playbook
One week without social media
Seven days without Instagram, TikTok, X, LinkedIn. Apps deleted from your phone, browser blocked. Forest timer as a focus aid. Afterwards, you look at your phone differently.
1u
duration
€ 0–15
budget
Ignite
pace
Most people know the idea: one week without Instagram or TikTok and you become a different person. In practice it never works, because deleting apps from your phone is a five-minute hurdle and by week three you have them back again. A week without only works with a real barrier, not a good intention.
The approach that does work: Sunday evening you plan it, you delete the apps, you block the browsers with a Forest timer or something similar, and you tell two people what you are doing. On day one you still reach for your phone 40 times. On day three, ten times. On day five you start wondering what you used to do in those moments. At the end of the week you download two of the four apps again, and you let the other two go. That is the real result. Not "without forever", but "a choice instead of a habit".
Checklist
0 of 6
Apps verwijderd
Niet alleen uitgelogd
Browser-toegang geblokkeerd
Met Forest of vergelijkbaar
Twee mensen ingelicht
Voor accountability
Drie alternatieven gepland
Boek, wandeling, gesprek
Eerste dag overleefd
De moeilijkste
Reflectie op dag 7
Wat downloadt terug, wat niet
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Atmosphere
by PlayTryBe team
Sunday evening: plan the week. Write down the four apps that need to go. Not just "social media", be specific.
0Delete the apps from your phone. Also log out of the browser versions. Set up the Forest app or Cold Turkey to block the browser.
5Suggestion: Deleting alone is not enough, because you can download them back in 30 seconds.Tell two people what you are doing. Not a big statement on LinkedIn, just your partner and your best friend.
Plan three alternative things for the moments you would normally scroll. A book on your nightstand, a walking route, a person to call.
Day 1: you reach for your phone 30 to 50 times. Every time you open it and have nothing to do, you feel the emptiness. That is not a failure, that is the whole point.
Around day 3 or 4: an evening where you have not thought about your phone for two hours. A surprising stillness. No hard work, just absence.
On day 5 or 6: what did you do in those scroll moments before social media existed? Mostly nothing, sometimes something useful. Both are fine.
Day 7: see what you re-download. Not everything, not nothing. Two apps you genuinely miss, two you no longer miss. That is the choice.
0A week without is not the goal. A choice instead of a habit is the goal. Without the week, you cannot make that choice.
For anyone copying this
Do as we did
Suggestions
- Delete the apps, log out, and block browser access. Three barriers, not one.
- Tell two people you are doing it. No big statement, just a casual mention.
- Plan ahead what you will do with the time that opens up, otherwise you will fill it with other apps.
- A Forest timer for focus hours works well to bridge the urge.
Variations
- - Alleen Instagram: een lichtere versie, alleen één app voor een week.
- - Twee weken in plaats van een: na zeven dagen weet je nog niet alles, na veertien dagen wel.
- - Met partner of vriend: samen doen geeft een gespreks-buffer en houdt iemand verantwoordelijk.
- - In een vakantieweek: makkelijker, want je hebt al een andere structuur.