Delete the Social Media App When You’re Done

Johan Versteegh
2 min readJan 19, 2021

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Reducing your phone use has a lot to do about what apps you have installed on it.

Remove all apps and you will use your phone less.

No surprise there.

What we really want is to be able to use our phones less while all apps remain installed.

This is possible but requires some reprogramming of our habits.

You want to add some friction to make it harder for yourself to use an app.

When you’re able to use the app more mindful, you can keep it installed.

Although there are many cases where people don’t want to reinstall certain apps.

They are so aware of how time is wasted on an app, they don’t want to see it on their smartphone anymore.

What is important is that you start to pay attention to how and when you use the app.

A strategy you can use is to delete the app after you’re done using it.

That’s it.

Let’s say that now, this very minute, you open the Facebook app.

You can use it as you please, but you have to delete it when you finish.

Now you start to be more mindful of your use.

Your thinking will be future-oriented, meaning you anticipate opening it another 4 times, so you do all the necessary tasks now that you normally would do 10 minutes later when you open the app again.

When you’re done, you delete the app.

BUT!

When you want to use the app again, you download it again.

That’s it. That’s the strategy.

When you go through that whole process of opening Google Play or the App Store, you’re going to think twice before opening and closing the app!

You will use the app with more intention now.

The whole habit of opening the app is so ingrained in your system, that you will look for it at random moments.

Since you won’t find it, you get out of the “programming”.

You “wake up” because the app isn’t there anymore.

That’s how you become more self-aware.

This is a prerequisite for change to happen.

You want to make the unconscious conscious.

it’s fine to reinstall the app and use it again, as long as you delete it again when you close it.

Unprogram yourself to tap the Tik Tok app just because you wanted to check the weather.

Get out of this app cycle habit where you have to go through 5 apps before locking your phone again.

Train yourself to be more mindful.

Take control over the apps instead of them controlling you.

So choose which apps you want to use for this strategy and start deleting them after you’ve opened them.

Later on, you can always decide whether you want to leave certain apps permanently deleted.

Originally published at https://www.socialmediabreakup.com on January 19, 2021.

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Johan Versteegh

I help people unchain themselves from their phones and social media. Technology is good, but we need to preserve our mind and spirit. Socialmediabreakup.com.