In a society where our entire lives are totally dependent on taking pictures to post to show others, looking at each other’s people’s lives, etc, it seems crazy and impossible to take a break from social media. Guilty of taking up all my time, I decided to put the phone down for a week and focus on more important things. I cut out Instagram, and Twitter for a week straight and here’s what I learned:
We really broadcast our entire life on social media.
While on my break, I realized how much we reveal about ourselves to strangers and people outside our immediate circle. Just from clicking on your profile, you already know a lot about someone. Where you live, go to school, who your friends are, what you do everyday.. We really don’t leave much private for ourselves.
Everything does not need to be broadcasted to the public, and social media takes away from enjoying the present and living in the moment.
Multiple times on my break, I felt the need to boomerang my plate, where I am, my scenery,etc. It made me realize how unimportant it is to capture the smallest things on social media. I can’t speak for anybody else but I feel like I’m always thinking of what I can post or take a picture of everywhere I go. I came to the conclusion, I need to enjoy the moment i’m in with the people I am with before I miss it and it’s too late.
I had so much more time to focus on more important things.
Not being able to scroll down my tl for hours, I had all the time in the world to get ahead in homework and spend time talking to and hanging out with friends.
Overall, I learned how much we as millennials devote to social media. The break really wasn’t as bad as it seems, especially being a college student having 373738 things to do throughout the week. I’m eager to try an even longer break in the future. I encourage everyone else to try a social media cleanse as well. It helps put a lot of things in perspective for you.