How I Cut My Screen Time 30% WITHOUT Deleting Instagram

Whether you’re a business owner, influencer, podcaster, course creator, or are in another position that requires you to tap into your creativity and create content, it’s probably safe to say that you’re spending a lot of time on your phone (or computer).

As a business owner and content creator, I was spending A LOT of time on my phone (specifically Instagram) and over the last few weeks, I’ve been able to cut my screen time down 120%.

Without deleting Instagram.

If you want to spend less time on your phone, this post is for you! Today, I’m going to dive into how I made these changes and was able to cut my screen time without deleting ANY apps so you can start cutting your screen time, too.

How It Started

I never planned on working toward cutting down my screen time but I started noticing that I was constantly on Instagram and constantly reaching for my phone to refresh my email.

Being on my phone all the time isn’t something that felt right and so I started setting boundaries and after a week I was able to cut down my screen time by 30%.

Since recording this video, I’ve cut my screen time by 120%.

How I Did It

Over the years, I’ve worked really hard to automate as much as possible in my business so I can focus on the creative aspects that I love so much.

The number one thing that made a huge difference for me and set the boundaries with screen time that I desperately needed was leaning on my Marketing Assistant. Not only does she help manage my business and Instagram accounts, but she also leverages automation through planning and scheduling apps.

By planning out content ahead of time and getting it scheduled out, I was able to take a back seat and Instagram became less of a time suck for me (unless I let it be!).

Shifting My Scrolling Addiction

Even though I got a handle on death-scrolling Instagram, I realized I replaced the addiction by refreshing my email constantly.

I was obsessively checking my email or phone and I don’t know about you, but I’m terrible at responding or doing anything with emails on my phone so even though emails were coming in, I wasn’t answering them.

In the back of my mind, I knew those emails were there and I wasn’t doing anything with them so that stress would sit with me. It was like a badly weighted blanket weighing me down.

How I Set Boundaries & Reduced My Screen Time

You’re probably thinking “Okay Kate, I get it. You were obsessively checking your emails and scrolling through Instagram non-stop, but what did you do about it?”

To help me set boundaries and drastically reduce my screen time, I hid the Instagram app on my iPhone so that I REALLY have to go looking for it if I want to scroll.

And then I went ahead and deleted my Gmail app so I couldn’t access my work emails and then I deleted the Apple mail app so I couldn’t check my personal email.

Making these changes was really hard at first and I wanted to pull up my laptop or iPad all the time, so I put those in my office.

Now, if I want to check my email, it takes so much more effort to walk across the house and sit down in my office so it deters me from wanting to check it constantly.

How I’m More Productive with My Emails

Now that I have to go into my office to check my emails, when I do sit down to look through them, I’m able to do more about them. I’m able to crank out responses to people a lot quicker, I can file emails accordingly, and create to-do list items with ease.

Once I got into the habit of this, I realized that I felt so much better during the week. I’m spending less time on my phone and computer and I’m checking my email less but I’m able to get MORE work done in a short period of time because my focus has completely shifted.

How This Translates to My Business

By putting up these boundaries and only checking social media and emails at a dedicated time, my responses and the work that I’m doing are of higher quality and these tasks are no longer consuming my whole life.

I now feel more present with what I’m doing outside of work hours and am able to enjoy the time I’m spending with my friends and family.

Content creation is a big part of my life but it isn’t my whole life.

Always cheering you on,

Kate

Creator of the Smarter Not Harder: 3-Day Workweeks for Millennial Entrepreneurs©  Program

Owner + Founder, Kate Waldo + Co. 

P.S. Curious how you can grow your 6-figure business while slashing your workweek in half? Click here to learn about the Smarter Not Harder© program!