My Experience Deleting Social Media + Why I’m Not Redownloading It

About four to five months ago, I made the oh-so-drastic decision to delete (almost) all of my social media apps.  After having been glued to my phone or computer constantly for months on end, I decided I needed to make a big change.  Going into it, I simultaneously thought it was going to be one of the most challenging, but also one of the most rewarding things.  Turns out, I was right in some ways, but wrong in many others.  Spoiler alert, my life didn’t do a 180-degree turn.  I didn’t turn into this super zen, clear skin, constantly productive, always happy and filled with serotonin, fitness guru.  I did see some differences, but not the complete earth-shattering ones I had hoped for.  I cheated MANY times and went on social media via the internet rather than apps and I ended up spending far too much time using the apps I had kept in hopes they wouldn’t be too big of a distraction.  Although I cheated and I didn’t see the exact results I hoped for, I still decided I want to start over and do it right this time.  So, shocker, today I will be talking about my experience deleting social media and why I am going to keep it deleted (fingers crossed, for real this time). 

Back in September, I remember spending HOURS on end watching TikToks, watching YouTube videos, or scrolling through social media.  You may think I’m exaggerating when I say that I had multiple weeks during multiple months where my average daily screen time was over eight hours, but I promise you I’m not. OVER EIGHT HOURS OF MY DAY SPENT STARING AT A PIECE OF METAL AND GLASS. When I first started getting those notifications and statistics, I would make excuses and act like it wasn’t an issue, but in reality, it was super problematic and having a huge impact on me. So, after many notifications of screen time, I decided it was time to make a change.  The initial plan was to delete all social media except Snapchat, Facebook and YouTube, but put those on restrictions so that I could only use them for a set amount of time each day.  I thought to myself, okay I can follow these rules, I need these apps for communication and productivity, it will be fine. Another shocker, it wasn’t.  In the beginning, I was SO good about it and I had my screen time down to under two hours a day which was a huge shift. But, I ended up getting sidetracked and using the apps I kept past the restricted amount of time AND outside of the guidelines I had set about using them only when necessary. It turned into me constantly watching Snapchat stories, scrolling through Facebook, and watching every single video on YouTube, even ones I didn’t truly care about or have an interest in. Then, I eventually started going on my laptop and I would go to Twitter or Instagram or whatever other social media from the internet.  

So essentially, I was breaking every rule I had set for myself and slowly starting to creep back towards my toxic habits.  I kept making excuses for myself and telling myself that what I was doing was fine and it was having no impact on me, but I was very wrong. I began to fall back into bad habits both physically and mentally.  Social media has been toxic for many reasons ever since it was created, but it seems like the past year or two has really brought out the ugly and it has turned into a horrible place in many ways.  Now in saying this, I also completely acknowledge that social media has brought a lot of good as well in terms of spreading awareness, keeping active politically and socially, expressing creativity and communicating with different people.  But, for me personally, in many ways it seemed like the bad outweighed the good.  

Now, even though I broke my social media ban on many occasions, I will completely admit that during the time when I had it fully deleted, it may not have been fully life-changing, but it was still great.  As cliche as it sounds, I felt free.  I didn’t have a constant feeling of FOMO, I wasn’t constantly comparing my life, my looks and my progress to others, I wasn’t constantly getting overwhelmed by the hatred and aggressiveness that I had been seeing, and I was putting my time towards other things that were good for me.  To put this into perspective, by deleting my social media I ended up freeing so much time that I was able to read over 50 books between the beginning of September and the start of January.  That is the most books I have read EVER in that short amount of time.  Obviously being in the midst of a pandemic impacted that too because I wasn’t having the full-time work or social life that would be normal, but deleting social media showed me how productive I could truly be.  I experienced and learned so much through those books and my time spent without social media made me feel a lot more passionate about reading for both educational and entertainment purposes.  On the other hand, even though I was reading a lot, I completely admit that I didn’t accomplish any of my fitness goals.  I told myself that I would spend my time working out and being active, but that definitely wasn’t the case.  But, that is okay, because life is all about evolving, changing, and making steps towards betterment.  So, even though I didn’t accomplish those goals, I still made a lot of progress in other areas.

A big worry I had going into this ‘challenge’ was that I wouldn’t be able to actively and productively stay up to date politically or socially.  But, I proved myself wrong because even without social media, I was still able to keep up to date and to educate myself and participate politically.  I watched the news, I listened to podcasts, I had conversations, I read books, I watched documentaries, I signed petitions, I donated money, I voted, I did activities that were so much more fulfilling and educational than just scrolling through my Twitter feed.  It felt as though I was pursuing education in a much more holistic way because I was using books and podcasts to learn about both historical and modern-day events and implications.  I still have a long way to go in educating myself, and it will be a lifelong process of constantly working to better myself in order to be a better human, activist, and citizen, but I am excited to keep learning.  In terms of struggling socially, I was worried about not communicating with people as much and losing relationships, but I quickly realized that if a relationship of any kind relies solely on social media to stay in touch, then it’s not a good one and it’s okay to let it go.  For me personally, I found that I lost touch with being able to just pick up the phone and call someone because I was always just Snapchatting or messaging.  And don’t get me wrong, those are great ways to communicate quickly, but being able to have long and in-depth conversations is so much more fulfilling.  I found that without social media, I was also much more present and intentional with my time because I wasn’t constantly picking up my phone.  In fact, most times I wouldn’t even have my phone by me and again, that was such a freeing feeling.  I grew closer with the people around me, spent time focusing on physical relationships and it was amazing.  

This small glimpse into the positives of not having social media have motivated me to keep going and I can’t wait to see the progress I make moving forward.  As I am writing this article, it is February first and I decided ‘new month, new me,’ and I fully deleted every single social media app (including Facebook, YouTube, etc).  I have only had them deleted since last night, but I already feel a difference in my day.  In addition to the deletion of the apps, I want to focus on using my phone less in general so I have implemented rules into my routine like no phone an hour before bed and an hour after waking up.  Today was my first day with that rule in place and I already love it.  I woke up this morning and took an hour to listen to music, stretch, take my dog for a walk, read and make myself a healthy breakfast and it was great.  Now this could all be in my head, and it most likely is, but I already feel a huge difference and I am so excited to see where this journey takes me (oh god, that was corny).  Fingers crossed that I stick to my rules and implement more changes in my life, but like I said any progress is good progress, even if it is slow.

• break
• mental health
• social media