So last week I made the impromptu decision to delete the 3 social media apps I use the most- Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. I had a really bad cold at the time so I was resting and didn’t just want to be on my phone all day. I thought it was just going to be for the weekend while I was recovering but I really wanted to challenge myself to last a week. I’ve always wanted to take a step back from social media to see how I felt about not being as ‘in the know’ as I usually am and what would happen to my blog Instagram if I wasn’t posting or engaging at all. If you’ve ever wanted to take a break from social media, here are some thoughts I had during my week long social media break to give you a heads up on what you can expect:
- Less anxiety from comparison: So since I was sick and didn’t have any content planned for January yet, I was getting myself upset over the fact that I wasn’t being productive. I was comparing myself to the other posts I was seeing and already feeling awful since I was sick, so I figured it was best to just take a break from it all. It was nice to take a step back and not compare myself to the other more successful and less sick people I follow. This also inspired me to think about my own blogging goals and ambitions while not looking at what others are doing.
- Anxiety about not being in the know: Part of the reason I deleted my apps was because I was getting anxious about seeing a lot of memes and jokes about what is happening between Iran and the US. As in tune as I usually am with the news and pop culture, it was weird not knowing a lot (Harry and Meghan did what???) but I was able to keep in check with a lot of things by watching the news in the morning and after work (which is pretty normal for me). I think this helped keep these stressful topics at an arms length and in moderation, but I was also wondering if I was missing out on something big. (Spoiler, I really wasn’t, but I kept wanting tom check on my phone). I also kept wanting to look things up on these apps and I couldn’t so that was a little frustrating.
- No one really noticed: Turns out hardly any of my friends even noticed I wasn’t posting or responding to their Snapchats. A few did, but they were all in support of this little break. I texted people more to share the things I felt were important, which made me more intentional and direct in who I was talking to and what I was talking about. But of course no one really cared that I wasn’t posting.
- I took less pictures: I was looking over my pictures from last week and I had barely any even though I did quite a bit during the week. I think I was less likely to take pictures because I knew nothing was going to be immediately posted to the ‘gram or Snapchat.
- I kept going through my other apps out of habit: When I was bored and near my phone, I kept endlessly clicking and scrolling through my other apps like Tumblr and Pinterest. I even started scrolling through Poshmark and ThredUp, which would not be good for my wallet. At least I didn’t buy anything, but I was super tempted.
- I got a lot of emails from my apps: Instagram would send me email reminders that I had unread messages multiple times during the week. Obsessive much? I also got a notification that my Twitter account was compromised because someone logged in all the way from Russia (super weird). I guess thats what happens when you’re not checking your apps all the time…?
So looking back on this week, I definitely want to make this a regular thing. It felt good to tune out from the world and not worry about posts for my blog or seeing things that stressed me out. I wanna think I was more productive with my time this week too (my average screen time went down 53%). No lie, I’m a little worried my less screen time could result in less traffic and attention to the blog, but my mental health is way more important than that and this break definitely helped me mentally and emotionally refocus. I encourage everyone to take a break from social media every once in a while just because I think we all do get too wrapped up in it and comparison can really hurt us. Hopefully this sparked some inspiration in you to do that!
Any questions? Comment below!
Thanks for reading! xx