Recently I’ve been feeling like I’m spending too much time on social media when there isn’t a huge benefit in my life because of it. I wanted to see what everyday life would be like if I actually didn’t go on social media for a full week. Honestly, I didn’t think I could do it. But as the week went on abstaining grew easier and easier each day, and I had quite a few great realizations as the week went by.

You have much more free time to focus on other things.

This may not go for everyone, but I think more people are addicted to social media than they realize. At first thought it doesn’t seem like not going on social media would really free up that much of your time, but it really does. Every time I found myself bored on my phone and couldn’t go on social media, I would have to find something else to do. And usually that “something else” was much more productive. I ended up downloading some new health apps that I have found are a much more productive use of my time.

You get to practice self-control.

I think everyone could use some practice in self-control every once and a while. (Apparently I really needed it.) The first few days I found myself reaching toward my folder of social media apps in my phone more often than I’d like to admit. But every time I found myself wanting to open one of those apps, I quickly reminded myself that no good will come of opening it and closed it out. A lot of times I would use another app (mine was a game, but it could be anything) to automatically go to instead of those social media apps, trying to change the bad habit.

You get less of the negative emotions that can be associated with social media use.

This is really one of the best reasons to take a social media cleanse. There are so many negative emotions that can occur when you use social media. It’s so easy to be jealous of somebody else’s life, envious of things you don’t have, annoyed because you don’t like what people are sharing, etc. I could go on and on listing these things. I’m not saying that social media doesn’t have positive uses and emotions associated with it as well, it completely does. However, most people find themselves on the more frustrated side after getting on social media.

You find yourself reaching out to your friends more often.

When you’re not constantly seeing what your friends are doing through social media, you feel the need to reach out to them offline. You always want to know what’s going on in your friends’ lives, and going off social media forces you to have an actual conversation about your life rather than just watching it through an app. It’s so much more enriching to your life to be forging real connections with your friends, checking in with them, rather than just assuming you know what’s going on in their lives because you saw them post on social media.

Essentially, not using social media for any period of time forces you back into the real world, where there are no facades and it’s harder to fake it. If you feel like you just need a break from the tiring world that is social media, then I highly recommend you take one. As difficult as it seems like it’s going to be in the beginning, it’s totally worth it in the end.