After a hectic week that left me burnt out, I decided to step away from social media in order to give myself a much needed break. I knew I needed to focus on myself, and I was not going to let Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat distract me from doing so. Once I made up my mind, I went ahead and deleted most of the social media apps on my phone. The goal was to live without them for some time while I could devote more time on myself.

There was no hesitation. I was ready. For the first in awhile, I was not scared to be virtually disconnected from the world. Perhaps I had too much of that connection online and not enough personal connection.

I handed my Snapchat account over to my best friend, who was the only person that knew about my plan. He was instructed to just keep my streaks alive, so no one would notice that I was gone. I did not feel the need to announce my decision to everyone; I would stress myself even more if I were to explain to them what I was doing. With too much on my plate already, all I wanted was an easy out.

But, my best friend came up with the greatest plan. Since he was living in the Philippines, he would have geofilters for the local areas there once he got on my Snapchat. He proposed using those filters on Snaps he was going to send out to my friends to stir the pot a little bit. Nothing thinking much of it, we both thought it would be funny, so I agreed to it. And, the bamboozling began.

Within five minutes of sending the first snap, my best friend texted me to let me know two of my friends are already asking questions, but he did not reply to them to dodge more questions. Being left on opened for several minutes led one of those friends to text me and personally ask me where I was. I gave her a Spark Note version of what was happening. The next day, my other friend came over to check on me and spend time with me. Later at night, a third friend FaceTimed me when he realized something was off.

Before I knew it, my social media detox turned into an experimental study, where I observed which friends would text or call me.

A few days passed and my friend, who resides on the East Coast, called me to yell at me for "not inviting" him to go out of the country with me. I laughed and told him about my break. He wanted in on it, confusing my other friends about my whereabouts.

The most interesting observation I made is that most of my friends were convinced I was able to easily fly across the world under 12 hours and then, make it to New York City that quickly as well. Only two of them questioned it from the start. Though that was concerning, the most important finding of all was some of my friends cared enough to make an effort to reach out to me beyond social media.

All in all, this social media blackout made me feel so free and content. I found myself being more productive and enjoying the little things. A little break every now and then does not hurt!