i can roll through my timeline of choice whenever I want, it’s a marvel of technology. Cons: I do it a lot, even when I wish I was doing something else.
With this in mind, I’ve been thinking recently about how I’d like social media to be a bit worse—to add the smallest amount of friction so it doesn’t take me too long to scroll. I found the perfect solution: use the web version of the social network on the phone instead of installing the app. Every social network—Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and even LinkedIn—works in your phone’s browser. Using this app instead of one is just a little confusing, which for me creates just enough extra friction to remind me that I can do something better with my limited time on this planet.
But it gets better. I talked about how you should always question default settingsand the idea that you need to install an app to use the social network is a particularly powerful default. Instead, using a web app is in some ways better than a dedicated app. Here’s why.
No sneaky access to data
Social media apps tend to ask for a lot of information. Some of this makes sense—for example, if you want to upload photos, Facebook will need access to your photo library. Some things make less sense—are there any social media apps that really need your current location?
It can find out which apps have permission to do what, but if you use the web version of the social media apps, you don’t have to. That’s because websites don’t run in the background of your device all the time—they just load when you ask them to. Myth that Facebook is listening to your conversationsbut if you don’t have the Facebook app installed then hypothetically they can’t either.
No announcements
This has pros and cons. Notifications on your phone make sure you never miss anything on the social network of your choice. That’s great if you want to stay connected, but it’s also a big part of what makes these social networks so addictive.
Simply put, if you’re trying to be better care about your use of social media, the notifications are a pretty big deal. However, the web version of social media sites cannot push notifications to your device. This allows you to be aware of when you want to check social media. Sure, you can still impulsively type “Instagram.com” in your browser from time to time, but that’s probably because you’re making a choice—not because a message pulls you in.
Terrible features added less often
Instagram just keeps getting worse. Where I had previously scrolled through a collection of photos from friends, now I get a few of them, then cheap fake TikTok.
I can’t fix this problem for you—social media is recommended to keep you scrolling, not to make sure you’re happy doing it. Obviously, the problem with old Instagram was that you would stop scrolling after you didn’t see the new photo. The alternative is a never-ending, algorithmically sorted stream of “content”. I’m not a technologist or futurist, but it seems to me that Meta (the company that owns Instagram and Facebook) will continue to make their products worse and worse in an attempt to squeeze them out. exhaust all the potential attention—and revenue—out of you.
I can’t solve this for you, but using the web version of a given social network is likely to delay the worst features for at least a while. For example, the web version of Instagram only adds the aforementioned junk stream once you’ve finished scrolling. That means if you use the web version of Instagram, you’ll have another six months of peace. It also means that the web version probably won’t be affected by any of the new hells the Instagram team dreams of next — at least for a little while. It is not much, granted, but it is something.
How to add any website to your home screen
Personally, I like having to type the URLs of social networks into my browser to open them – it’s a pretty big bump. However, if you don’t want to do that, you can add icons for the web version of any social network to your home screen so you can open them just like apps.
On iPhone or iPad, open the web page in Safari and tap the icon Share on the right side of the address bar. Clap Add to home screen and an icon with the appropriate logo will be added to your home screen.
On Android, open a web page in Chrome, tap the three-dot icon in the top-right corner, then tap Add to home screen. Note that in some cases this will say Install apps instead—Twitter did this for me. There’s a technical reason for this related to something called Progressive Web Apps, but you don’t have to worry about that. Either way, the icon will show up on your Android home screen.
It’s really hard to use social media with purpose. I don’t think using the web app is a magic trick that will solve my impulsive testing—it will. It’s a tool I have, though.
I can make it even more efficient by logging out when I’m done scrolling, which means I’ll need to enter my password the next time I want to scroll. Every little bit of friction I add makes it a little easier to break my habit, which is what I want for myself. If you want it too, give it a shot.
