Unless you’re an influencer or responsible for updating your employer’s social media platforms, succumbing to a social media addiction won’t pay the bills.
If you’ve worked hard to cultivate your professional persona IRL, the last thing you want is for your boss to catch you checking Facebook or posting to Snapchat. Even if you’re not caught red-handed, spending too much time on social media during work hours is going to have a negative effect on your productivity.
If you find yourself constantly scrolling and swiping, it’s time to focus on the job at hand. Here are four ways you can avoid social media distractions while you’re at work.
1. Turn Off Alerts
It’s tough to resist the pull of social media when your device dings or buzzes every time someone posts or messages you. If you have your smartphone set up for alerts, it’s time to toggle off notifications so you aren’t constantly distracted by signals.
Chances are you’ll find you won’t miss the stream alerts filling your lockscreen after they no longer exist. However, if you feel removing alerts is going to make you want to reach for your phone even more, keep reading please.
2. Set a Schedule for Checking Social Media
FOMO is a strong motivation, and it can often make you feel compelled to check your feeds every five minutes. This is not a recipe for completing your real work in a smart manner. The solution is to provide yourself social media moments with a set schedule.
Breaks are a necessary part of any workday to reboot your brain and improve overall efficiency. Use your break time to scroll through your feeds if you can’t wait to the end of the day to catch up on what you’ve been missing.
Want to Be Happier? Stop Checking Social Media at Work.
3. Use an App to Keep You in Check
Apps for controlling your social media engagement have become essential downloads. If you’re using your phone too much, Sense allows you to set daily limits on yourself and be notified when you go over. Offtime provides analytics of your phone usage and enhances your self-control by setting hurdles, reminders or restricting access to any apps you find distracting. Freedom lets you block time-wasting apps or even the whole internet if you need to.
4. Turn Off Your Phone
If all else fails, simply power down your device for a set number of hours. The hassle of powering back on should be enough to stop you from doing it every few minutes, so you can focus on work for a solid chunk of time.
According to a recent report in Social Media Today, the average person will spend nearly two hours on social media every day, which translates to a total of five years and four months spent over a lifetime. Cutting back on distractions at work won’t just prevent you from getting into trouble with your boss, it could give you back valuable time you didn’t even realize you were missing.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”The average person will spend a total of five years and four months on social media during their lifetime. Cutting back on distractions at work could give you back valuable time you didn’t even realize you were missing.” quote=”The average person will spend a total of five years and four months on social media during their lifetime. Cutting back on distractions at work could give you back valuable time you didn’t even realize you were missing.”]
Tell Us What You Think
How do you manage social media distractions during your workday? We want to hear from you. Share your story in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter.
Octavia Goredema is a career coach and the founder of Twenty Ten Talent. Find her on LinkedIn and on Twitter at @OctaviaGoredema.
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