I know many people -- family, friends, peers, mentors -- who have taken this social media cleanse and ran with it. Some of which, believe it or not, didn't even have social media in the first place. A majority of these people have told me that either deleting or never owning social media accounts has allowed them to "focus on themselves," or forced them to not worry about what everyone else was doing. Although I haven't gotten myself to stop opening Snapchat, I feel like it might be good for me.
I'm sure I'm not the only person who thinks like this, but I think I have the worst FOMO I've ever encountered. Whenever I'm one place, I always want to be at the other. Just this weekend, I visited home after being at school for a while, and I was so excited to see my family. But, as soon as I walked in the house I went on my phone and saw my friends at school all hanging out and posting on their Snapchat stories. I still had a good weekend home, but it took a lot of self-convincing to tell myself that I didn't need to be back at school, and that I don't need to constantly be with my friends and doing everything with them.
Sometimes, my FOMO can consume me, which sounds ridiculous, but it's true. Honestly, it's something I'm constantly working on with myself. I know that I don't have to do everything all of the time; its just not possible. But sometimes I can't help but get caught up in what I tell myself I'm missing out on. No matter if it's just my friends doing homework together that I see on a Insta story while I'm home for the weekend, or if my mom posts family dinner on Facebook while I'm eating at the dining hall, it feels like I'm always missing out.
That's why I'm really considering the social media cleanse. I know I'm late to the trend, but I feel like it might be a good habit for me to start, especially as I'm trying to build myself up as an individual in my first year at college. If you're in the same boat as me with your case of FOMO, maybe you should try it too. I really do think this is the week I attempt to unplug for a bit. Hopefully, it's for the better.
