Recently, I decided that I wanted to take a break from social media. I deleted apps that I thought I could take some time away from and so far I have lasted a little over a week.

I am not going to lie, this is NOT easy. I have been tempted to download the app again and check it every time I get the chance. I miss the light blue screen of Twitter and seeing pictures of what everyone is doing on Instagram but I think this is really good for me. I feel refreshed and honestly, less stressed out than I normally am.

I don't think that people realize it or even talk about it but social media can be really stressful and time-consuming. You are constantly checking other peoples posts and seeing their lives and then updating everyone on your own and hoping to be as interesting as the next and it is exhausting. I know life doesn't revolve around social media, and sometimes I wish I grew up when social media wasn't big so this did not feel like such a huge accomplishment to me.

I do not think that having the most followers or the most likes make you important but some people really think that it has value and I can understand that. When you see people with a lot of followers and likes, you internally think they have something that you lack. It could be money, popularity, beauty, anything, but in reality, they just have time to update everyone on their lives instead of living it themselves.

I think this is why a break is good. You may not realize it but you are invested in other people's lives and you want them to be invested in yours too. You want people to like your pictures, retweet your tweets, but you don't really know why you just want it.

My theory is, people base their value off of these things without even realizing it. They let it make the decision if they are important or unimportant. I am a victim of this too. I will get bummed if I post a picture and I don't get a lot of likes but when you think about the big picture, who cares? You should post things because you want to, not because you feel like you need to or feel like you need likes.

I know this was really true for me in middle school and high school and I think it still occurs there but as you grow up, it doesn't matter as much. I think internally we still have this small nagging want to be "popular." We want to have the most likes and retweets because we want people to see we are doing good and can be relatable but we don't let it determine our happiness.

Taking a social media break benefits you because you have more time to focus on other things instead of constantly focusing on what everyone else is doing. You have time to think about yourself and take the time to do the things you need to do.

I think that I have been more productive with this break. I get my homework done early and don't constantly wait until the last second. I take the time to actually talk to people instead of sitting on my phone.

When standing outside of a classroom waiting for the class to start, everyone is standing there on their phones, I just watch people now. I don't just stare at my phone constantly checking everything, I am more aware of my surroundings and I find myself paying more attention in my classes also.

This break is really helping me focus on me and what I want and what I need to do. I know I will download my social media apps again but I am hoping this break gave me some perspective and also helps me avoid spending all my time on apps.