Steps to limit the time you spend on social media apps like Facebook

Endless scrolling every morning. Hours wasted on TikTok after work. What’s the best way to develop better habits around your phone?

Digital wellness has been a huge concern recently. Apple and Android devices claim to prioritize the mental health of their users. One of my favorite ways to maximize productivity is to use features that limit the time you spend on entertainment platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and more.

Here’s how to hide your toxic social media addiction.

Using Screen Time on iOS

Screen Time is one of the best digital wellness tools available to you. It allows you to manage your time on your phone, block certain apps and prevent you from scrolling through the most addictive news feeds for too long.

Before you begin, you’ll need to enable Screen Time on your device:

1. Under SettingsTap the Screen time.
2. Select it Turn on Screen Timeafter Continue.

If it’s your phone, select This is my iPhone. The other option allows you to set screen time for a child or family member. You can now change your Screen Time settings in the Settings app under the Screen Time heading.

In this section, you can limit everything from the amount of time you can spend on certain apps per day to preventing certain contacts from contacting you if you’re allowed.

Turn it on Share across devices you can sync these changes to any device you’re signed in to iCloud on. It’s the easiest way to stick to your digital wellness goals while letting you have fun in moderation.

Here’s how to set app time limits on iPhone:

• Go Settings > Screen Time and turn it on Screen time.
• Tap the App Limits > Add Limit.
• From here, you can select as many app categories as you want, or get them all at once by selecting All apps and categories.
• To select individual apps, tap a category to view all apps in that category, then select the apps you want to restrict.
• Tap the Following and set the time limit. You can set a duration for each day by touching the button Customize the days.
• Tap the Addition when you’re done.

Set time limits for Android apps

Android has a feature called Digital Wellbeing that provides screen time information. Here’s how to set it up. NOTE: Some of the steps only work on Android 10 and above.

To find Digital Wellbeing as an app, open it in the Settings app and turn it on Show icon in application list. The first time you open Digital Wellbeing, you need to set up your profile.

• Open your phone’s Settings app.
• Tap the Digital well-being and parental control.
• Under Digital Wellbeing Tools, tap Show your details.

Use the Digital Wellbeing app for Android to set timers and schedule changes to your display. You can limit the time you spend on certain apps, including social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. You can set it as follows:

• Open your phone Settings approx.
• Tap the Digital well-being and parental control.
• Touch the chart.
• Tap next to the app you want to restrict Set the timer.
• Choose how much time you can spend with that app. Then tap it Stock.

You can also mute notifications for individual apps. This will help you avoid triggers that make you want to log in to social media sites. To mute apps:

• Open your phone Settings approx.
• Tap the Notifications > Application settings.
• Under Latest, find apps that have recently sent you a notification. Tap the All applications to see more.
• Tap the app you want to mute.
• Turn app notifications on or off.

Finding the right life balance with technology can be tricky. It’s best to set boundaries that are better for your health and well-being.