We live in a world where being connected to everyone at every part of the day is the norm. If you phone isn’t blowing up with text messages from friends, Snapchat’s from your crush or multiple Instagram notifications letting you know how many people liked your selfie then you are doing something wrong. At least that is what society is telling you.
As someone that used to care so much about what my internet friends were thinking of me at the time. I could say now that sometimes being disconnected from it all is just what we need to live our lives.
I used to be the person that would check her phone at any point in the day hoping that something would come up. When I looked at my phone and saw that no one had texted, snapped or DM’d me I would legitimately start to feel down about myself. I would wonder, ‘Why does no one want to talk to me?’
My self-worth would start to deteriorate and until I got a notification proving my worth, I would feel like absolute crap. Sad to say that this is the society we live in that prides itself on relying on social media to take care of happiness and confidence that we should already be doing on our own. I have seen this happen to countless people around me as well too. I’ve seen it with my 19-year-old sister who believes that her self worth comes in the form of her crush liking her Instagram photo or not. I see it in my best friend who gets legitimately sad if her boyfriend doesn’t respond to her text message in 2.5 seconds. And I obviously saw it in myself when I started to look at my phone every second, waiting for someone to validate my existence.
Our society emphasizes that we cannot live without our phones and that technology is more of help than hindrance, but I am here to say that it is okay to disconnect from it all sometimes.
Sometimes we need to turn off our phones, computers and tablets and take a deep breath and revel in the moment that is now. When we disconnect, our minds are free of all the clutter and junk that we see on the internet or that we even see in our friends. It de-stresses the mind and helps us recollect our thoughts about life, situations or ourselves that are going on currently. Sometimes disconnecting helps us relearn how to love ourselves without the help of social media interactions with people we may not even know.
I know that for me, disconnecting from social media helped me regain the confidence that I had within myself. It helped me relearn how to absolutely love myself without the help of others.
Obviously, disconnecting from the internet world is hard. We have our phones next to us, but know that if we peek at it, we will fall back into that rabbit hole of anxiety and frustration. What helped me was to disconnect a little bit everyday. I would start taking small moments of the day for myself to read, write or take photos. It is different for everyone, but whichever way helps you disconnect, do it little by little.
Society may tell us that we cannot live without technology and the Internet, but our spirit says otherwise. It’s okay to disconnect to connect within yourself.