For years I have heard every adult I know talk about how bad they feel for our generation due to our intense dependency on technology. I always nodded along, knowing it was a fight I wouldn’t win, seeing as there is no way my mom would understand the necessity of Uber Eats. But as the years have gone by and I have endured one too many collisions with a pedestrian whose eyes were glued to their phone, I have found myself shaking my head along with the adults in indignation at how the world’s attention has been robbed by our devices and the apps we find on them.
Tired of my own lack of focus and seemingly never-ending list of things I needed to check, refresh, and read- I finally decided I would no longer allow social media apps to dictate the use of my time, and so I deleted the apps on my phone. After two weeks without them, here are some of my takeaways
- Mindfulness of my Surroundings
I can say that becoming more mindful was the number one thing that improved after I deleted my social media apps. I didn’t feel preoccupied trying to stay in the loop and had the mental and physical energy to notice my surroundings in the present moment, and not worry about the future, the past, or places I couldn’t be in all at once. I was talking more to the strangers around me, feeling less rushed throughout my day, and observing the world around me, not only the one that existed in my Instagram feed.
- Learning to Tolerate Boredom and Better Focus
In hindsight, it’s crazy to me to think about the amount of stimulation and messaging our brains receive every day from our social media outlets. There is barely a moment in our days that we aren’t engaging with some sort of media. By taking away just one of those outlets, my brain actually had to adapt to this lower level of stimulation. When I had nothing to do, I didn’t reach for my phone and start looking for something to interest me or just prevent the discomfort of boredom. I just sat with the feeling, noticed it and began to find other sources of pleasure and mental stimulation that I had forgotten all about- reading, exercising, doing random acts of kindness, or writing in a journal. While I was working on a project and was feeling quite tired, instead of grabbing my phone during a break to recharge and stimulate my creative side, I went for a walk around the block, and when I came back, not only was I more energized, but a thought from my own intuition arose and led to a breakthrough in my work. These moments of boredom are so rare, that people don’t ever give their mind a break to just think, to breathe, to have a chance to wander in whatever direction it would like, without being guided by external stimuli.
- Less Comparison and More Happiness
Our social media pages are highlight reels. You don’t see the boring, typical salad someone had for lunch, but of course, the luxurious croissant and cappuccino from Tatte make the cut. After seeing other people’s highlights, it can make your entire day feel like a low light− despite whatever feelings you had about it beforehand. What we see on social media and compare ourselves to is not reality, it’s a constructed image that people want to present of themselves to the world. Without constant daily updates on the lives of others, every day was instead centered around my goals and self-improvement and allowed me to feel more confident in the decisions and actions I was taking in my own life.
4. More Intentional with My Time/ Breaking the Addiction
Not spending my free time on social media gave me a much better sense of how much free time I actually have− to get work done, to be intentional with who and how I socialize, and most importantly, how I prioritize my own needs and interests. You don’t realize how addicted we are to social media until you don’t have it. That hour break between classes was enough time where I could easily eat lunch and fit some studying in, whereas before I would have gotten distracted during lunch and ended up spending my entire hour in the dining hall, scrolling through app after app. I now know that if I plan or want to carve out time for self-care, it would be feasible because I wouldn’t get distracted throughout my day. Each moment we have a second to ourselves, to reflect on our intentions, our feelings, and intuition, we fill with a quick update and check of our phones, but this further disconnects us from the world and robs us of our time and our ability to make decisions about how we want to spend it.
Based on my own results, I don’t see myself re-downloading social media apps any time soon. My screen time decreased by 86%, totalling a daily average of just 38 minutes. I am not bashing on social media and saying that we shouldn’t have it. It’s a great tool that can be helpful when we need inspiration or want to connect with others, but I think our society and many of us need to reflect on our relationships with social media and how it is serving us in our daily lives. I love to login at the end of the week and check out all of the amazing things going on in the lives of those around me, but it is no longer a focal point of my day or a homebase that I immediately turn to when I’m feeling bored or am lacking trust or confidence in myself. Deleting your social media apps may seem like too big of a step, but maybe try deleting them for a week or just a day and see how your life can change without constantly checking social media.