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As a social media manager, it can be difficult to avoid doom scrolling on your phone during work. Often times, I visit Instagram or TikTok to post something to a brand account or look for ideas, then I realize an hour has gone by scrolling.

My top productivity hack to avoid doom scrolling is batching my tasks that require me to actually be on my phone/social media. I also utilize Sprout’s Smart Inbox for replying to comments/messages so I can avoid being on my phone.

Curious if anyone else has tips or ways they avoid being on their phone during work hours (or even after work hours!)

This is a great tip! Using Sprout to respond to messages and publish posts really helps avoid doomscrolling for hours on your phone. Even if it’s “for research” 😉


This is a great tip! I also end up doom scrolling quite a bit as a social media manager. 


As a fellow social media manager, I love this tip! It’s inevitable that you’ll have to be on your phone for work… this is a smart way to keep yourself from being distracted! 


Such a good tip! I’d also recommend the in-app time limits. At first it seemed elementary, but then after getting the reminders from Instagram saying I’ve been on the app for 30 minutes or only have 5 minutes left of my daily time limit, I realized how necessary it was to have those restrictions in place. 


@madison.skipper I literally wrote a book on this! Digital time-sucks are no joke in our field. Sprout made a huge difference for me, and I do work-related tasks only through the Sprout app if it needs to be done on my phone.


I know this isn’t feasible for everyone, but if I need to do something on social I can’t do through Sprout I try to use my work iPad or my team’s shared phone, then I can’t mindlessly switch into my personal account. 


Not for everyone, but I find that because my desk is in a high-traffic area of my office, it’s easier for me to stay off my because I don’t want every person walking by to be like, Ugh. On her phone again. I refuse to be the stereotype of the marketing/comms team person who is always on their phone.

It’s actually harder when I work from home because my personal device is also where I receive work calls, as opposed to my desk phone for Official Business™️


Not for everyone, but I find that because my desk is in a high-traffic area of my office, it’s easier for me to stay off my because I don’t want every person walking by to be like, Ugh. On her phone again. I refuse to be the stereotype of the marketing/comms team person who is always on their phone.

It’s actually harder when I work from home because my personal device is also where I receive work calls, as opposed to my desk phone for Official Business™️

Ooh I so agree with this! When I WFH, I get a lot of deep work done. But heaven help anyone who gives me a bunch of one-off tasks, because I get so distracted by the doom scroll. Five minutes turns into an hour and then… Oof.


Not for everyone, but I find that because my desk is in a high-traffic area of my office, it’s easier for me to stay off my because I don’t want every person walking by to be like, Ugh. On her phone again. I refuse to be the stereotype of the marketing/comms team person who is always on their phone.

It’s actually harder when I work from home because my personal device is also where I receive work calls, as opposed to my desk phone for Official Business™️

This is a great example of positive social pressure. Unfortunately, it can also make me anxious when my coworkers see me on the phone while I’m legitimately working. Although an iPhone is one of my work devices, people aren’t typically trained to see it that way. 


I had a similar topic in the tip I posted - I mentioned using the smart inbox and making sure my phone is out of sight - but I love that your tip goes a step further with batching phone tasks. Definitely planning on trying to batch time for social media tasks that still require my phone, like creating reels and other video posts on our channels.


Yep! Accidentally doom scrolling is definitely a thing. Audible reminders help me a lot so I sometimes tell google to set a 10 min timer before an activity that might get me to doom scroll. 


This is a great tip! I just made a new post for this, but I have a problem of picking up my phone and scrolling first thing in the morning. When I avoid doing this and keep my phone on DND in the morning until I start work, it helps immensely and I don’t have the urge to pick up my phone throughout the day nearly as much! 


Such a good tip! I hate when I think “I’ll just check how our post is doing” and then 30 minutes (or more) later the doom scroll has trapped me.


I totally get you. I try to do everything that I can off of my phone and on Sprout so I don’t look like “that person”


I use a dual-monitor setup to stay productive. I block time each morning for engagement and use one screen for browsing social media while keeping the other focused on my main tasks. This helps me stay engaged without losing track of my priorities. I find that when I access platforms on my phone the doom scrolling begins 😅


This is so hard!! I have to go in and check on Facebook groups that are not accessible in Sprout.. That would make my life soooo much easier. I just need to set point of order type times throughout the day that are designated to check those groups and stick with that and use the Sprout smart inbox for the rest!


One of my best decisions lately was not installing social media apps on my phone when I changed phones a couple of months ago. Years ago, I had already made the decision to turn off all app notifications, which in itself reduced mental load and the tendency to stay constantly connected to the feeds.


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