You think to give up social networking easy? You are wrong!

"I never thought that depend on the social networks. While once a party almost suffered a nervous breakdown when I realized that I can not post it fotochki in Facebook ». Author and blogger Stephanie Vozza (Stephanie Vozza) tells how social networking has refused for 30 days and what came of it.

Stephanie Vozza

He writes about business, productivity, design for online publications and Fastcompany.com Inc.com. Author of "The Five-minute Moms Club: 105 tips to make life easier for moms" and founder TheOrganizedParent.com.

I have an account in Instagram, I rarely use Pinterest. I have an account in Twitter, but I do not often sit there. My choice - is Facebook. I tell myself that I use this social network to keep in touch with family and friends who live in another state, but, in fact, this is my tool of procrastination.

I write a lot about productivity and somehow talked about release of the hormone dopamine, which is derived from social networks and check e-mail, and yet I still do not realize how often I myself checked social sphere.

I spent 30 days no TVAnd this experience helped me to gain freedom. I thought that the gap between social networking will be something similar to this, and maybe even pass easier. But I was wrong.

Depending afraid? Just disconnect

On the first day I felt like a junkie in search of a dose. I started to check email for new messages. Then checking your favorite blogs: Do something new did not work?

I knew that the first week is very hard - and so it was during my refusal from television - and then comes a certain kind of euphoria. But this time everything was different. I felt more and more isolated. As if all that I know, they gathered at a big party, and I can not go. I was just sure missing something.

These sensations - a sign that you need a break from social media. When you feel anxious because of that do not update your profile, or worried that you're not connected, this is the moment when you need to disable the connection.

Hafiz Sanam (Sanam Hafeez), neuropsychologist, lecturer at Columbia University

As part of a personal experiment, I also worked from home. My staff - other authors, whom I met at a writers forums and conferences, - communicate during the day in social networks. This is our meeting place like the water cooler in the office.

This mode of communication is good, as long as it does not replace the more important interaction - personal. Sometimes it helps to go from a friendly exchange of remarks to something more serious.

Michael Smith (Michael W. Smith), chief medical editor of WebMD

More and more studies suggest that attachment to social networks - this is a real phenomenon and its symptoms overlap with symptoms of other addictions.

The researchers found a chemical change in the brain in the areas of pleasure. It sounds like something good, but, like many other addictions, it becomes a problem, when little pleasure begins to take up too much space in your life and stop around rest.

How to get rid of dependence

Although I do not believe in their dependence on social networking tie it was pretty hard with them. Hafiz says that it is better to start small, "Start with 10 minutes of checking social networks every three hours, set an alarm clock or ask friends to periodically check and write to you if you are in social networks the wrong time. "

You can also choose one day a week, which is completely opt out of social networks, or go there only at certain times.

Some families have usually dinner without phones. This helps them feel fully in the present moment. Soon they all cease to notice that for some time to go without your phone, and social networks.

Turn off notifications for messages in social networks. We are social beings with the ability to adapt. Alert our attention and hold it. When you are trying to get away from social networks, you have to adjust to the other social cues in life: spending time with friends, children, partner.

Michel Drouin (Michelle Drouin), a psychologist and expert on social media

Psychologists agree that social media should be used in their free time, but not during working hours.

Turn it into a fun and a way to relieve stress accumulated during the day. Social media prevent concentrate on the job, but if you make them a part of recreation, a way to have fun in their spare time, they do not become a dominant part of your life.

Sanam Hafiz, a neuropsychologist, a teacher at Columbia University

But be careful. People prone to fear to miss anything, not waiting for the lightest times. To my surprise, I discovered that I am just such a man.

Three days after the beginning of the experiment, I visited the farewell party favorite coach who moved to another state after the wedding. And despite the fact that I was present at the party and have fun with friends, I felt that I am missing something, because I can not go on Facebook the next day and see a photo of this events.

What happened when I returned to the social networks

When 30 days without social networking passed, I nervously opened your account to see what happened there. The first post that I saw - the video of my cousin, where her husband spoke on stage with country music group Zac Brown Band. It reminded me why I missed checking the news on social networks.

Then there was a critical post. Many posts. I was away from social media, when Hillary Clinton won the required number of delegates needed for the nomination for the presidency of the Democratic Party after the shooting in Orlando.

Although I respect the opinions of others, especially well set out and makes me think I was interesting: conversations online generally have at least some value, or they simply make us superficial and lack of initiative?

When I returned to social networks, they have become to me quite different.

Break a month-long - long enough to create new neural pathways in the brain that allows us to replace old behaviors with new ones. So, if you are used immediately after waking up to reach for the phone to check Facebook, after 30 days you adapt to the new morning ritual, which will become the new norm for you.

Sanam Hafiz, a neuropsychologist, a teacher at Columbia University

My new norm was reading blogs that I find inspiring, useful or just fun. I also noticed that I started to talk more with random strangers. The very interaction face to face, which said Smith.

It took me a full 30 days to evaluate the results of their experiment and to understand one thing: although all were on "holiday" without me, in fact I have not lost anything.