How I’m Dealing With My Media Addiction
Recently, I read an article by Tony Stubblebine of Coach.Me. He referred to media addiction and I had to admit he was talking about me. The specific behavior he referred to was checking certain sites multiple times even if there was no new news to be consumed. I had to go back into my own behavior to admit I was exhibiting some of the behaviors he talked about.
Specifically, my two traps were Facebook and ESPN. There are other sites I visit sometimes. However, these two sites are the vices which distract me. I rationalized quite a bit by saying that having visibility on Facebook was crucial to my business. But, when I did a deep heart check, I had to admit that it was not. There is nothing wrong with being on Facebook, but I had gotten away from the systems I had put in place over 2 years ago.
In some of the group coaching sessions I’d led, I often spoke about the trap of relying on willpower. When we rely simply on willpower, we give in to the immediate strength or weakness of our mind. This power can change daily or hourly depending on what is happening in our life. It’s unreliable. So, instead of simply depending on mental strength, the way forward is to begin putting systems in place to re-route your efforts when you begin to fall into the trap. It’s the same concept as moving your phone or clock away from your beside your bed if you are having trouble with hitting the snooze button. Create additional steps so it’s not as easy to fall into the habit.
For me, that meant deleting the Facebook app from my phone so I would need to actually go to the browser to login. It also meant installing a Chrome extension called BlockSite on my desktop. This was a great find because I set specific times of no access and whenever I would mindlessly return to the sites of addiction, it would tell me the site was blocked and how many times I’d tried to access it.
The trouble resets, though, when circumstances change. This means you’ve always got to be on guard or simply set times for re-assessing your situation. My trouble reset began when I bought new laptop. My MacBook was getting old and I became tethered to the desk in my office. I didn’t like this too much. So, I got a MacBook Air. Although I tended to use Chrome as my main browser on my desktop, I found that Safari was faster on my laptop and took up less resources. Shocker! So, I began using Safari more. Of course, this meant my BlockSite was no longer installed as my personal guardian. So, back down the slippery path I went. I began to notice I was checking Facebook and ESPN randomly again without any preset guideline. If I wasn’t working at that moment, I was checking. This often took me into a conversation or group checking which would delay me from my next task.
This was true on my phone as well. I had deleted the ESPN app but the Facebook app was installed. However, I noticed something. I wasn’t accessing the Facebook app from the folder in which I had embedded it as much. I was accessing it from the recent apps widget.
Tony’s article made two great suggestions.
Move replacement habits on to your home screen.
In order to break or weaken bad habits, the best path is to replace them with positive habits. So, the things I wanted to do more of should be placed on the home screen. In taking inventory of my home screen, I noted two culprits. I had my browser and my email apps on the bottom, always accessible panel. This made them easier to get to. So, I replaced them with my Kindle reading app, my podcast app and one of my exercise apps.
Bury addictive apps in folders 2 or 3 screens in.
I took my email apps and my main browser, then buried them in a Productivity folder on my 4th screen. The idea here is it will take more steps to access them. This adds time and energy to the process. I’m sure I will use them when I absolutely need to but it will just make it a bit harder. And I had to admit, while doing this small rearrangement, the apps on anything past my 2nd screen are just not used that often. Ah, confirmation!
Oh, I also removed the Recent Apps widget.
On my laptop, I made a couple of changes also. I installed WasteNoTime. While BlockSite works really well on Chrome, this extension allowed me to share the same settings across multiple browsers. I’m one who uses multiple browser because of different plugins and productivity shortcuts. So, having something which doesn’t easily allow me to outsmart myself is helpful.
The next step is to set the blacklisted sites and the scheduled times for access. This is a structure which has really worked well for me. I’ve found greater focus and productivity when using these simple detours.
Of course, I’m sure there will be another change in my environment which will call for a reset. The thing to remember then is to simply reset without beating yourself up for the moments or days of failure.
So, for me, it’s back to checking email only at specific times on my calendar, keeping productivity guards in place and being willing to admit where and when I need help to get past myself.
What do you do when you have to admit your own addiction? Share your strategies in the comments.
My name is Robert Kennedy III. I’m a leadership and communication speaker, trainer and author of the recent Amazon BestSeller, 7 Ways To Know You Were Meant To Lead. Connect with me on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook.
