If you’re a parent concerned about your child’s social media addiction or a young adult recognizing the problem yourself, the first step is to reduce the time spent online. This can extend to screen time in general. Watching television and surfing the internet have many of the same effects as using social media.

For more tips on reducing your overall phone use, read Smartphone Addiction. Step 2: Change your focus Stay vigilant when you see new companies, organisations or brands pop up on your feed. You should also be suspicious if you see a new social media account advertising for a company you know well. It may be a scammer pretending to be a new branch or new account for that brand. Romance scams Dixon, S. (2022). Share of online users in the United States who report being addicted to social medias as of April 2019, by age group. Using social media more often, though, increases FOMO and feelings of inadequacy, dissatisfaction, and isolation.Practice mindfulness. Experiencing FOMO and comparing yourself unfavorably to others keeps you dwelling on life’s disappointments and frustrations. Instead of being fully engaged in the present, you’re focused on the “what ifs” and the “if onlys” that prevent you from having a life that matches those you see on social media. By practicing mindfulness, you can learn to live more in the present moment, lessen the impact of FOMO, and improve your overall mental wellbeing.

Teach your child how social media is not an accurate reflection of people’s lives. They shouldn’t compare themselves or their lives negatively to others on social media. People only post what they want others to see. Images are manipulated or carefully posed and selected. And having fewer friends on social media doesn’t make your child less popular or less worthy.

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Delete your social media apps from your smartphone to decrease the amount of time spent on social media overall

In some cases, social media can be a welcome distraction from a pre-existing mental health condition. In other cases, a social media addiction can cause depression and anxiety, especially when it takes a toll on relationships, hobbies, or grades. Gmail can sometimes clip long messages, so if gaining social followers is one of your newsletter goals, put the icons in the header or above the fold and consider using a call-to-action. Alternately, if the goal of your newsletter is to promote content, you may want to consider including share icons, and placing follow icons in the footer. Image via Sephora e-newsletter PrintMost social media companies explicitly state that you should never use the wordmark in place of the icon. Wordmarks are typically for corporate use only, and represent the company, as opposed to your company’s presence on the network. Make your brand the focus Icon bounds should be approximately 50% of the size of the container. The minimum clear space requirement specifies that padding the size of two LinkedIn “i’s” be used around the icon.

Featuring icons too prominently could wrongly imply sponsorship, partnership, or endorsement, and potentially land your company in legal trouble. Plus, your brand should be the focus of your marketing materials anyway. Link to your company profile Your heavy social media use could be masking other underlying problems, such as stress, depression, or boredom. If you spend more time on social media when you’re feeling down, lonely, or bored, you may be using it as a way to distract yourself from unpleasant feelings or self-soothe your moods. While it can be difficult at first, allowing yourself to feel can open you up to finding healthier ways to manage your moods.https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-ethics-quarterly/article/ethics-of-the-attention-economy-the-problem-of-social-mediaaddiction/1CC67609A12E9A912BB8A291FDFFE799 A digital detox is one way to develop healthy boundaries around social media use. Set limits on the amount of time social media should be used. It can be helpful to have a designated place to put a smartphone outside of scheduled social media time. Be mindful that a digital detox may induce social media withdrawal symptoms, similar to those of a drug or alcohol detox. 2. Restore Balance Keles, B., et al. (2020). A systematic review: The influence of social media on depression, anxiety, and psychological distress in adolescents.