Social Media… The Internet… the only place that you can go that has no true location. Where you can reach more than a million people with the simple click of a button. You can show your appreciation with a like, agree with a retweet, and add your thoughts, remarks, and concerns with a comment. When you come to think about it, having access to millions of people and their ideas with the simple touch of a screen is quite a bizarre concept and something that can become very addicting very quickly. The constant yearning to know what others are up to, the persistent urge to share tiny aspects of your life with so many complete strangers, and the fulfillment of escaping reality for just a second are all reasons why social media is used so heavily. But seconds easily turn into minutes and minutes into hours and before you know it, you’ve spent a countless amount of time mindlessly scrolling, liking, retweeting, commenting, and sharing… nothing to be ashamed about, we’ve all been there, especially me.. but recognizing you have a problem is the always the first step.
Going Ghost
On January 26th, 2023 around 7 pm, while in a last-ditch effort to turn in three weeks’ worth of statistics homework by 11:59, I kept finding myself getting distracted by every little social media notification on my phone, and even with my phone in “do not disturb,” mode, I couldn’t stop myself from picking up my phone and seeing what others were doing. It was at this moment that I had an epiphany… social media was consuming way more of my mind than I was comfortable with, and although it was hard I decided to bite the bullet and delete my most used social media app (Instagram) from my phone and completely disabled my most used account from the app. Enough was enough. And with just a few taps of my finger, my entire online presence on Instagram had disappeared. I simply did not exist anymore.
I did end up finishing my homework that night; by the way, and I’d freed myself from one of my most major distractions, so I guess it was a win-win. But still, there I was bursting at the seams to scroll on my timeline, and see what my friends were up to and what they were sharing with the world at the moment. I didn’t succumb to my desires and ended up staying off Instagram for the next week and a half. Surprisingly, I didn’t shrivel up and die without the beloved photo-sharing app, instead, I discovered a sense of peace and clarity that I didn’t possess before my brief and impromptu hiatus from Instagram.
Life Without Instagram
I’m not gonna lie, the first few days of being off of Instagram were hard. I would miss the distraction, sometimes even long for it a little bit. Over the years, being on Instagram had become such a habit for me, I didn’t realize how much of an impact it had on my life and how much I’d be itching to get back on it. But once I got over the withdrawals I became much more present in reality rather than constantly having my head tucked into my cell phone. The grass became greener, the sky bluer, and the air crisper. I became present with the moment and observed more, the pressure to like, comment, post, and share every five minutes quickly dissolved, and since my brain was significantly less consumed with the lives of other people, I had more time to focus on myself and my endeavors.
Getting off of the social media platform allowed me to reclaim my time in a sense, all the time I would’ve wasted scrolling mindlessly I spent talking to people in real life, focusing on school work, and just enjoying my solitude. I realized that being on Instagram all the time was starting to mess with my head! I constantly found myself being personally affected by some of the more bleak things shared on social media, and I also found myself comparing my life to those of strangers on the internet causing these weird overwhelming feelings of anxiousness and defeat. But, as I said earlier… nothing to be ashamed about, we’ve all been there. Continuously being on social media also partly allowed me to rely on external validation from strangers instead of aiming to internally validate myself. All of these things became much more apparent to me once I took a step back from social media, and if you struggle with any of the feelings I just mentioned, maybe you should consider doing the same.
In Conclusion: Try Taking a Break
I know people say it all the time, but a lot of the things you see are not always real. It’s important never to take what you see on these social media at face value, things are not always what they seem. While one may seem happy or rich or in love on social media, the reality of the situation could be the complete opposite. Sometimes you need a reminder that you along with everyone exist outside of the internet.
Being on social media is fun. It’s cool to post about what’s going on in your life, it’s interesting to see what others have going on in theirs. It’s nice to know there’s a sense of community on social media that connects so many people in different parts of the world to each other. But too much of anything can be a bad thing. Don’t let social media consumption become a vampire in your life, sucking up your time and attention span, and if you recognize that is beginning to become a problem, remove it from your life and take note of how different you feel without it consuming most of your life. Taking a break from anything you do often is always good and often necessary and social media is no different. Attempt to live in the present moment more often and instead of the curated content made specifically to make your life seem appealing, ensure that your living a life that is appealing to you. You owe that to yourself.