Over spring break, instead of travelling to a foreign country or digging my toes in the sand somewhere sunny and 75, I went where no overly social college sophomore has gone before…I went off the grid.
By off the grid, I mean I didn’t use any social media for a whole week. That means no Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and (gulp) Snapchat.
Why? Because I wanted to see what life was like before it was protocol to send an ugly selfie to your friends and scroll through Twitter and Instagram the moment you wake up in the morning. I wanted to challenge myself, and see if a self-proclaimed social media nerd like myself could keep a low profile (pun intended). Did I survive? Stay tuned.
So, I took the plunge and deleted the apps of my phone, and metaphorically out of my life.
Here is what I learned:
1. Old Habits Die Hard
The first morning of my little experiment I impulsively picked up my phone to scroll through Twitter and Instagram before dragging myself out of bed. That’s when I realized that it’s a bit alarming that non-productive
social media has worked its way into our daily routines.
2. You Have Way Better Things To Do
I think that part of the reason why this experiment was easier than I had anticipated is because I kept busy the whole time. So, by staying off social media I was more productive, and contributed to society in better ways than getting a lot of retweets on a snarky comment about #TheDress.
3. Keep Your Friends Close
I predicted that the biggest challenge of not using social media for a week would be feeling dejected from society and out of the loop. Well, I’ll be honest when I say the first few days were strange, but I still talked to my friends that I talk to normally on a daily basis and they were super supportive throughout the week, sending me “how are you holding up” texts here and there to make sure I hadn’t gone insane. In reality, those are the people whose step-by-step actions I care about most, so really no social media was a nice way to filter out the not-so-important stuff.
4. Wake Up and Smell the Life Happening Around You
By not having my nose in my phone for a week, I was able to realize just how much we’re missing out on by refreshing Instagram and watching snapchat stories that aren’t even remotely original. For example, when you’re waiting in line shopping or getting food, why not try some human contact? Smile at people and be friendly instead of pretending whatever is on Twitter is a pressing matter. It’s not.
5. If You Go Somewhere and Do Something Fun and Don’t Snapchat it, You Still Went and it was Still Fun
I think that our generation feels an odd pressure to put our lives on display in order to seem fun and exciting to other people. Remember that things you experience are more than just a cute Instagram opportunity. Your memories are far more valuable than an obscene amount of likes on a picture. Absorb your experiences and take them in. 50 years from now you won’t remember how many likes you got on a bikini picture from Spring Break. I like to think of social media as being a little snapshot of your life. If you’re going to use it, and often for that matter, be yourself! I’ve been told recently in an interview with Philly.com’s Social Media Strategist Erica Palan that “the best social media is when you are a genuine person.”
6. Use Your Powers for Good
Also in my interview with Erica Palan, she told me that not using your social media networks to share intelligent things like the articles you’re reading is a missed opportunity. Staying off social media helped me think about the pros and cons of what we post, when we post it, and how frequently we post it. Which leads me to my next point.
7. If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say, Don’t Say Anything At All
There’s a saying, “say what you mean, but don’t say it mean.” I give that phrase a two emoji thumbs up. Being stuck inside with no social media while being buried in 10 inches of snow had me thinking about all of the tasteless rants and rude subtweets I was thankfully missing. Social media can be a great platform for discussion and sharing opinions, but only when used responsibly. You can make a point without making an enemy.
8. To Relieve Symptoms of FOMO, Follow These Few and Simple Steps
As it turns out, I couldn’t have picked a better week to do this because I got to miss all of the tropical, exotic how-did-you-afford-that-vacation-you’re-in-college-I-thought-we-were-in-this-together vacation pictures while I was spending my spring break wrapped in blankets watching Reba re-runs. So, need to spend your weekend inside studying and writing papers? Stay off social media and feel your fear of missing out melt away like cheap mascara.
9. Don’t Facebook Stalk in Public
This may sound like I’m kidding but I was pretty observant to my surroundings over spring break and noticed people in public scrolling through tagged photos of people that were clearly not themselves. That. Is. Creepy. Keep your strange urges to find the guy you like’s seventh grade girlfriend on Facebook behind closed doors. You may think no one will notice, but I did.
10. Your Likes Don’t Make you Beautiful, You Make You Beautiful
I can’t even believe I have to say this but I feel that it’s very important. It doesn’t matter if you get 300 likes on your pictures or 15. At the end of the day, it’s important that you look in the mirror and see who you are and what you are capable of, not how many followers you have. Not using these apps for a week helped me take a good hard look at myself and realize how little it all matters in the long run. The most valuable thing I learned from all of this was to never look for the validation of strangers to feel good about myself. That needs to come from within.