How long do you spend scrolling through your social media accounts? Tameside Radio's Breakfast presenter tells us what he's done to reduce the time he spends on Facebook and Twitter...

Two-and-a-half hours a day. It might not sound like a huge amount of time, but this is apparently how long the average person spends scrolling through social media. How much of this is at the expense of living in the moment?

For my one and only New Year's resolution for 2023, I've vowed to drastically cut down on my use of Facebook and Twitter, by removing the apps from my phone. I still use them whilst doing my radio shows, but when I'm out and about, I am making more of an effort to be present with family and friends.

How often have you been sitting in the pub or at a restaurant table with friends, and glanced around to see several people with their heads buried in their smartphone? When every moment of life is chronicled with a 'check-in' on Facebook, is this for the benefit of impressing others, or to satisfy that dopamine-hit of receiving 'likes'? I'm not trying to be holier-than-thou, as I've been guilty of it myself many times!

A 2018 University of Pennsylvania study concluded that people who limit their time on social media experience lower levels of depression and fewer feelings of loneliness. Having a break from the constant pings of apps will also give you better quality sleep, and research has shown that nocturnal use of social media is driven by FOMO (fear of missing out), and keeps night owls scrolling for longer instead of dropping off to sleep.

When you're in a queue, do you use the spare minutes to catch up on your apps, or take in your surroundings? When watching TV at home, is more of your attention on what's on screen, or does social media take up more of your attention? If you're wanting to cut down your use, but the thought of missing out entirely when away from a desktop computer or laptop terrifies you, perhaps you could let a friend know, so that they can give you a nudge if you bury your head in your phone out of sheer habit. As the Netflix production The Social Media Dilemma discussed, these apps are designed to be addictive and hold our attention for longer. That's their entire business model.

I have realised since deleting the apps from my phone how much time I was spending on them, and am finding more opportunities to do other things as a result. I might finally get through my book mountain! I got a lovely gift from my wife Sofia recently too...a five year diary, which enables you to write down a memory from each day, and look back over them as the years roll by. It's an old-fashioned version of Facebook memories, and I love it! I make filling it in the last thing I do before switching off the light, so that my day ends with a positive thought. I know this might sound a bit corny, but it really is rather cathartic.

A recent night out in our local pub was like the old days. No-one had their phone out. We chatted, we laughed, we had some tipples, and we didn't chronicle the whole thing on Facebook.

I've not even mentioned TikTok, which is the app of choice for the generation below me. Nearly six in ten teenagers are daily users, and the platform boasts more than a billion users. It is a never ending stream of short content, and I'm told you can lose hours scrolling through posts! Philipp Lorenz-Spreen is a research scientist in Berlin, and was recently quoted in the Guardian saying: "It's embarrassing we know so little about TikTok and its effects." Michael Rich, a pediatrician who studies the effects of technology on children at Boston Children's Hospital, said: "We owe it to ourselves and to the users of these platforms to understand how we are changed by the screens we use and how we use them".

I'm old enough to remember pokes on Facebook. Things have come a long way since then. I'm not missing the social media apps on my phone at all. I'm relishing the peace. Each to their own, but I won't be checking in any time soon.

You can listen to Alex every weekday from 7am to 11am and on the 'Super Scoreboard' show on Saturdays from 3pm to 7pm, on Tameside Radio 103.6FM. 

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