How often do you reach for your phone throughout the day? How often do you check Twitter and Instagram before you’ve even gotten out of bed? How many hours have you wasted on holidays or with friends more concerned about taking the perfect Instagram picture than actually enjoying yourself? It’s no secret at this stage that many of us are addicted to our phones, yet the amount of mental energy we give to our social media apps could be put to much better use.
Social media can be a force for good; without advances in technology and connectivity who knows how we would have coped throughout lockdown. However, too much of a good thing can be harmful.
The likes, notifications and infinite scroll features are just some of the many features designed to release a dopamine hit to phone users. Dopamine is a chemical that makes you want something and shifts you into a reward-seeking mindset, compelling you to act and satiate your desires.
However, social media is designed to abuse our dopamine systems, leading to feelings of incomplete gratification compelling you to keep coming back, social media withdrawal and a need for constant instant gratification.
A social media detox is a conscious elimination of social media use and consumption for a set period of time; this can range from 3 days to 30 days, to a year. Ideally, you will be completely eliminating social media from your daily life. In the age of connectivity and constant communication, this will not be easy.
Unlike substance-related addictions that can sometimes require gradual weaning, going cold turkey is the best way to deal with social media addiction. If you continually feed your appetite every now and then, or ‘rewarding’ yourself with an Instagram scroll, you will be more inclined to fall back into bad habits.
Some simple yet effective ways to complete a true social media detox include deactivating your accounts, uninstalling all social media apps, blocking social media sites from your laptops and tablets and replacing social media with another activity. This may seem extreme but eliminating these distractions and utilising your time to better use will play a crucial role in curbing your reliance on social media and improving your overall livelihood.
We have been sucked into an online world of filtered models, news headlines designed to spark daily virtual outrage and friends curating versions of their life in photos and captions. All of this can have a serious impact on your self-esteem and can breed comparison anxiety, a mental affliction arising from continually comparing yourself to the people around you.
Additionally, social media brings out an unhealthy sense of competitiveness in us, as we measure our worth by reactions, likes and retweets. Taking a break from social media sites will do wonders to improve our overall mood, conquer our heightened fear of missing out (FOMO), help us reconnect with the real world, free up more time and allow us to keep living in the moment!
For most people today, social media has become a huge part of our lives. Setting boundaries and consciously taking time away from our phones can be difficult but start small!
Try it for a weekend and see how you feel after two or three consecutive days away from social media. Like how you feel? Try a week, and progress from there. Even if it’s just for a short time, taking a social media detox could be the first step to a much calmer and simpler life.