Getting rid of my social media addiction as a highly sensitive person. A personal story about screen time, overwhelm, withdrawal, and how quitting social media brought more calm, clarity, and confidence.
Estimated reading time: 1 minute
Last week, I came across a video on TikTok about five signs that you might be addicted to social media. I clicked on it without much thought, just another video while scrolling. But as the creator listed the signs one by one, something inside me slowly dropped. I recognized myself in every single one of them. All five. And that realization hit hard.
I consider myself a very self-aware and reflective person. I work with highly sensitive people every day, I journal, I reflect, I question my patterns. So realizing that I had a full-blown social media addiction without consciously noticing it felt confronting, almost embarrassing. How could I not have seen this?
Out of curiosity and honesty with myself, I opened the screen time settings on my phone. What I saw shocked me. On average, I spent about four and a half hours per day on my phone. That adds up to roughly 28 hours a week. More than an entire day, every single week, just scrolling, liking, watching, consuming. And that was only my phone.
When I added my work hours on my laptop for HiSensitives and my freelance work, the number climbed to around 60 hours a week spent staring at screens. No wonder I felt exhausted. No wonder my nervous system felt constantly overstimulated.
Before the Christmas break, I kept asking myself the same question. How am I this tired? I do not even have children yet. How am I going to manage life when I do? I blamed my work, the renovation of our home, the mental load of daily life. And while those things do take energy, I now see that I was missing a huge piece of the puzzle. Social media addiction.
The Five Common Signs of Social Media Addiction to Look Out For:
The video I watched mentioned five signals, and these are the ones that made me stop in my tracks. You:
- Automatically open social media without thinking, even when you had no intention to.
- Feel restless, bored, or uncomfortable when you cannot check your phone.
- Struggle with sleeping deeply.
- Compare yourself to others and feel less confident, insecure, or behind.
- Struggle with concentrating on single tasks and experience brain fog regularly.
Seeing these signs reflected so clearly in my own behavior was a wake-up call. As a highly sensitive person, my nervous system is already more sensitive to stimulation, comparison, and emotional input. Endless scrolling meant endless input, without any space to process or breathe.
The Moment I Decided to Stop My Social Media Addiction
Right after watching that video, I deleted TikTok. It was the app that consumed most of my time. But in the next hours, I caught myself scrolling through Instagram Reels instead. That was the moment I realized it was not about one app. It was about the endless scrolling itself, and the dopamine rush my brain had become dependent on. So I made a radical decision.
On January 2nd, I deleted TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook from my phone. All three. I challenged myself to go the entire month of January without them, to see what it would do to my mental health and overall well-being. This blog is part of that experiment, and I will keep updating you as the weeks go on.
The First Days Without Social Media
I am currently on day four, and I can honestly say this already feels like one of the biggest shifts I have ever made for my well-being. My brain feels calmer. Quieter. As if it can finally breathe again.
There is space between thoughts. I am not constantly overstimulated. I am not feeding my mind an endless stream of information, opinions, images, and emotions. As a highly sensitive person, that silence feels nourishing.
I also feel less insecure. I am no longer confronted with picture-perfect lives, filtered bodies, curated success stories, and highlight reels. Social media often shows only the polished moments, rarely the messy or painful ones. Without realizing it, your brain starts to believe that everyone else is doing better than you. And when you are highly sensitive, that comparison hits even deeper.
Withdrawal is Real, Even With a Social Media Addiction
On the second day of my experiment, I noticed something unexpected. I started craving food. Not because I was hungry, but because my brain was craving dopamine. The same chemical rush I usually got from scrolling. That was another confirmation. I was not just “used to” social media. I was experiencing withdrawal.
Seeing this made me even more compassionate toward myself. Social media addiction is not a lack of discipline. These platforms are designed to keep us hooked. And for sensitive nervous systems, that impact is even stronger.
What I Replaced Scrolling With
One of the hardest parts was suddenly realizing how much time I had. So I filled it gently. I started sewing curtains for our living room. Slowly, mindfully, creatively. I rearranged furniture to make our space feel calmer and more supportive. I did things I had been thinking about for months but never felt I had time for. And it felt so good. Instead of consuming inspiration, I started creating in real life.
When I feel the urge to grab my phone, I sometimes play Wordfeud or a calm puzzle game. These keep my brain engaged without overstimulation. I also still use Pinterest, because for me it feels different. It inspires action, creativity, and real-life ideas rather than comparison.
A Gentle Invitation For You
I am not saying everyone should delete social media forever. But I do want to gently invite you to reflect on your own relationship with it. If you are a highly sensitive person and you feel constantly overwhelmed, anxious, tired, or disconnected from yourself, social media addiction might be playing a bigger role than you realize.
Try deleting the apps that drain you, even if it is just for a week. Notice how your body feels. Notice your thoughts. And notice what suddenly has space to exist. For me, this experiment already feels life-changing. I feel calmer, more confident, and more authentic. I overthink less about what others might think. And I feel more grounded in myself.
And that, to me, is worth everything. If you feel called to try this too, know that you are not alone. Be gentle with yourself. Your nervous system will thank you.
With love,
Anne-Kathrin 💛
In this article, we collaborated with AI, meaning that the input and stories are original human ideas, but the text itself has been created with support from AI. All AI content is being edited and factchecked by our editor.
