Having attempted to accept that Easter was a mere forty days away, I—like many—spent Ash Wednesday scrambling to determine what it was that I would be relinquishing for the impending six weeks. As I habitually and aimlessly scrolled through my Facebook feed, I approached an epiphanic idea: spending the next forty days completely detached from Facebook and Instagram.
Throughout the remainder of the day, it insidiously occurred to me the challenges that this decision would ultimately pose. I found myself having to restrain my thumb from instinctually tapping the blue icon with a white “f” that we’ve grown all too acquainted with. I had also made it a point not to delete the Facebook, Facebook Messenger, or Instagram apps from my phone, hoping to see how the incessant temptation of notifications would affect my power of restraint.
My willpower was put to the test on the second day of my Lent experiment: on the infamous Throwback Thursday. Without social media at my disposal on my phone, I resorted to wandering through old photos—and soon observed myself unconsciously noting those which would be candidates for a good throwback post. While admittedly embarrassing, it was rather intriguing to see how noticeably social media outlets had become embedded into my mind. It even occurred to me that the overwhelming majority of my “real” news was received from Facebook. Being that I’m subscribed to the New York Times, New York Magazine, and Time Magazine (and, of course, BuzzFeed News, for that matter) on Facebook, I began to feel uninformed and out of the loop with the political and world news that I’m typically well-versed and up-to-date with.
I persisted on with my observational investigation, now hoping to learn how my Facebook/Instagram detox would impact the state of the more mundane, quotidian activities that are a part of my typical routines. Foreseeably, without the constant lure of social media distractions, it’s become easier to do homework assignments in a swift, efficient manner. Rather than perusing through my news feeds when assignments became too banal, I was far more motivated to knock out my work in one sitting—allotting me more leisure time for my committed relationship with Netflix to flourish. While I am spending a somewhat greater portion of my free time starting new (and revisiting old) shows on Netflix, I’ve also found myself willing to dedicate more time towards my artwork and writing—which has been both a relaxing and rewarding feat.
As someone who is plagued by irregular sleep cycles, I had hoped to see a significant improvement upon my sleeping patterns with my ongoing social media cleanse. Rather than subjecting myself to the LCD phone screen which is said to disrupt your ability to fall asleep, I instead spent my time before bed listening to music or flipping through the latest edition of In Style. As with anything, the results were not immediate, and I’ve noticed only slight improvements in falling asleep quicker than the status quo. Given that I’ve only been collecting this research for a week, the changes have yet to be significant, though I’m hoping to see far more noticeable improvements in my sleep by Lent’s end.
I’m optimistic about the future that my sacrifice of social media has to hold, and am intrigued to see what further physical and psychological results it will yield. My verdict, while tentative, is that ultimately these next several weeks will be faced with tests of will and triumphs—and I’m quite pleased with my progress thus far.
Stay tuned to Her Campus at Bentley University for the most recent updates about my Insta- and Facebook-free 40 days!