Call it what you like: a detox, a hiatus, a break- I'm taking one of those from social media until further notice.
I've never been one of those people who particularly love social media. I have many friends who are influencers, Youtubers, and ambassadors that make the use of social media in a productive and fulfilling way.
Others use their various social media as a platform to express their opinions, share their art or uplift others, and its all incredibly admirable to me. I'm aware of how social media is an effective tool.
But social media just... doesn't do it for me. I am an activist, but I don't turn to social media to express my politics or share many of my insights on how the world operates. I've always felt that social media forces me to minimize my sentiments on a particular topic to a short character count that simply doesn't work for me.
I'd much rather express myself in long sentences that bleed into the margins of a journal.
Maybe I'm just a more private person. I don't feel the need to share my private life with the entire world for 24 hours on an Instagram or Snapchat story.
Also, social media is a highlight reel! Don't get me wrong, I always support others in their success and achieving their goals. But, sometimes watching people travel, make money or show off their bodies brings unnecessary comparison. So when I'm groggy, after taking a test in my 9 am class with a messy bun and my boyfriend's clothes, seeing someone else's highlight reel doesn't exactly make me feel 100% confident.
I am also wary about the amount of time I spend scrolling through Instagram, my primary form of social media. I haven't made time to do a lot of things: listening to music that I love without distraction, and reading a few pages of a book every night, journaling and meditating. But I've managed to spend hours scrolling through posts online.
Social media is what keeps us connected with bigger international news, politics, and pop culture and a large scale, but also lets us know how our friends are doing. I used to fear missing out (FOMO) and worry that if I didn't have it, I would somehow be left out of a joke or a big social gathering.
But I realized that my friendships do not depend on an app, and the bonds will be just as strong without it. And there are other ways to get news. While it may sound archaic, newspapers do exist!
Overall, I'm very excited to take a break from social media and to hopefully open up some new possibilities for how to spend my time. And I encourage everyone who feels like they need a break, to try going an hour, a day or even a week without it and explore other equally fulfilling activities. It will be there when you get back.
