Deleting social media off my phone has been the best decision for writing

I believe Thomas and Jonathan had a segment on one of their Author Updates about how social media was damaging our ability to work well after even 10 min of doom scrolling. I saw another YouTuber who said our ability to concentrate has moved from 2min 30 seconds when computers first got popular to now just 45 seconds before switching tabs. I also realized it was damaging my ability to read novels as well. I’d find myself switching off the kindle app to check things and never feeling fully engaged in a story I was reading, much less writing.

So i took the plunge and deleted social media off of my cell phone. I kept YouTube because I love the long form but i turned off the ability to scroll on their shorts (it’s a setting you can toggle off easily so you can only view A short but not scroll). I will admit that the first 3 days were the hardest. I felt higher anxiety at NOT having the ability to doomscroll and see what people had posted/news. I kept picking up my phone and running through my apps looking for it. But every time I caught myself I would pick up a physical book, or a project that needed to be worked on (even laundry and mowing). the sense of satisfaction of competing some of those tasks that I’d been stuck in “i need to do but i don’t want to do” was so potent. And that anxiety and need to look at my phone faded. It’s not fully gone yet but vastly diminished!

It’s been about 2 weeks now I think. I was working nights when I started this so I may be a bit skewed on how long it’s been, but it has been the single best thing I’ve done for my creativity. The ability to be bored has come roaring back, and with it, my ability to think through things that i was stuck on has been revived. I’m now more productive in my work life as well. And my creativity has hit skyrocketed.

Just today I found myself having to sit in a vet clinic that got hit with an emergency right before my appointment so I had to sit and wait for my vet to be done. I wound up waiting about an hour and a half. For at least 45 minuets i just let myself be bored. Literally just stared at the wall and sat in my thoughts and my feelings at the time

Well wouldn’t you know it. A “block” I’ve been having on a story just lifted and I was able to get the next few chapters planned out. My fingers were itching to get to the keyboard as soon as I got home. I wrote more today in a single sitting then i have in months. Even non writing tasks have gotten easier. My productivity and enjoyment in everyday life has quadrupled. I know it will eventually level out as I get used to my own thoughts and feelings again but wow.

I don’t know why I’m surprised by how much more productive i am without the engineered emotional bombardment of “shorts and reels” but man am I. I do still access my social media but I do it only on my IPad or desktop and only for my work. I still have timers on the App in case I get sucked into scrolling BUT the desktop versions of social media’s are not near as easy nor engaging to use so it’s MUCH easier for me to break away from them.

For those that may be struggling with emotional regulation, burn out, writers block and find yourself doom scrolling for possibly hours on end. Let your dopamine receptors reset and delete those social media’s off your phone!