours per day on our phones. Those who are heavy users can find themselves on their device for over five hours per day; now that’s a lot of screen time!
It may sound like a bit of an oxymoron, but there are actually apps that can help you with your app usage. If you want to get your screen time down, then consider installing apps such as Freedom or In Moment that will let you set hours that you can’t access certain apps and set limits on your social media usage.
2. Take apps off your phone
This can be a bit tricky, especially when many of us use social media for work on our phones, but if you can, remove social media platforms from your device completely. If you only have access to these services on your laptop, then you’re less likely to be checking them all day, and your day will start being a lot more constructive.
Absolutely can’t get rid of them off your phone? Consider moving Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tik Tok to a screen beyond the home screen so that you aren’t as tempted to look at them every time you use your phone.
3. Turn off notifications on your phone

Is there anything more annoying than notifications on your phone (besides these annoying social media habits)?
Turn. Those. Suckers. Off!
Honestly, do you need to know the minute that cousin George comments “nice” on your latest picture? You won’t miss any notifications, as the apps still let you know about them whenever you open them, but at least you won’t be inundated with excess information all day.
4. Snooze accounts on Facebook
We are BIG fans of the ‘snooze’ tool on Facebook. Basically, you can choose to snooze an account for 30 days so that you stop seeing the posts altogether. Then, after the 30 days, the posts will start showing up in your feed again.
To snooze an account, just go to the ellipsis on the top right corner of the post and navigate down to the ‘snooze’ option. If the posts come back after 30 days and they are still stressing you out or annoying you, then think about unfollowing the account completely.
5. Unfollow accounts that don’t bring you joy
Don’t be afraid to go full Marie Kondo on social media’s ass. If an ex is posting pics with their new love and you can’t bear to see it, just unfollow the account. If a news outlet is flooding you with depressing stories, hit that unfollow button. It’s a good idea to go through the accounts you follow at least once a year, and unfollow any that you don’t love hearing from.
Many of us worry about offending people by unfollowing them, but if your life will be easier without their social media spam, then you’ve got to be good to yourself. They probably won’t even notice!
6. Remove phones (and other devices) from the bedroom

A wise counsellor once told me that bedrooms should only be for sleep and sex. And this was pre social media boom! One sure-fire way to stop yourself from incessant scrolling is to keep your phone outside the bedroom. A good trick is to invest in an old-school alarm clock, and then your phone won’t be the first thing you wake up to every morning.
7. Don’t be scared to have a detox period
Tired of always feeling the FOMO? Delete all your apps from your phone and log-out of them on your other devices. You might want to let people that you interact with regularly about what you are doing so they know how to contact you and to also help hold you accountable to your detox.
Get into a good book, TV series or podcast, and try to forget about what’s going on on FB and IG. Truth be told, you’re probably only missing out on a few inspirational quotes and some pics of the kids of a friend you went to primary school with.