I took a 30-Day Social Media Detox to Live the 90’s
It all started with a conversation and a thought of having a “BREAK”.
I’ve always wanted to take a break from social media and have even made a few unsuccessful attempts. The challenge was real;
Most people won’t admit how much social media means, or has meant to them. I’ve been on the networking platform for over a decade, to be precise. So for the people who counter for being unrealistic in this period, let me tell you my average screen time on social Apps was 13hrs. It’s an above avg use.
Since I’m an Introvert, social media is one of the main ways I interact with other people. Simply put, I was addicted. I realized I wasn’t feeling as good and as focused as I wanted to be.
I grabbed my iPhone. I swiped it open, gazed at the social media icons littered across the Home screen and pressed my finger on one of them. The icons started to shake and the little “x” bubbles appeared. With a confident ferocity I removed Twitter, Snapchat,Linkedin, WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Pinterest (although never used) and finally Instagram.
What if there’s an interesting event happening and Instagram/Twitter is the only way to find out? At that moment I Felt, This wasn’t going to be easy.
14th July ,2020. 00:00 am
It Begun …
For the first two days, I’d grabbed my phone without even thinking, unlock it and start to swipe through screens looking for something to preoccupy my wandering mind. Then I’d snap back to reality and realize I had deleted all my Social apps.
After a week, I stopped flinching to look over. It no longer felt weird.
These 30days had been a physical and mental break for me. I became more productive because I didn’t have notifications popping up and distracting me all the time. And one thing that I’ve realized is that in India we often tend to be focus on marks and on things that college emphasizes, but those are not necessarily the things that make you an interesting person or lead you to do interesting things. I would say the clichéd lines of follow your passion/interest and work on things that you enjoy. I began to find out more about myself. I felt less influenced by how everyone else might think of me.
. . .
Upward …
We all care what people think of us. We all want to feel accepted. We all want to feel liked. Social media multiplies those thoughts and feelings without us even realizing it. It’s not healthy to always be under the knife of criticism. In a digital world we need a break from having our lives judged and commented on (often times by complete strangers who we don’t align with).
What I learned : It’s about knowing what your priority is right now, and choosing to focus on that and make the best out of every day. Less is more. Delete. Simplify. Prioritize.
I learned that social media gives rise to lots of fake relationships. I felt that I shed lots of superficial relationships when I quit. It’s weird because there are social media we feel like we are still connected to people that we used to know. We like each other’s photos or see each other’s photos and think that we still know each other. The truth is, so many years have passed in that time. We’re different people. We don’t see all the experiences that happen behind the scenes. We don’t actually really know each other anymore.
Lastly, I found that I was also happier. I was no longer surrounded by these perfectly curated Instagram photos. I wasn’t seeing the highlights of everyone’s life and comparing it to me, behind the scenes. I was just concerned with what was going on at the moment and with my own life.
I strongly condemn that i was no longer the same person anymore as I am before this PANDEMIC.
If everything was good I would have been in Europe spending time, but as they say everything happens for a reason, happened for a reason.
. . .
Onward …
Despite all the negative associations I had with it, social media has brought me joy. I love crafting images and captions. I love spreading the message about what I care about. It’s a tool that allowed me to build genuine relationships and be creative in the digital space.
Perhaps it can be used to create an even more meaningful life. Perhaps, I just needed this break to be more aware of it.
Cheers,
Addendum :
Hey,This is my first Article.Thanks for reading and sorry if there are any sentence fragments.