Disclaimer: I fully recognize the irony of writing about quitting social media on a platform that spreads articles through social media. I think it's kind of funny, actually. Rest assured, sharing my articles requires no logging in to Facebook on my part.
This Thanksgiving, I noticed something. In my living room, while my everyone in my family began to ease into our annual post-Thanksgiving dinner naps, everyone was staring at separate screens.
My brother was using Twitter, and my sister was sending me snapchats from across the room. I, myself, was watching one of those cooking videos on Facebook despite the fact that the most complex meal I can make is mac 'n' cheese. My mother was shopping on her iPad, my father watching Netflix on his laptop. It felt wrong.
The next day, I made a decision. Sometimes, it's healthy to take a step back and restructure daily life; to take a personal inventory, and devise a plan on how to best move forward. At the forefront of this plan was to get rid of social media. I opened my phone, and deleted Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. I blocked social media websites on my browser for thirty days. And I didn't look back.
It's been ten days now, and I can honestly say that I don't miss it very much. I've allowed myself to keep iMessage and Groupme in order to stay on top of my job and my studies, but more or less my phone feels like a heavy clock.
Every now and then, I'll take out my phone and unlock it, only to question why I had my phone out. I noticed that I did this frequently in public when I didn't know what to do with my hands. I now notice that other people do this as well, which is sort of funny. I think it's our generation's nervous habit.
The thing I've noticed most is how much time I have now. I don't think it's possible to fully realize how much one uses social media until dropping it altogether. I would never regularly just open up my phone and stare for hours on end, but checking social media for five minutes whenever I had free time seems like it really did add up.
Every day, I am able to map out my day so that I can accomplish all the goals that I want to. I do my work earlier. I fit more time in to work out. I listen to music more. I have time to learn new things, like a new instrument. I taught myself how to meditate. I'm keeping a journal. And I get more sleep, too, which is incredible. All of this, because of a spur of the moment decision and the commitment to bettering myself on a whim.
It's only been ten days, so I don't fully know the extent to which I'm missing out by not using social media. It takes more effort to go out of my way and meet with friends, because sometimes I won't take my phone places now. Some friends have found it a little frustrating, and I've been told that on Christmas morning I'll have hours worth of snapchats waiting on me. Still, I think that it has been a net-positive experience thus far.
I've encouraged others to try it, as well. If you feel like you use social media often, but don't feel like you're using it to engage with others much, I would recommend putting some distance between yourself and Facebook. It doesn't have to be a month, like I chose to try. See if you can go a week without it.
