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Balanced Social Media Usage

I created one sec to stop myself from opening Instagram and Twitter without proper intention.

The effects were much stronger than I anticipated initially: instead of only impacting my behavior in the short term, one sec changed my phone usage patterns sustainably!

After using one sec for more than two weeks I noticed that I completely lost interest in checking Instagram or Twitter just for the sake of it.

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Friction added by one sec makes opening social media much more “painful”. Social media apps are not the feel-good oasis of instant gratification anymore – and your brain will adapt: Social media is not a viable option to escape from your problems anymore.

In the end, I have the feeling that I can finally use social media how I want, and not feel used by these platforms – much more balanced and much healthier.

I conducted a study together with the Max-Planck Institute and University of Heidelberg to analyze the effects of one sec on its users. We discovered a reduction of app-usage by 57%! You can learn more about our study here.