For one week, I sacrificed my beloved Facebook account and Blackberry in the name of research. My aim was to calculate how much time is wasted texting, posting, ‘liking,’ Instagramming, and so on. I wanted to measure effective work yielded to the amount of time that would have normally been spent with casual cell phone or Facebook use. At first, the lifestyle change was difficult—but as time progressed and new habits set in, the importance of social media declined with every completed piece of homework.

However, A complete disappearance of both may be unrealistic, so in light of the daunting midterm season upon us, here are five simple ways to cut down your social media use and increase your scholarly productivity.

Create a ratio

Tell yourself that for every two hours of work you do, you can spend 10 minutes on Facebook or five minutes responding to phone messages. The more realistic you make this goal, the more likely you are to achieve it. If your fingers are usually glued to your phone, and your eyes to your computer screen, start small with a one-hour work to five-minute rest ratio, then work your way up every day.

Keep all alerts on silent

The constant beeping and vibrating of your various gadgets not only interrupt your studies, but also lure you toward lengthy digressions and distractions. Every new sound creates a new excuse to “just check” what’s going on, because it “might be important.”

Separate your social media spheres

In other words, use the medium for its specific purpose.  Keep your friendly greetings on Facebook, your pictures of dinner on Instagram, and your hourly updates for Twitter. You don’t need to update each of your profiles every time you do something. Doing this will not only show you the true value in each site, but erase that sense of constant connectivity that can become overwhelming.

Limit your Facebook alerts

You can control what notifications you get from Facebook, ensuring you’re not disturbed by an event request, or a post in a group you didn’t even know you were in. While you normally wouldn’t think twice about these small little pop-ups, there’s something about midterm season that makes previously irrelevant Internet activity suddenly seem interesting.

The extreme measures

There is an abundance of software programs available for download on the Internet that can block certain websites for a specified amount of time. As for your phone? Dismantle it, turn it off, or try leaving it at home when you venture to the library.

In an age where you can download self-control from the very place that distracted you to begin with, it is up to you to exploit this plethora of technological opportunities to your advantage. You’ll discover that, contrary to popular belief, a couple of hours, or even days, away from your cell phone or Facebook won’t make you and your social life completely obsolete. You may even achieve that A you were hoping for!