Last week, I had a sudden urge to turn a new leaf as the leaves outside started to fall off. I just felt that it was suddenly important to step out of my unhealthy routine of sleep, work, eat, work and sleep, and the easiest way I could imagine becoming a new person was by stopping myself from going on social media. It felt symbolic to delete those individual apps or hide them in a folder in the back of my phone because I was preventing myself from furthering my need of creating this personality online. The biggest culprit was Instagram, which unfortunately, I was addicted to.

It's not that I felt unhappy being attached to social media, but I realized that there was no point to waste my time on these apps instead of studying more or becoming healthier. I'm still not sure how long this phase of avoiding social media will last, but until the wave of change washes over, I'm planning on upgrading my routine as much as possible.

I remember deleting Instagram once last December to study for my finals, but my addiction then was so terrible that I couldn't stop myself from downloading the app again after four days. Now that I have more work to do and less time to do all of it, I don't find myself on my phone as much as back then, so I feel like I'll be keeping my promise for a longer period of time this time around.

It's only been a few days, and I'm feeling much better without knowing exactly why. Although there was a huge downfall that I wasn't getting nearly any notifications, that still made me look away from my screen for longer, and I didn't find myself checking every five minutes. I've also had more time to myself, so I could get into some of my old hobbies like mindlessly sketching or reading. The smallest bits of joy throughout the day became more noticeable because I actually saw them instead of looking down at a phone.

It's cliché to say that deleting social media changes your life, but it really does. Since technology has quietly become a necessity in our daily routines, some of us tend to use it more than others. I happened to find myself at a point where I had an unhealthy obsession with my phone, and I thankfully had the discipline to stop. I do feel like my life has changed for the better now that my phone is only a place to call, text or set reminders. That's all I need to get through my day without distractions, so now that I've brought down the use of my phone to the bare minimum, I'll be able to explore the outside world in the time that I have left.

On another note, though, who knew that having a clean notification screen was so relaxing?