2026 the Year of Anti-Social Media

Thoughts from a Social Media Manager

With my second mug of coffee in hand in the last few hours of the Monday before Christmas, I sat at my desk to a trend expert announce that 2026 was going to be the year of “anti-social media”.

“Oh that’s just great.” I said aloud to myself for no one to hear but my two cats currently napping on the windowsill. “A year of anti-how I make a living… this can’t be good for me.”

Once the call wrapped up, I grabbed my phone to answer some DMs for clients.

20 minutes later I awoke from my reel scrolling coma and cursed under my breath. I’d just added more time to the glaringly obnoxious screentime counter I added to my home screen last month to help “hold myself accountable”.

My home screen screentime counter is the reason I now know that my daily screentime averages to about 6-8 hours a day. Nearly ⅔ of the time that I am awake in a day.

It was at this moment I realized “anti-social media” might be something I should learn to get on board with.

In the last three years, I’ve learned that there is a real privilege that comes with being able to take a “social media break”. I truly long for the time I used to be able to delete each app from my phone & sit in quiet bliss.

But now I rely on responding to comments & staying on top of trends to pay my bills. The quiet bliss of a social media break comes with a cost that, unfortunately, I cannot afford.

In the name of my 6-8 hour daily screen time habits & my innate need to participate in trends due to my line of work, I’ve decided to stretch my noggin and find a few ways us social media managers and small business owners who DIY their socials can participate in this trend as well.

Because truly, at the end of the day, the number one motivator will always be FOMO.

I’ve written out a list of ways for you to wean yourself off the dopamine fix of 7 second long videos so that you can go outside & touch grass (literally).

Please send me a pigeon or a note on the wind if any of these work for you (because as already described above, for me responding to DMs is a gateway drug to scrolling).

1. Make an Easily Accessible Hobby Box

I have two wicker baskets that sit in my living room stuffed to the brim with what can only be described as “hobbies only grandmas would do.” We’ve got embroidery, crochet, crossword puzzles, and coloring books.

Last week, my husband decided he also wanted a “fun living room craft” and somehow landed on whittling. Now my hobby box has a handful of knives & a jenga block that kind of looks like a fish now (he cleans up his wood shavings so, yes, this is a living room craft – results vary by husband).

If you’re willing to share, a hobby box can be fun for the whole family!

2. Phone Office Hours

There were a few months last summer where I implemented this for myself & it felt like a few hours of that “quiet bliss” I had only ever experienced with a social media break.

There are a few variations of this I’ve utilized in the past to work up to the highest amount of phone separation.

Stage One – Keep your phone near you, but not within reach. Utilize your “Do Not Disturb” mode.

Stage Two – After a certain time, set a rule that your phone is no longer allowed to leave a certain room. The more uncomfortable you would be hanging out in that room, the better. This allows you to still check your messages but in a less constant way.

Stage Three – Set certain nights where you will not touch your phone after a certain time period. Most texts can be responded to in the morning.

While it isn’t a full-on social media break, it gives you pockets of separation without having to delete apps that are vital to running your business.

3. Invest in an app blocking technology

This past Christmas I was a victim of being aggressively targeted by ads on all platforms marketing the “Brick”.

While most app blocking technologies are not helpful for me (how do you block Instagram reel scrolling when I need the Instagram app to schedule posts). This one actually has potential.

The Brick utilizes some of the same thought processes as “Phone Office Hours” but in a more tangible way.

You are able to set certain apps to be blocked at certain times of the day. You simply tap your phone to the Brick to block apps, then tap it again to allow yourself to reconnect.

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While anti-social media is not a new trend, it is becoming more and more popular.

While we most likely won’t see enough people deleting the apps to affect our analytics, it raises important conversations around mental health and how we spend our time.

For those of us who cannot just simply delete the apps, there is a way to still take a break. A true exercise in setting boundaries for yourself.

My 2026 goal is to get my phone screen time down to an average 4 hours a day. These methods will make it possible.