Its spring break, which means everyone is posting photos of themselves posing in front of palm trees, sipping fruity drinks, partying with their friends or hiking through beautiful mountainous terrain. ‘Likes’ go through the roof, while many people sit behind their phones, envious that they don’t have the exciting lives of their peers. As a self-diagnosed social media addict, this is all too real for me. I’ve fallen on both ends of the spectrum. I have tried to find the most Instagram-worthy photo-op while I’m on vacation to get ‘likes’, even if the picture speaks little truth to how I spent my day. I have also spent endless hours over breaks being lazy, watching Netflix and scrolling through timelines and feeds, wishing I could have the lives the people I follow portray over the internet.
Recently, I realized how unhealthy the social media addiction has become, not only for me, but for others as well. I grew weary of being jealous and thinking my life was insignificant compared to my peers. So, this spring break, I went on vacation without texting and using social media. I had 250 minutes of free Wi-Fi, but they were used strictly for my professional emails and checking Blackboard. And maybe I messaged my friends once or twice. Shh, don’t tell. Read on for the full experience.
Day 1:
We got to the NYC port where our cruise ship, the Norwegian Breakaway, was docked. Once we boarded the ship, I texted my friends my final goodbyes, just in case the ship went down or I died from lack of virtual contact. I posted an unreasonably long final Snapchat story, including videos of the ship passing Statue of Liberty, a video of the beautiful fitness center and Manhattan skyline shots. The sunset over the water was gorgeous, so I took some pictures and used my favorite as my final Instagram post before I went AWOL. Then came the hard part. Airplane mode: On. Wi-Fi: Off. I was ready to go off the grid.
Day 2:
I didn’t sleep last night because the seas were rough and I was queasy, but I couldn’t use my phone to distract me from a potential date with the porcelain throne. #FirstWorldProblems. My mom woke me up at 7:30a.m. (???) instead of my phone alarm. I picked up my phone to check my email and social media out of habit, but realized that 1) I was in the middle of the ocean with no service and 2) I vowed to stay off social media, duh. It was surprisingly easy to keep my phone in the stateroom while I explored the ship. I hardly thought about it because I was having a blast with my family. For something that is typically an extension of my arm, my phone seemed somewhat dispensable.
Day 3:
Okay, so I cheated. We docked in Cape Canaveral, Florida. I knew that I would be able to get service because we were still in the United States, but I tried to push that thought to the back of my mind. Unfortunately, I got bored of reading Oedipus Tyrannus (thanks, Mosaic) so I fished my phone from my bag and guiltily checked my Instagram.
*internal shrieking*
“The cute boy I’ve been meaning to talk to liked my photo!”
I sent a Snapchat to my BGF, to which he didn’t reply, so I put my phone away and snagged a piña colada from the bar to distract me from using it. Then I dropped off my phone at the stateroom where it would gather dust for the next day.
Day 4:
We docked at Norwegian’s private island today. I spent the day taking sips of mom’s mimosas when she wasn’t looking, tanning and scouring the island for photo-ops and potential island lovers. I used my phone for pictures, but couldn’t use it for anything else considering I was on an island in the middle of nowhere. Here’s a radical idea I learned today: You can take Instagram-worthy pictures and not actually post them. *insert shocked emoji here*
Day 5:
Today was completely phoneless. I’m really enjoying being off the grid; I’ve found that I really don’t miss scrolling through feeds that much. Of course it’s easy when you’re traveling to Caribbean islands on a floating party boat with your entertaining parents. The real test will be limiting my phone use once I get back to the real world. In other news, mom and I went to a real-life Dancing With the Stars performance on the ship. It made me think that I should take up ballroom dancing. Then I remembered that I can hardly walk straight on a cruise ship. I’ll stick to my goal of becoming Blair Waldorf.
Day 6:
What’s really not fine is that I worked out with the cruise-version of DWTS celebrities for an hour and couldn’t document it. Why are they all so attractive? Why does their sweat sparkle? I’m drenched in sweat and my sunburn is peeling; I am a wet carrot. Despite the lack of celeb selfies, I’m still loving the off-the-grid life.
Day 7:
I woke up and we were in New York City, so I went to the breakfast buffet for one last time as a phoneless woman. I got back to the room, turned off Airplane mode, and Snapchats, Timehop updates and daily bible verses came flooding in. Oh, and I can’t forget about those four TU Alerts. Back to reality, it seems. I spent the drive home catching up on emails, Instagram posts and Facebook messages. It was a little sad to be connected again.
So, I didn’t use my phone for a week and this is what happened: I survived. Detaching your physical self from your online self once in awhile is an integral practice of self-care. Just because everybody else is as absorbed in social media as you are, doesn’t make it healthy. It only takes one person to start a change. Try it sometime.