I Took a 30 Day Break From Social Media: Here’s What Happened
Many of you may be familiar with my earlier post on The Benefits of Being A Digital Minimalist, where I talked about how we can have a healthier relationship with technology, but I never talked about what the effects of leaving social media had on my well-being.
I decided to learn more about myself by doing a 30-day social media detox. I deactivated my Instagram and Facebook accounts, along with logging out of Twitter from all of my devices. By doing this, I used Jerry Seinfeld’s famous don’t break the chain method, except I had this chain growing mentally and did not actually use a physical calendar to mark the days in which I went without social media. You can read more about this chain method of staying accountable, but the idea is that you want this chain to keep growing as the days go by. If it breaks, you have to start the chain all over again.
Not only did I have Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts, but I also had Reddit, SnapChat and LinkedIn accounts. I don’t check Reddit that often, and I use SnapChat to keep up with my cousins and siblings, so I knew that my relationship with SnapChat was a healthy one since I would not open that app unless a message was sent to me or if I wanted to send something. I use LinkedIn for professional reasons, so I decided to keep that. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were the top 3 social media apps that took up the most of my time so I knew that I had to redefine whether those apps were really worth using for me.
Week 1
Within the first week, I noticed that any time I would feel slightly bored, I would pick up my phone, only to realize that I do not have my social media apps, so then I would put the phone back down. I felt happier doing that. I would pay attention to my surroundings and be grateful for everything that I have in my life. Because of letting go of these apps, I learned something about myself. I was the type of person who likes to try new things and to improve myself each day, even if it’s just a little bit. As I started to become more aware of my surroundings, I realized that I had too many things that I did not need, and so I decided to get rid of things that I had not used for a very long time, starting with the 100+ GameInformer magazines. After that, I looked into the idea of not just being a digital minimalist, but also living a minimalist lifestyle.
Week 2
As the second week started, I did not feel the urge to even check my phone. I noticed that because I did not have these apps, I did not see what everyone else was up to, but I did not really care to think about what someone else was doing based on their social media feed. Instead, I would call or text my friends to see how they were doing, and I felt happier catching up with them that way. Some of the texting apps I use are Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, iMessage and Telegram (for that one friend in Taiwan 🇹🇼 ). Since I use these apps strictly for messaging, I did not delete them.
By not paying attention to what everyone else was doing on social media, I was able to focus more on myself and I noticed how much I practiced gratitude each day. I did not think about the “fear of missing out”, because the only “fear of missing out” I should have is missing out on the things that I could be working on, achieving, or even doing nothing, rather than scrolling through social media in my free time.
Week 3
I thought that I would have some type of revelation at this point where I would need these apps, but I did not feel any urges to install them. I was focused on decluttering things from my life, such as donating clothes that I hadn’t worn in a long time or had no use for, organizing my home as well as thinking about all the new things that I wanted to try in my life, whether it was cooking new dishes or learning a new skill. I felt that the amount of time we spend on these apps robs us of finding out who we really are and instead we compare ourselves to others and see what others are up to.
Week 4
As I got closer to the 30 day mark, I realized that I never needed these apps to begin with. I felt happier, I could focus more on myself, and I freed up more time. I started looking back on the days when I used to deactivate my accounts and then reactivate them, but that’s because I hadn’t really focused on the why behind leaving those apps. If I felt bored, I would re-download those apps in the past and then keep scrolling when I woke up. The only reason I had ever re-downloaded these apps was just to satisfy my morning boredom, so I knew that I had to change my morning routine. I feel happy every morning, knowing that each day is a blank canvas and that I have been given the opportunity to grow, learn new skills, and experience more of life.
Final Thoughts
As I conclude this post, I wanted to mention another person’s blog post regarding his Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp exit. Check out Tejas Kumar’s brilliant post here. The part that really stood out to me was when he mentioned this:
It (Facebook) undoubtedly brought us closer, while also rekindling old friendships that would have otherwise grown stale. All for “free”!
I say “free” because, while I don’t pay for it with money, I pay for it with my life.
Paying for something with my life is what I was doing with these apps. Even if they’re advertised that they’re “free”, they end up costing my valuable time.
I don’t think I will ever end up reactivating my Facebook and Instagram accounts, and I’ll be using Twitter since I follow close friends and people who I aspire to, as well as checking what’s new in the tech world and connecting with other creatives. Twitter provides me with that value. Feel free to follow me! I do believe that Facebook and Instagram allow businesses to build a following and respond to customer inquiries, but outside of that, I don’t see why I would need to use them, especially with all the negative press surrounding them.
If you found this post useful, share it with your friends and family and try out the 30 day detox! You will discover things about yourself, and a little self-reflection can go a long way.
