I think you'll agree with me when I say social media is easy to get hooked on to.
One second you're scrolling through your feed, and the next second, you're watching a 10-minute Vine compilation of some dude doing backflips and somersaults.
It's impossible to avoid the hole of social media.
Whether we're talking about Instagram or Twitter, the combination of FOMO and a thirst for information pulls us in.
But does it have to?
Well, it turns out there are a handful of tools that can help you manage your social media addiction a bit better.
I'm going to share those tools with you so you can focus on things that matter and spend less time getting lost in a sea of noise.
Let's get to it.
1. Cold Turkey Cold Turkey is the first tool that comes to mind if you're truly addicted to social media.
With Cold Turkey, you don't have to delete your Facebook account during exam period.
Instead, use Cold Turkey to block Facebook and Twitter so you can concentrate on your exam.
This tool blocks select sites during a period of time so you can focus on what matters.
You can add an unlimited number of websites you would like blocked so you can easily get in the zone.
2. Latergramme Latergramme saves you time by scheduling your Instagram posts in advance.
You simply upload a visual, move it along the calendar to the moment you want your post published, write a caption and that's a wrap.
The app will give you a push notification once the post is ready to go live, and you'll have to confirm and publish the post to your followers.
Instagram's terms of service doesn't allow users to do auto posts, so this a great draw for this tool.
I've been using Latergramme for the last few months, and I cannot rave enough about the time it's saved me and the team.
Latergramme offers both a paid and free version, depending on your scheduling needs.
We use the paid account because of our level of activity, but the free version is just as great.
3. Crate Crate is one of the newer products on the list, but it's a game changer.
With Crate, you upload a few keywords, usernames and websites, and their system will shoot back the best articles online that use those keywords, shared by those users or found on those websites.
So instead of wasting precious time looking for links to share on Twitter or LinkedIn, Crate gives you daily suggestions based on your interests.
Crate also has a scheduling functionality that allows you to schedule these posts over the course of the week so you can focus on what matters.
4. Pocket If you're like me, you love scrolling through websites to find the latest and greatest articles.
But sometimes, you just don't have time to read every single article in one sitting.
Using Pocket, you can have all of these articles saved to one place.
Pocket allows you to save content and come back to read it at a later date.
You don't even need an Internet connection.
5. Buffer Buffer is another social media management tool that can save you time.
One of the biggest challenges with Facebook is that if you're about to make an update, it's easy to get lost scrolling through your News Feed and looking at pictures from two months ago.
With Buffer, you don't have to log into Facebook every other day to make an update.
Instead, you can write your status through Buffer and schedule it to be shared later on in the day.
If you know that #ThrowbackThursday is coming up, why not schedule your post in advance?
It saves you the time from having to do it later.
At the end of the day, tools like these are only able to do so much.
If you're truly looking to escape your addiction to social media, you really have to understand what's luring you in each and every day.
Are you obsessed with an ex?
Are you obsessed with the news?
Or, are you obsessed with yourself?
All of these are possibilities.
The key is understanding the answer and identifying a way to fix it.
These tools are just one part of the puzzle.
Do you have any other tools that you use to stay focused and away from social media?
I'd love to hear them in the comments.
