How can I better avoid distractions like Facebook and Instagram? Are there any tools that could help me?

Turn off notifications for them. Move them to a folder and place it somewhere harder to reach than the first page of your home screen. If you use iOS, you can go to Settings > Screen Time, and set a time limit for these apps.

To avoid the distractions, i always remember the reason i do what ive been doing, and what the negative impact will happen if i lost my commitment on myself. However, i am not acknowledge a certain thing to be distraction because being distracted means that you are not giving yourself in the present on what youre doing.

Don't you feel bored when all the people around you have an opinion about everything they don't know anything about? It's the same in social media
So why you waste your time there

There are some apps and websites that you can use that will put a time limit and block those things on your phone and laptop. Also you can turn on airplane mode and do not disturb while you are working on your project. Also you can replace those kind of apps with something like dual lingo that teaches you a language or apps that are more directed towards your long-term goals instead of mindless distraction

I tend to go on a social media detox. I either delete the app or I get an app blocker on my phone to break the habit of logging on and comparing myself to others.

There are apps to help with that, Google for them. Also a time is a great idea. Neither of those though will work without intention and discipline of purpose…

There are couple of ways to block them when you are focusing on your tasks. The most effective one is to turn your phone into flight mode and try to place them at a position where you can’t fetch easily.

I deleted insta because it was boring. And Facebook is becoming way to annoying anyway and I am 33 so I doubt they will have a problem much longer anyway. However for the obsessed people, which is everyone, have a friend change the password every week; and give it to you at the end and vice versa.

Consider setting a specific place and time period for yourself. Use a timer with an audible sound and when the timer goes off, you’re done. Even if you’d rather stay on, the timer dictates when you’re done.

I have 2 strategies. Neither is perfect.
1. Start your day the night before. That means mental preparation and/or time blocking on a calendar or planner or whatever organizational tool you do best with. It also requires getting enough sleep so you are at your best.
Then I use a timer with alarm (cheap battery operated timer, not phone) to help with creating a sense of urgency to help keep me focused on the task at hand.
I will either completely avoid internet and social media until high priority items are complete, or only look at them during planned breaks (and I use timer for these times also).
2. For television, I do not have cable and if I find myself falling into bad habits I will unplug everything including power cables, antennae, streaming connectors, batteries out of remote, etc. By creating more obstacles, it is no longer a matter of walking in the door or hitting a roadblock or weak moment in mental discipline and giving in to the power of the remote control. By having to stop and think before turning the TV on, I realize the trap and get on to something of greater value than disappearing into the time wasting activity.

Turn off your notifications, and make the app harder to get to by putting it in a folder or deleting it so you have to log on in your internet browser instead

Yes! Use blocking apps – I use Cold Turkey for my laptop and keep my blocks scheduled so I can't change them on a whim. This is more difficult for phones but I have successfully used blocksite and block apps to prevent me accessing apps and websites. It's a pain that I have to block access to settings and app store so I can't stop my blocks or uninstall the apps or install new time sinks as it blocks legit things like entering WiFi passwords! It's also difficult now I have a work phone and laptop but I'm just trying to avoid getting into bad habits with those

Erase them all together. Once you disconnect from social media you are able to see relationships with friends and family for what they really are. You begin to live your life for yourself and do what makes you happy with more time on your hands to achieve real goals

Set a time limit for social media. Turn off notification. There is a certain app which can block u from social media, e.g freedom.

I put a behavior management system in place. I allow myself so much TV depending on how much of my daily habits I accomplish. Or I reward a hard task with a highly preferred reward. For example, I bought myself a PS4 after completing my thesis and graduating. Or I allowed myself to have my favorite meal after sticking to my diet for 12 days.

There are plug-ins for your web browser that you can used to block specific websites. The one I’ve been using for about two years now is called Stay Focused, and it’s specifically for the Chrome browser. But there other similar plug-ins for different browsers, and also ones that are more extreme; for example there’s one that prevents you from looking at any social media sites for about 9 hours at a time( this length of time can be adjusted to fit your needs). Most of these plug-ins are also free, which is definitely a plus for a grad student such as myself, or anyone else on a tight budget.

Tool is your mind and reflecting upon the time you are wasting while using it. You need to reflect upon how your mind gets affected by looking at all the people in their happiest state and being. Facebook and Instagram lives are not real. More we look around and see people in perfect state more we feel sad about our state. I have decided to come use fabulous app as I used Insta , atleast I am getting something real here. You can chose to spend the time you spend on Insta to watch your favourite show on Netflix. But next time when you think of going on these two platforms thintwice before clicking the app icon. It's like making a better decision while eating. You have one hour to spend on your mobile. How would you want to spend it.

One more way is to avoid urge to upload your stories or your pics. You get into an addictive stage of checking who has likes or commented on your profile and you become sad if someone doesn't. And than you enter a rat race of winning a fight which is not worth it.
Hope this helps!

Log out of them, you don't need them. After some time you will get used to it. On Instagram and YouTube you can set notifications, that will tell you that you spent too much time today on this site.

Turn off notifications. Hide the apps from the front page of your phone. Alternatively, even use the black/white colour scheme on your phone to decrease triggers from colours.
I use the app moment to help me be aware of my usage of an app by tracking my usage and nudging me, for example, every 10 or 15 min. on a specific app like Facebook or YouTube. Those two apps also have that as a native function.
Willpower is not the answer, consciously avoiding the design that works on universal primal cognitive biases does.
One last all-powerful thing, is to have something better to do and to recognize that there are better ways to receive what you seek from these apps, social interaction, relaxation, entertainment, knowledge, and so on, but before that you have to try and be a spare of what you actually seek from it, hard to do but crucial.

What I have done is to turn off notifications for my social media apps and I also will move my apps to another screen on my home screen. If you don’t see it you usually don’t think about it. When I catch myself online too much I ask myself “am I doing this because I’m researching something or because I’m bored”. This helps me to evaluate my behaviors and change them if I don’t like them

For mobile: Anti-Social, for computer: Freedom, for just web browser: Stay Focused. Cal Newport's book Digital Mininalism outlines a more in depth process.

Use a timer and reward yourself with time on social media after you have completed x task. The reward must, of course, be commensurate with the level of difficulty or length of time of the task.

I just deleted the apps. It broke the habit of checking throughout the day, and having to login through your phone’s web browser makes it less appealing and gives you time to reflect on what you’re about to do.

I turned off notifications for social media in general. I check Facebook only when I get home briefly as possible or when I have a short break and know that my time will be limited. Now I can proudly say that I can stay from SM for days sometimes… it’s just a muscle training 😉

I don't really have a problem with that because of how I view those social media platforms. I find that there is so much nonsense going on in the world and those platforms are ground zero for all that nonsense. I steer away from these types of platforms when looking for something to fill my time because I know the experience is not enhancing or challenging my mind in any way and there for, I am sitting idle and not using this time to better myself. Dont get me wrong though, I still have accounts on all the platforms but I dont visit them and interact with the feeds as often as others do. I also find that its a pretty good gateway to my insecurities. You scroll and you see that girl that you always didn't care for and shes got 1k likes on her pics. It certainly isnt the best feeling ever.
This is why i dont use social media platforms; they are harmful to my mental health. They are no where near a constant flow of useful facts or positive vibes so I choose to spend my time elsewhere. Doing yoga, meditating, cooking, cleaning, etc.

Hope that helps! 🙂

For me, directly f9cusing on the distraction I want to avoid just makes it worse. Better to focus a lot of positive energy on something new for several weeks while gently telling myself a little negative thought about the distraction each time it comes up. Eventually the distraction fades away.
Meditation helps a lot for increasing the ability to control which thoughts I will give energy to.

I turned off notifications for all distractions and just check SM when I have limited time, so I know that I won’t spend too much time on it!😉
Now I can spend days without checking it

I was attracted to Instagram as soon as I woke up, and 2 ways to avoid that:
– set an habit to avoid connecting as soon as week up (same for emails)
– I deleted simply my Instagram app