While social media has many positive attributes, it can be a very toxic environment at times. This was recently exemplified by retired French footballer Thierry Henry quitting social media due to cyberbullying and racism.
Reboot Online utilised online analytics tool Ahrefs to establish which countries’ citizens are most likely to quit social media, based on key online searches indicating their clear intention to quit social media. It came up with the following ranking:
Reboot Online classified and grouped consistently recurring Google searches by individuals on quitting social media such as ‘how to delete social media?’, ‘how to delete Facebook?’, ‘how to delete Instagram?’, ‘how to delete Tumblr?’, ‘how to delete TikTok’?, ‘how to delete Twitter?’ and ‘how to delete Snapchat?’ as online searches which most signify users’ desire to quit social media.
Reboot Online found that Americans are the most likely to quit social media with an average 1,134,400 online searches per month indicating their intention to leave social media for good. The equivalent of 36,594 online searches each day. When put into context of how many active internet users there are in America (312,320,000), this equates to 0.363% of American internet users wishing to quit social media.
In second position is India as there is an average 497,940 online searches a month by Indians signalling their desire to quit social media.
United Kingdom (308,850 online searches), Canada (109,120 online searches) and Australia (97,060 online searches) are among the other countries where there are more than 90,000 online searches per month from citizens indicating their ambition to quit social media for the foreseeable future, respectively ranking third, fourth and fifth.
South Africa is in ninth place as there is an of average 31,340 online searches every month from South Africans demonstrating their desire to exit social media permanently. When considering the number of active internet users in South Africa (31,858,027), 0.098% of South African internet users are keen to quit social media each month.
At the other end in 20th spot is Spain with an average 3,330 online searches a month from Spanish citizens showcasing their aspiration to leave social media for good. When put into context of how many active internet users there are in Spain (42,400,756), 0.008% of Spanish internet users want to quit social media on a monthly basis.
Reboot Online’s Top Tips to Limit Social Media Usage
- Turn Off “Push” Notifications
Soon as our phone makes a sound, we are straight away drawn to it. Push notifications attached to social media apps can be disabled and to reduce social media intake, it would be wise to do so. Fewer notification sounds and lights via social media apps is more than likely to have a position impact on your productivity and concentration levels.
- Daily Social Media Detox
Set yourself a daily goal where you delegate at least an hour of the day when you are awake to not use social media at all. This can be during the morning, lunch or at night – whatever hour slot works best for you. It is an excellent way to detach yourself from social media and reduce your reliance on it. Maybe in that hour find yourself a hobby that does not involve staring at a screen.
- Have a Productive Approach
With social media it can be easy to get drawn into pointless debates or become fixated by comedy memes/videos but why not make your time spent on social media productive. There are a ton of educational influencers from a range of areas such as finance and technology, so why not follow those in subject areas you have a genuine interest in and absorb their content to gain valuable knowledge.