Hypnotherapy for social media addiction
Is social media addiction leaving you drained and making you miserable? Have you tried deleting the apps, only to reinstall them a few days later? Hypnotherapy can help you break free from the habit once and for all, by releasing you from the addiction at the subconscious level.
Hello, I'm Susannah. I am a fully qualified hypnotherapist with 20+ years of experience, offering clinical hypnotherapy in the City of London, near Liverpool Street, and online. I help people who've tried timers, app blockers and digital detoxes, and keep ending up back on their phone. I offer bespoke one-to-one hypnosis sessions in London or online in the comfort of your own home. Contact me to find out more or book your initial consultation.
How can hypnotherapy help with social media addiction?
Hypnotherapy can help with social media addiction by breaking the associations you have developed with your phone, and resolving the underlying thoughts and beliefs that have been feeding your addiction. In hypnosis, we work on any stress, boredom, dissatisfaction, anxieties or worries that have been causing you to seek comfort from social media, so that you can get back the time and energy to pursue the things in life that bring you genuine joy and fulfilment.
What are the benefits of cutting down on social media?
People who cut down on social media often say they sleep better, feel calmer and get hours of their day back. Hypnotherapy can help you:
- put your phone down and get on with your day
- go to sleep with your phone out of the bedroom
- wake up and start your day calmly
- focus on work, a book or a film
- be present with your partner, children and friends
- feel good about your own life
- use social media when you choose to
- enjoy your evenings and weekends
- feel proud of yourself
Meet Susannah Saunders: Clinical Hypnotherapist in London
Susannah Saunders is a clinical hypnotherapist with over 20 years’ experience, helping clients with anxiety, sleep difficulties, phobias, confidence and unwanted habits.
She founded City Hypnotherapy Centre in London in 2003 and previously worked for two years as an assistant clinical psychologist within NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. Her qualifications and professional registrations include:
- BSc (Hons) in Psychology
- Senior Qualification in Hypnotherapy Practice (SQHP), General Hypnotherapy Standards Council
- Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma (HPD), National Council for Hypnotherapy
- Registered with the General Hypnotherapy Register (GHR). Registration number: 3034
- Registered with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC). Registration number: CNHC10269
Your appointment
£198Including VAT · approximately 50 minutes
- Individual sessions tailored to you
- Your initial consultation includes hypnosis
- A personalised hypnosis recording included
- Time to discuss your goals and review your progress
Try my free hypnosis audio
Try my free 30-minute guided relaxation audio and get a feel for my voice and approach.
What is social media addiction?
Social media addiction is when you keep scrolling, checking and posting even though you'd like to stop, and it's affecting your life. You might hear it called problematic social media use, or phone addiction when it's the phone in general. It often creeps up, a few minutes here and there, until it's taking hours of your day.
What are the signs of social media addiction?
The main signs of social media addiction are scrolling for hours and feeling on edge when you're away from your phone. The Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale looks at six signs, including using it to change your mood and needing more of it over time. It also looks at whether it's causing problems at home or work, and whether you slip back after cutting down.
Do I have to give up social media altogether?
You decide what a healthy relationship with social media looks like for you. Some people want a full break, and others want to keep it for work, family groups or the odd scroll at the weekend. We work towards whatever feels right, so social media fits around your life.
What happens in a hypnotherapy session for social media addiction?
Each hypnotherapy session for social media addiction combines a solution-focused chat with time in hypnosis, while you sit back with your eyes closed. Your first session is the initial consultation, which includes hypnosis, and later sessions start with what's gone well since we last met. After each session, you have the personalised recording to listen to at home.
What else can I help you with?
Social media addiction hypnotherapy: your questions answered
Scrolling, phone habits and everyday life
Social media addiction is when you keep scrolling, checking and posting even though you'd like to stop, and it's affecting your life. You might hear it called problematic social media use, or phone addiction when it's the phone in general. It often creeps up, a few minutes here and there, until it's taking hours of your day.
The main signs of social media addiction are scrolling for hours and feeling on edge when you're away from your phone. The Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale looks at six signs, including using it to change your mood and needing more of it over time. It also looks at whether it's causing problems at home or work, and whether you slip back after cutting down.
Social media addiction is very real for the people living with it, and researchers study it under names like problematic social media use. Apps are designed to keep you scrolling, with endless feeds, autoplay and notifications that bring you back. So finding it hard to stop is very common, and it's something you can change.
It's hard to stop scrolling because there is always something new to watch, and you never know what will come next. That unpredictability can keep you checking. When you're tired or stressed, quick entertainment can feel especially appealing.
You keep picking up your phone because it's become a habit, linked to moments like queues, ad breaks and waiting for the kettle. People often say their hand twitches towards their phone before they've decided anything. That's your subconscious at work, and it's the part we work with in hypnosis.
Checking your phone as soon as you wake up is very common, and it often starts with using it as your alarm. Before you're out of bed, you've seen the news, your emails and everyone else's lives, and your stress bucket is already filling up. An old-fashioned alarm clock is one of the simplest changes you can make.
Scrolling in bed is often a way to switch off after a busy day, and it can feel like the only time that's yours. Some people call it revenge bedtime procrastination, staying up late to claw back some me time. The trouble is, it eats into your sleep, and you wake up tired and reach for your phone again.
Doomscrolling is scrolling through bad news or upsetting posts for ages, even though it makes you feel worse. Worry can keep you checking for updates, so you keep looking for the next headline. It can leave you feeling on edge, especially late at night.
You lose hours on TikTok and Instagram because short videos play one after another, so there's always one more to watch. Scrolling can feel like a trance, and an hour can pass in what feels like ten minutes. Hypnosis uses that same absorbed state in a helpful way, to calm you and change the habit.
You pick up your phone when you're bored or stressed because your brain has learned it's a quick way to get some relief or entertainment. I use the stress bucket as a simple illustration of how worries, deadlines and late nights can build up. In hypnosis, we work on the stress and the associations behind the habit.
You feel bored and exhausted at the same time because hours of scrolling make everything else feel slow, while draining your energy. By the evening, you're too tired for the walk, workout or book you planned, so you end up on the sofa, scrolling again. Hypnotherapy can help lower your stress and break the cycle, so the things you enjoy feel worth doing again.
Scrolling is often a way of avoiding something, like a difficult task, a worry or feeling lonely. Your phone offers an instant escape, so you reach for it before you've even noticed what you're putting off. Hypnotherapy can help you feel calmer and more confident, so you can get on with the hard thing.
App limits and blockers can help, but it's easy to tap ignore, or reinstall the app at midnight. They make the habit harder, and hypnotherapy works on why you want to scroll in the first place. The two work well together.
You keep reinstalling apps because deleting them removes the app, and the habit stays. Days later, your thumb can still swipe to where TikTok used to be. Hypnotherapy can help you lose interest in the apps, so you're happy to leave them off your phone.
You can get hooked on YouTube after quitting TikTok because your brain still wants the quick reward it's used to. So it finds the next thing, whether that's Netflix, Reddit, mobile games or a K-drama at 3am. Hypnotherapy can help with the stress and boredom behind the habit, so you stop swapping one app for another.
Yes, people can feel addicted to their phone in general, including social media, messaging, news, shopping and games. Hypnotherapy works in the same way, whatever keeps you glued to your screen.
Sleep, relationships and feeling better
Yes, social media can affect your sleep, especially when you scroll in bed or check your phone in the night. A University of Pittsburgh study found an association between frequent social media use and disturbed sleep. Keeping your phone out of the bedroom can help you make time to settle down and sleep.
Yes, social media can affect your concentration when notifications and frequent checking keep interrupting what you're doing. Many people find they struggle to read a book or watch a film all the way through. We can work on feeling more absorbed in the things you want to do.
Social media can make some people feel anxious or low, especially when they compare themselves to others or scroll through bad news. In a University of Pennsylvania study, students who cut back on social media saw their loneliness and depression go down. Hypnotherapy can help lower your stress, so you feel better in yourself.
You compare yourself because your brain is wired to check how you measure up, and social media shows you everyone's best bits. Holidays, new kitchens and perfect bodies, filtered and edited, can leave you feeling like you're falling behind. Hypnotherapy can help you feel good about your own life, so other people's posts lose their sting.
Social media can affect your relationship when you're both on your phones in the evening, or when one of you feels ignored. Some people call it phubbing, short for phone snubbing, when you check your phone in the middle of a conversation. Cutting down can help you feel closer and enjoy more time together.
Your phone habit can affect your children, because they learn a lot by copying you. Many parents feel guilty about scrolling at the park or during bath time, and wish they were more present. Hypnotherapy can help you put your phone down and enjoy that time together.
Feeling guilty after scrolling is common, because you know the time has gone and you meant to do something else. That guilt can send you straight back to your phone for comfort, and the cycle starts again. In hypnotherapy, we focus on what you'd like to do with that time, and build on every small win.
FOMO, or fear of missing out, is the worry that you'll miss something if you put your phone down. It keeps you checking group chats, stories and news, even when you'd rather rest. Hypnotherapy can help you feel calm about stepping away, knowing it'll all be there later.
Social media addiction hypnotherapy can help anyone who feels their phone has more control over their life than they'd like. That includes people who scroll late into the night, parents who want to be more present, and professionals whose focus has slipped. It can also help if you use your phone to cope with stress, boredom or loneliness.
Social media addiction hypnotherapy works by lowering your stress and working with your subconscious, so picking up your phone becomes a choice again. In hypnosis, we work on the negative stories, thoughts and beliefs at the root of the problem, like worrying you'll miss out. Then you practise seeing yourself putting your phone down and enjoying what's in front of you.
Hypnosis and your appointments
Hypnotherapy techniques for social media addiction include deep relaxation, positive suggestion, anchoring and reframing, chosen to suit you. I also teach you EFT, or tapping, for the moment you want to reach for your phone, and self-hypnosis for bedtime. Where helpful, we finish with mental rehearsal, picturing yourself calm and phone-free at your usual trigger times.
You decide what a healthy relationship with social media looks like for you. Some people want a full break, and others want to keep it for work, family groups or the odd scroll at the weekend. We work towards whatever feels right, so social media fits around your life.
Yes, hypnotherapy can help if you need social media for work, so you can post, reply and log off. Many business owners and creators find a quick check for work turns into an hour of scrolling. Together, we work on using it with a clear purpose, so the rest of your day is yours.
Each hypnotherapy session for social media addiction combines a solution-focused chat with time in hypnosis, while you sit back with your eyes closed. Your first session is the initial consultation, which includes hypnosis, and later sessions start with what's gone well since we last met. After each session, you have the personalised recording to listen to at home.
The personalised recording is the audio of your hypnosis session, for you to listen to at home between sessions. Listening in bed gives you something calming to do in place of scrolling, and it can help you drift off. Pop your phone on the other side of the room once it's playing.
Yes, hypnosis can help you stop scrolling at night by calming your mind, so going to sleep feels easier than reaching for your phone. We work on your bedtime routine in hypnosis, and the personalised recording becomes the last thing you listen to. My insomnia hypnotherapy page has more on sleep.
Yes, hypnotherapy can help with other online habits, like gaming, online shopping or porn. The approach is the same, calming the stress behind the habit and changing how you respond to it. My addiction hypnotherapy page and porn addiction hypnotherapy page have more detail.
Small changes to your phone and your routine can help, like charging your phone outside the bedroom. Move social apps off your home screen, switch your screen to greyscale and turn off all but the most important notifications. When you feel the itch to scroll, get up and move, even if it's just to put the kettle on.
Hypnotherapy sessions are private and discreet, and I explain confidentiality and how I look after your information when we begin. My ICO registration number is ZB654528. You can read my privacy policy for details of how your information is handled.
Yes, you can have hypnotherapy for social media addiction online, by secure, encrypted Zoom from home. Online sessions follow the same approach, with hypnosis and the personalised recording. My online hypnotherapy page has more detail.
The number of sessions varies from person to person, depending on how long the habit has been part of your life. We talk it through at your initial consultation, so you know what to expect.
My fees for hypnotherapy are listed on my prices page, and I'm happy to answer any questions before you book. You can contact me to book your initial consultation.
Experience, registration and more questions
Research has linked problematic social media use with disturbed sleep and low mood. A University of Pennsylvania experiment found that limiting use reduced loneliness and depression in its student participants. These findings help explain why changing the habit can be useful; my sessions focus on your own reasons for scrolling and what you want to change.
When choosing a hypnotherapist for social media addiction, look for recognised qualifications, professional registration and someone you feel comfortable with. I hold the SQHP and HPD qualifications and have worked as a clinical hypnotherapist since 2003. My CNHC registration number is CNHC10269 and my GHR registration number is 3034.
I'm Susannah Saunders, a clinical hypnotherapist who founded City Hypnotherapy Centre in 2003. I have a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and spent two years as an assistant clinical psychologist in NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. I'm registered with the General Hypnotherapy Register, and I help people break all sorts of habits, including smoking, vaping and scrolling. My professional registrations include the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC10269) and the General Hypnotherapy Register (3034).
You can keep scrolling without enjoying it because opening the app and swiping have become a habit. Sometimes you are putting off a task or trying to distract yourself from how you feel. In hypnosis, we work on those associations and what has been keeping the habit going.
Hypnosis can help you work on the habits and feelings behind spending hours on your phone. We talk about when it happens, what you are watching and how it affects your sleep, work and relationships, then tailor your sessions to the changes you want.
Scrolling while watching television can become a way to keep yourself occupied whenever the programme slows down. We can work on the need to keep checking and help you enjoy watching something from beginning to end.
I can help you work on the habit of choosing your phone over things you used to enjoy. We explore what has changed, including stress, tiredness or low mood, and use hypnosis to support your interest in spending time on those activities again.
Hypnosis can help with constantly checking WhatsApp and group chats by working on the worry about missing a message and the habit of checking every few minutes. We focus on feeling comfortable replying when you choose and getting on with your day.
You can check my GHR profile and visit the CNHC register using the links on my about page. My registration numbers are GHR 3034 and CNHC10269. I hold a BSc (Hons) in Psychology, HPD and SQHP qualifications.
You can book social media addiction hypnotherapy with me in London, near Liverpool Street, or online via Zoom. Contact me to discuss availability and book your consultation. Your first appointment includes hypnosis and a personalised recording.
Where can I read the research and check your registrations?
Page reviewed by Susannah Saunders, clinical hypnotherapist (SQHP, HPD), November 2026.
How can I book my consultation?
Contact me to find out more or book your initial consultation for social media addiction hypnotherapy.
