The mindless scroll on SM is a an anxiety inducing time drain

[LoveEatYoga]

I have a bad habit of scrolling through Facebook (mainly groups I follow re my pets and exercise rather than friend's posts) and refreshing the "active" and "I'm on" pages on Mumsnet.

I find it makes me anxious, it takes up so much time (an hour can have passed in a flash) and it is addictive.

I sometimes do it while watching TV and I'm trying to make myself stop as no good comes from it.

Anyone else trying to cut out this habit?

[nevernotstruggling]

Yep and me I need a detox

[thatonesmine]

It's now been a few weeks since I last looked at Facebook and I haven't missed it in the slightest.

[peakygal]

I got rid of Facebook at the start of June and honestly my mental health has definitely improved massively. I really surprised myself in not even missing it. I was a huge fan but got fed up of the same constant bull over and over again. I thought I'd only be off for a short time but I don't think I'll ever go back

[hilariousnamehere]

I don't do it on actual social media but MN is lethal for this :( I need to break the habit.

[PineappleUpsideDownCake]

I've spent the last 2 hours doing this...

I have hidden all my friends in fb even so its only groups. But i scroll mn/the news. I wish I could concentrate enough toxread a book.

[minipie]

me. this is why I’m not in bed, I’m such an idiot...

[Emmapeeler2]

I do this on mumsnet but not all the time. I do find random posts interesting.

FB bothered me a lot more and I have recently deleted it, not just for this reason.

[mumwhatnothing]

I have turned off my Facebook account but not fully deactivated it. It was making me so unhappy. Everything was negative and as much as I want to stay on top of it, the feminism I was involved in on Facebook was adding to my distress. Mostly I think from no one engaging with it and just calling me evil and intolerant. Added in the covidiots and the racist old cousins disguised by telling everyone that blm ✊🏿 are the really racist ones.

I also found that none of my friends or family really used fb to engage with me even though I’m on the other side of the world and my husband is deployed so I am lonely.

The time suck was terrible hours and hours seeing the same things due to fb algorithm but I found it impossible to put the phone away.

It’s been almost two months and I feel so much better mentally. Facebook was anxiety inducing and caused me no end of distress. I could never stick up for myself or beliefs because of the anxiety and literally being unable to use my brain to find the correct words or phrases. You may disagree due to this rambling post but my brain and ability to articulate me meaning has vastly improved.

[Lisa78Lemon]

Watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix ; it may just make you stop & delete accounts.

[Winecheesesleep]

Yes, I need to stop this too!

[Horehound]

Yep. This is all a complete waste if time. Brain rot, time wasting shite. I think I'll delete FB tomorrow.

[hopefulness]

Yes. I purposely took the whole of last weekend off of social media and afterwards I felt like a different person. I felt calmer and the days seemed to feel longer, I think because I just slowed down. The main plus was my anxiety really, really decreased.

I definitely want to cut down on social media/the internet but I think I need a blanket rule to stick to. I might make Sundays be a completely social-media free day every week.

[Paranoidmarvin]

I’m torn with Facebook. I use mine entirely for the time hop function. I tend to write a weekly report to myself and look forward to seeing my past photos and what I have done when they pop up. I don’t follow that many people on there and I keep my account private from everyone.

Instagram is one of the ones that get me Everytime.

I read somewhere that most people has short concentration spans nowadays due to social media. As u watch tiny clips of things and move on. This makes sense as I can no longer read a book or watch a tv program with out getting my phone out to use at the same time.

This is something I keep trying to work on though. I have cut my Instagram down to the bear min of people to follow. And I try not to go on Twitter as it just makes me cross.

I watched the social media thing on Netflix and was appalled but. It is addictive. So the habit if hard to break.

But I don’t post anything about my life other than a few bits on here at all. Mainly as I have no friends 😂

[LoveEatYoga]

I don't think I'd miss Facebook either if I deleted it. For personal reasons I barely follow anyone now and I have never been one to post about myself much.

I am a member of a few groups and I find those useful but not to the extent that I need to scroll through it so many times a day, I dread to think how many times. Last night before posting this I was on Facebook and MN for about an hour and a half then realised what time it was!

Instagram is similar but I can take or leave it due to the type of content.

Like PP, I think I need a "rule" such as to allow myself on only at certain times a day. I like the pet groups and I have a social group that I want to spend time on but maybe only X times per day.

The other thing is I do it while watching tv and then I have no idea what I watched. It's as if I can't even just sit and watch tv without looking at my phone. I stopped myself for a bit but I'm clearly back in that habit.

For me, the rule might be no SM while watching TV; it's one of the other. That would cut a lot of it out.

I've heard about The Social Dilemma but I don't have Netflix at the moment. I very recently cancelled it. Is that more about this kind of thing or the security aspects of SM?

[Horehound]

I think mobile phones these days do have rules and limits you can set. Google it. :)

[Horehound]

Digital wellbeing it's called. You can see how long you spend on your phone and on certain apps then you can choose to put a limiter on so I think it bans you from accessing the apps on the times you say.

[lazylinguist]

It's only MN that makes me do this tbh. I have Facebook and Instagram, but don't find them a fraction as addictive and time-draining as MN. I periodically go cold turkey, then allow myself back on with moderation, then the time gradually ramps up again. Repeat ad nauseam. It doesn't make me anxious etc, just wastes a lot of time!

[lazylinguist]

Oh and I don't do it while watching tv. I only watch things I actually planned to watch and want to watch. My dc do that though- it drives me nuts when they are in front of a programme or film they want to watch, but are just scrolling on their phones!

[Horehound]

Omg look at mine. Wednesday I spent 11 hours on my phone. Fucking ridiculous

[Paranoidmarvin]

They do have limits that u can add to ur phone in regarding the amount of time u can spend on there. But u can over ride it fairly quickly. I deleted Instagram and Twitter last night after reading this thread. I went through Facebook and cut out all the rubbish stuff and just left people I actually want to chat to which was a total of about eight people.

[nevernotstruggling]

I had to deactivate the screen time logging thing on my iPhone I made my anxiety worse!!

[LoveEatYoga]

Digital wellbeing sounds exactly right. It impacts how I feel generally in such a big way.

I don't know if I would set limits on my phone, it's more just what I would allow myself to do.

I've unfollowed some groups on Facebook that I can go into when I need but don't need to see update from daily or hourly.

I am definitely going to stop myself from scrolling while watching tv. If I need to check my phone for something then I will pause! Maybe also ban myself after 9 or 10PM as a few days this week I've been on my phone til midnight and it's not good for sleep.

I haven't been on insta for over a week so might try to knock that one on the head.

[Rustyspanners]

Inspired by this I've just deleted facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Can't quite bring myself to ditch MN though!

[SingToTheSky]

Glad it’s not just me who gets sucked in like that. I find I’m less able to resist when I’m already stressed and it definitely makes it worse

[SingToTheSky]

I’ve taken Facebook off my phone which helped. I put messenger back on so I’m not as isolated but actual fb is only on the iPad which is easier to not pick up