These days it’s all about cleansing – getting rid of any toxins that have negative impacts on one’s life. Some people use natural remedies, such as skin care products or herbal teas, to physically cleanse their body and shape up. Others try new activities, such as yoga or keeping a journal, to keep their mental health in check and get back on track in terms of productivity or overall happiness. If you happen to be someone who is looking for a change in their life, looking for a healthier lifestyle, I strongly recommend not going through with those bangs and instead of doing a social media cleanse.
I know what you’re thinking: “That’s too hard! I spend hours on social media to unwind and keep updated on my friends’ lives.” I get it. There are a lot of positive aspects of social media that allow you to stay connected and sometimes give you a laugh at the end of the day. The problem is that people are becoming too reliant on social media to cure their boredom or validate themselves. I’m talking posting pictures every other day, checking your feeds at least three times a day, or having streaks over a span of three hundred days. Enough is enough. If you do any of these things, you are addicted to social media. And even though you may not consciously recognize it, social media is taking its toll on your social relationships, cognitive development, and general habits.
Social media is both manipulating and time-consuming. All over Instagram are pictures of perfect models and aesthetically pleasing accounts. As humans, we are attracted to visually appealing forms of art, whether that be food porn or selfies of attractive people. The over-use of Instagram and other similar apps is a channel for insecurities to come flooding through. When we are constantly comparing ourselves to others, our minds are less focused on embracing ourselves and our differences and become hell-bent on being more like someone we are not. As a generation, we need to fix this problem! This starts with a basic cleanse to rid our brains of that socially-constructed mentality that emphasizes a certain look as being cool or superior. By cleansing from our social media apps, we can start giving our own unique characteristics value, which can aid our mental health and radiate positivity.
As for the time-consuming part of social media, it’s obvious! We spend more time with our eyes downturned and glued to our screens than we do actually interacting with people. Social media makes us lazy. Why go out and meet a friend for coffee or try that new kickboxing class when you can chill in your room looking at funny memes on Twitter? We must realize that our laziness is bad for our physical health and makes us tired. We are the generation of “tired”. If we went out and were more productive, we would be able to try new things more often and create more memories with the people in the real world – not just the people that exist within our bubbles of social media.
Personally, I did a social media cleanse with my best friend for many months in our senior year of high school. I had very successful results. Not only was I less reliant on using social media as a convenient distraction, but I was able to venture to new places with my friends and become more confident in myself. I highly recommend doing a social media cleanse for at least a week at first. If you don’t like it, you don’t like it, but realistically it’s time for a large population of our world to WAKE UP. There are new restaurants to be eaten at, prospective friends to make, and growth to happen.