5 Ways To Break Your Facebook Addiction And Create More Time For Language Learning

You have the best of intentions …

You plan to study …

But then Facebook happens. 

45 minutes later, your textbook lies unopened on the table.

You've done it again!

But don't worry – there's still hope.

Here are five quick ways to get your Facebook addiction under control, and create extra time and focus for language learning each week.

By the way, if you want to be a successful language learner, and learn a new language fast (without getting sidetracked by social media), using the right method is key.

My courses teach you through StoryLearning®, a fun and effective method that gets you fluent thanks to stories, not rules. Find out more and claim your free 7-day trial of the course of your choice.

1. Eradicate Your Newsfeed

This amazing Facebook Newsfeed Eradicator extension for the Chrome browser blocks your entire newsfeed.

Instead of the endless stream of status updates and ads, you'll see lots of empty space, and a motivational quote to get you back on task!

2. Block Facebook Entirely

These great free apps allow you to avoid distracting websites by completely blocking access. 

Simply enter the websites you want to be rid of, set the time period you want to block access for, and click “Go!”

• For Mac: Self-Control
• For PC: Cold Turkey

Once you've set it to run, there's literally no way to access these sites on your computer… even restarting it won't help!

Genius!

Alternatively, if you really need access to Facebook from time to time use the LeechBlock plugin for Firefox to record your time spent on Facebook and boot you off after a specific period of time.

3. Facebook-Free Mobile

If you successfully implement #2 and block access to Facebook from your desktop, there's one obvious risk that remains …

You can sidestep the whole thing and get online from your phone!

I suffered from this absurdity for a while, until one day I plucked up the courage to simply delete the Facebook app from my phone. 

Things got a lot simper after that.

Really – there's no good reason you need Facebook on your phone.

Do you sometimes get important messages on Facebook? Just tell people to email or SMS you instead.

They'll quickly get used to it.

• How to remove Facebook from your iPhone or Android

4. Nail Your Notifications

Not ready to disable Facebook entirely?

Then start by removing the main distractor of all … notifications.

• Click the notifications (globe) icon
• Look for the small “settings” option and click it
• Start by disabling sound alerts, so you won't get sucked back into Facebook whilst browsing other sites
• You can't disable everything, but all non-essential notifications like birthdays, tags, groups and games can all be turned off

5. Kill The Chat

Messages and Chat are not the same thing.

Did you know you can disable the pop-up chat boxes, whilst still receiving all your messages safely in the “Messages” area?

Here's how …

• Click the cog in the chat sidebar (currently located in the bottom-right corner)
• Click “Turn off chat”
• Whilst you're at it, click “Hide Sidebar”

Remember, all your messages can still be found in the main “Messages” area, so you won't miss out on anything important.

The best policy of all is simply to move your communication off Facebook and onto email or SMS.

Don't let other people's agendas control what you are able to get done.

How much more time and focus could you dedicate to language learning each week if you got your Facebook activity under control?

Why not pick just one of these simple tricks, and put it into action right now?

Your language learning may never be the same again 🙂 And you'll really annoy the inconsistency villain.

Finally, please help make the language learning world a better place, and share this post on Facebook right now! (Irony intended!)

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.