Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook… social media is all around us. And even though we have lived with it for years already, it seems like we don’t know how to use it in the “correct” way yet.

Think about it: how much did you spend on social media in your lifetime? And how much of that time did you actually want to spend time on social media?

We are not talking minutes or hours; we are talking days. And it keeps getting worse.

Social Media Destroys Your Focus

The problem is not spending time on social media. It can be quite useful for many cases, for example, for connecting with like-minded people or learning something new. It is a fine concept, but it has one important flaw.

The problem is the constant amount of information frying our brains like a pair of eggs in the pan.

There is too much of it, so much that it is becoming impossible to retrieve the information you need without the use of AI. Heck, nowadays I don’t even use Google anymore. I use ChatGPT to query hundreds of websites in seconds because there is no end.

And with AI-generated content taking over Instagram and co., it’s getting worse and worse. Have you ever wondered how many posts are actually AI-generated?

I deleted my Instagram account two years ago, and it was one of the best decisions I have made in my life.

It’s not like I was an addict. I barely used my phone for anything, but the sheer distraction of knowing that I have this app that anyone can write to me who follows me is a disaster. It distracts you all the time, not only while you use it, and you lose focus.

It keeps you trapped with information that you neither need nor want. But there is a simple solution.

Clean Slate

That’s it. That’s what I did, at least. Delete everything, and off you go. That’s all you have to do to reset your brain to a normal human being again. There is one exception, and that is if you use the social media account for keeping up a certain image. In this case, you may keep it.

After you did that, delete Windows on your personal computer. I don’t care whether you’re a Linux or macOS fan. But Windows? To hell with that. As soon as you make the switch, you won’t ever want to go back.

Now you might be asking: What does Windows have to do with social media? Same thing. Too much distraction. Too many permissions thrown around and apps auto-starting on startup that you don’t even know exist on your system. And this is not me talking to you as a software developer. This is me talking to you as the end user of a personal computer. Windows is not it anymore.

Third thing on the list is getting yourself a password manager. Of course, you can use Google. But I suggest you use 1Password or something similar. It does cost around $50 a year and is quite pricey for a password manager, but the features you get with it are priceless.

Why a password manager? Because it takes the burden of managing your passwords off your brain. This gives your brain much more room to work with. Passwords are a tricky thing, and things get better when you don’t use the same password for every login. Trust me.

Conclusion

Well, there you have it.

1. Delete all social media

2. Move from Windows to Linux or macOS

3. Use a password manager

Those are the three key things I did in my life that improved my productivity by at least 100%. And sure, there are a lot of other things to keep sharp. The main point here is that to keep up your productivity, you have to deal with the immense amount of information. And the only way to go is to expose yourself to a lesser amount of information while maintaining quality.