FAQ: Should I Delete Social Media During Recovery?

A lot of guys in the DeepClean community get freaked out when they hear my stance on social media. Most of them are also FULLY aware of how damaging their consumptions of social media can be on their overall health and recovery. So is there any way to keep social media while going through the recovery process?

The short answer is yes. In fact, during my own recovery from porn addiction, which took about 5 years altogether, I only deleted social media for small periods of time like during lent. My general MO, still to this day, is to leave social media off the phone by default. Download the app when you need to post or message and then delete it immediately after.

Interestingly enough, during my recovery a majority of my viewership took place on on my laptop – it was rarely on my phone. The correlation to me is obvious. I installed an extension on my browser that limited my social media consumption to as little as 10 minutes per day and this helped A TON. But I'll be frank, like any browser-based tool, it has several workarounds. I had high self-trust and was extremely motivated to get free – those things prevented me from circumventing the browser extension.

As a starting point, you should remove social media from your phone. No exceptions for that one. If you need it for work/business, then download the apps when you need them (I do that for my work) or simply use social media strictly on your laptop. Yes that creates inconvenience, but what is more inconvenient – a few extra steps in your social media workflow or a full fledged porn addiction that destroys your self-esteem and key relationships?

If you observe that social media is frequently a springboard into slips (see our article on edging for more information), then you should seriously consider deleting social media altogether from all devices for at least a few months. Make sure you get advice on re-integration – otherwise you can undo your progress in a matter or moments.

If you find social media is not that appealing to begin with but you enjoy the occasional scroll, you should STILL strongly consider deleting it from your devices. When you begin to recover your brain still seek out new avenues to get the same fix it's accustomed to. Social media can quickly become that avenue if it's available. That may be hard to believe now, but as someone who was addicted for 15 years and has helped hundreds of other men through their own addiction, believe me – this is a real thing.

Lastly, if you are committing to a program, challenge, etc., I strongly recommend deleting social media. Do not go half-in on these endeavors. Get the most out of it by deleting social media. If you were going on a diet, would you leave junk food around the house just in case? Probably not. Think of social media the same way. Don't play with fire – eliminate it as an option so you can focus on the things that really matter in your recovery from porn addiction.

Cheering you on,
Sathiya