Recently I wrote about how alarmed I was to see how much time I had been spending on social media.
I deleted most of the apps, but every now and then I open one of the sites in my browser. Then I lose a few minutes.
Now I am more conscious than ever about how much they suck me in — losing track of how much time they steal from me.
It's endless. The only way to stop is to interrupt the flow somehow.
Social media is unlike most other experiences on our computers.
You email inbox has a finish line.
Your actual todo list has a finish line.
Newspapers had a finish line.
But Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Twitter, YouTube and the rest — none.
They're infinite.
One of the best ways to avoid getting sucked into the endless vortex is to set a limit with Screen Time (or similar) to kick you out automatically after a little indulgence.
The best way, though, is to not start in the first place.