Why you need to delete all social media from your phone right now

Social media feels essential for many of us.

A bit like a married partner, it is often the first thing we see when we wake up and the last thing we see before we go to sleep.

But unlike long days with your beloved, social media really sucks for our mental health.

Whether Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, studies have consistently found that social media makes us feel awful.

Yet we do it anyway: the fleeting validation of likes, comments and someone swiping right keeps us wanting more.

It is a global addiction and we can't seem stop.

No wonder millennials check their phones more than 157 times a day, according to Facebook.

But Elizabeth Stinson did the seemingly impossible and went cold turkey for Wired.

After taking the terrifying plunge for the benefit of us all, Stinson found out something incredible, writing:

It's actually sort of working.

Slowly, and with some lapses, I've felt my compulsory need to look at social media fade. 

So if your mental health is suffering from social media - or you find it is eating away at time you should be spending on other things - consider significantly reducing it or completely giving up.

You help yourself do this by:

• Turning off your notifications 
• Limiting yourself to a set amount of time on social media 
• Making social media a treat - for example, as a reward after being productive 

HT Wired

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