It happens to the best of us, you’ll be powering full speed ahead through an essay for a looming deadline, and then your phone buzzes. You start by checking that Facebook notification, and then decide to have a quick scroll through Instagram, and then Twitter, and Yik Yak, Tumblr. It goes on and on until you realise you’ve spent an hour flicking through your various social media accounts, when it felt like only a few minutes. Even if it is only a few minutes, it still disrups the flow of your work and makes it way harder to focus again.
I decided last night to try and go a full twenty four hours without checking social media. I replied to the very few text messages I recieved, and checked my university email account twice, but these were the only exceptions. So here’s a few things I learnt over the course of the day:
1) Giving social media up is actually very difficult.
Worringly difficult, in fact. I got into bed last night and instinctively reached for my phone wanting to check facebook before I went to sleep, and the same thing happened this morning when I woke up. I wanted to check my news apps as I ate my breakfast, and post a picture on Instagram of my walk up to a seminar. I didn’t realise I clung to my phone so much, because compared to other people i’m relatively inactive on social media- more of a scroller than a post-er, and now I realise that passivity is what draws you in.
2) After the first few hours, it then becomes surprisingly easy.
When I came home after this mornings seminar, I didn’t even think to check my phone and left it in my coat pocket for atleast an hour or so. It kind of felt liberating, and rather than spending my lunch break endlessly scrolling I managed to get some more work done at a time when I usually wouldn’t, woo!
3) You get a better nights sleep.
I’d stopped checking my phone a few hours before I slept last night, and managed to fall asleep a lot quicker than normal- I’m a restless sleeper, and usually end up lying there for an hour or two before my brain decides to give up and switch off a little. But last night I had no trouble, in fact I woke up this morning a lot less groggy and headachy, another win win.
4) Unsurprisingly, your productivity rapidly increases.
I thought I’d spend ages staring at my phone, frustrated that I couldn’t go through my apps and wishing that the twenty four hour stint would be over already. But I didn’t, it was out of sight and therefore out of mind. On an average day I have a sticky note with a long lists of tasks set for the day, and I’m only really happy that I’ve been productive when everything has been ticked off the list. However it seems take longer to get each thing done when I’m constantly checking my phone because of the disruption to the flow, so most days I don’t get everything done that I was aiming to do. Today I did, and for me that was a huge benefit of my mini ‘digital detox’.
5) Overall, your mood will improve.
Your mind wanders less to thinking about what other people are doing, what they’ve posted and where they’ve been. Instead, you feel more present and concerned with your own surroundings. As an English student I spend a lot of time reading big books with small font, both physically and digitally, and even with reading glasses there are many days when I get a headache from concentrating too much, leaving my eyes tired and sore. Today, leaving the screens behind, I didn’t feel bad at all. I just felt better in general, and so it’s shown me that I need to try and do this as much as I can everyday. I urge you to try it too, because ultimately you don’t realise how much you depend on social media until you take it out of your life for a while. It’s scary, but true.