I don’t have any social media enable unless it’s strictly for a school or required by and organization for communication purposes. I started doing this when I got into college. I struggled all the time in high school to focus. I needed to FOCUS on school, FOCUS on community service, and through this I learned to FOCUS on intentionality.

Going to college didn’t come naturally or easily to me. I went home nearly every weekend for the first few months of college, and when I couldn’t go home, I went to my grandparents who lived nearby. I was scared of change. I was scared to introduce myself to people. And I was overall distracted.

Social media distracted me in high school. I wanted to see who was where, who were they with, what were they doing, and why couldn’t I be doing it too? My FOMO drives my self confidence... or at least it used to.

When I got into college, I mainly disabled social media because I wanted to make sure I payed attention in class. I turn my phone off and put it away during class entirely. I earned my place at MSU, and I intend to use all my schooling to my advantage. I don’t want to waste it staring at my phone during class.

But more than simply excelling at school came out of turning off my notifications. I found a lot of things I loved. I love reading, and I always have. I found myself looking up when I walk and seeing familiar faces all over campus. I found myself going out more (Pre-covid) and walking up to strangers and starting a conversation.

High school Gracie never would have walked up to a stranger. But without the distractions, I didn’t see a reason not to. And I like knowing that if I open a social media app, it’s because I’m choosing to use my time that way, not because a notification on my phone told me that “so and so” sent me a message.

I see myself being more intentional with others. I’ve always aspired to be intentional with my words, my temper, my actions, and my patience. And I find that without the “buzz” and “ding” of my phone, I can have deeper conversations with my friends and family. I want the people I care about to know that they are worthy of my full attention.

I see myself doing a lot more activities. I sing, play piano and guitar, run everyday, go to the gym, walk my friends’ dogs, read A LOT, cook, and join organizations on campus. Getting involved was driven by having the time and energy to do so, and a lot of that time came from giving up social media. My screen time averages about 3-3.5 hours each day now. And a majority of that is spent on the music app trying to find new songs to play and sing.

I also do a lot of community service. It gives me a purpose and a way to show my love for other people. I’m a big homebody, and super introverted, but community service gives me an outlet to overcome those attributes, meet people, and help give a little light to the world along the way. Without this, I probably wouldn’t have met a lot of my friends in college. I have definitely dragged my friends into some strange volunteering situations before, but we’ve always managed to make the best of our time together.

I honestly don’t know if I could ever go back to having my notifications on anymore. My mental, physical, and emotional health have all gotten significantly better having them off, and the benefits extremely outweigh any negatives to this change in lifestyle.