Limit Your Social Media Habit: The 2 Device Solution

Yesterday, I watched a video from one of my favorite YouTubers, Matt D’Avella, called I used a flip phone for 30 days. 

Matt D’Avella is the king of 30-day challenges. In 2019, he took on a new 30-day challenge each month, doing things like taking cold showers, quitting caffeine, and getting up at 5am. Like hack, productivity challenges. I ate them up. 

In his video, Matt D’Avella expressed that he enjoyed some aspects of using a flip phone. The lack of distraction, the presence in the moment, the simplicity. Other things, he hated. Group messages and Google Maps were understandably cumbersome, and they slowed his life down a decent amount. At the end of the video, he decided to reluctantly go back to his smart phone, and enjoy the benefits even with the known down sides. 

This video was particularly interesting to me because I had a flip phone until I graduated college in 2016. Because I paid for my own phone and cell service, I made a choice about whether a smartphone was worth it to me. I didn’t realize how impactful a smart phone could be, and the cost was prohibitive. So, I stuck with what my friends called a “potato” phone. 

When I finally got a smart phone, I understood exactly what Matt D’Avella expressed in his video. Train rides stopped being a time to think, and turned into social media scrolling hours. Waiting for friends became easier at first, because I just scrolled social, but I found myself being much more impatient and anxious as I waited. In a strange way, I missed the simplicity of having a flip phone. After about 18 months, I considered deleting all my social media apps. I considered changing careers from social media management to something else. I considered moving to Montana to work on a ranch (not really). 

Then, I read something from Seth Godin that changed how I thought about the problem. He proposes something called The Two Device Solution.

“Simple but bold: Only use your computer for work. Real work. The work of making something. Have a second device, perhaps an iPad, and use it for games, web commenting, online shopping, networking… anything that doesn’t directly create valued output...Now, when you pick up the iPad, you can say to yourself, ‘break time.’ And if you find yourself taking a lot of that break time, you’ve just learned something important.”

In the work from home age, having our personal social media on the same devices that we’re working on is the equivalent to having all your high school friends crouched in your cubicle, telling you stories while you try to do your job. 

The two device solution solves that. Delete all distraction apps off of your phone. Pick up a used device. You can get a refurbished iPod Touch for under $100. Put your distraction apps on that refurbished device. It doesn’t need to be sleek and fast, because you’ll only be using it on wifi, and it will only be running one or two apps at a time. When it’s time to take a break, grab the second device. When it’s time to get back to work, put the second device out of reach and out of sight. The mental trigger is strong. We all know how quickly we can go from being slightly bored or confused, to scrolling social media. It takes about 1.5 seconds. With your device out of sight, you’ll have to stand up, open a drawer, and then tap your social apps. This process is enough to deter distraction 90 percent of the time. 

This conversation is a bit different for digital creators and people who work in social media. But it’s not much different. I am both of those things. Keeping social media apps on a second device still helps me mitigate distraction and crossover time between tasks. When I find myself distracted for longer than I wanted, I put the second device in a drawer. It works well. 

The two device solution has worked well for me. If you’re afraid that duty will call, don’t be. It calls much less than you think. And, if you must, you can always download the apps you need in a pinch on cell data, and get the job done. 

The real beauty of this solution is that our free time no longer has this nagging, tugging, addictive escape only a few taps away. You can ride in the car or on the train and stare out the window again. You can wait for a friend to meet you for lunch and watch the symphony of city life. You can listen to music and hear all the things you never did before. I’ll write about this more in the future, but a lot of research suggests that giving our brains rest and space increases imagination and problem solving. 

Finally, you might be feeling initial resistance to getting a second device. Maybe the cost is prohibitive. Maybe it feels superfluous. But I promise you, this is one of the wisest things you can spend money on. If it helps you get back only 15 minutes each day (you’ll get back much more, by the way), that’s 40 hours, or two full work weeks, each year. You’ll experience the life you’re living in more fully, and you’ll connect with your environment more deeply. I implore you–do this!

Good luck out there.