Excessive social media use has become such a norm, that we’re not even aware how often we use it. It’s so easy to spend hours mindlessly scrolling and not realize how much time has passed. I wasn’t aware of how often I used it until I started to check my daily screen time. Seeing the screen time go up every week started to leave me with an anxious feeling, because I knew it wasn’t contributing anything beneficial to my life; even knowing this, I just couldn’t seem to stop opening the apps everyday. I thought I could leave it up to discipline and know when to stop, but quickly realized it was easy to rationalize to myself why an extra 15 minutes wouldn’t hurt. The 15 minutes would turn into 30, which would turn into hours…
I decided it would be easier to delete the apps all together and see if that helped. For me, this meant deleting Tik Tok, Instagram, and YouTube off my phone (I don’t use other forms of social media, but these few apps were still consuming hours of my day). Even after just a week, here’s all the major benefits I’ve experienced:
1. Reduced Feelings of Overstimulation
In my opinion, this was the best benefit I received from this week. I didn’t realize it, but I had gotten totally accustomed to bombarding myself with the overwhelming amount of stimulation that comes from social media. Feeling overstimulated just became the norm.
Without these apps, I was able to gain back so much mental clarity that I could use for the rest of the day. I noticed I was no longer ending my days with my head feeling like it’s heavy and buzzing anymore. I was surprised by my increase in energy, as well as my willingness to do things I’ve been putting off for a while. I think it may have been the fact that my brain wasn’t feeling overworked all the time, so it was easier to find the mental energy to work on the difficult things I had been delaying.
As an added benefit, I found it much easier to put my phone down at night, which also helped get better quality sleep. By giving my brain a chance to rest, as well as reducing blue light before sleep, I felt I was actually able to decompress before heading to bed. Even if you’re not wanting to delete social media altogether, then maybe you can still find benefit from cutting off its use an hour or two before bed.
2. Slowly Learning To Be More Present (Living In the Moment)
I’m starting to realize that when my brain feels extra wired from the constant stimulation all day, I don’t really give myself a chance to live in the moment. I’m constantly overthinking and my brain feels like it’s running at 100% all the time. When you finally get a chance to have your mind calm down, you get to immerse yourself in the present moment a little more. When you’re not trying to focus on multiple different things, you can start to be more consciously aware of what’s right in front of you.
I feel that it has actually helped my mental health to start paying attention to, and enjoying, the little things I’ve overlooked for so long. Maybe it’s a cheesy example, but the other day I swear I noticed the feeling of the wind blowing on my face for the first time in a long time. Or little changes like not bringing my phone with me to the bathroom also had me focusing on the feeling of the warm water running over my hands as I washed them. I don’t feel that it’s hyperbole to say these little things have a cathartic effect, even if it’s small. I’m finally starting to see, hear, and experience more of the world, even in the mundane moments of my life that I normally would overlook completely.
As a byproduct of deleting social media, I also started to realize how much time I would waste everyday too. When you’re scrolling on social media, every post feels important because your curiosity wants to know what happens. When you remove social media, you don’t even know what other people are posting, and yet your life continues to go on as normal. In this case, ignorance is bliss. You’re going to be just fine not knowing what other people are posting.
3. Cut Down Screen Time Significantly
The goal of deleting the apps was to reduce my screen time, and this was easily met without having to try. Even with the unconscious habit of constantly picking up my phone, I would just find myself swiping through my home screens; there weren’t any interesting apps to open, so I would close my phone after a few moments and have to find something else to do.
Of course, I would still use my phone for responding back to messages, listening to music, etc, but I was still saving hours of my day. In the long term, my goal is to use my phone for necessities, and to reduce all distractions as best I can. This is definitely a step in the right direction for breaking a phone addiction.
This past week wasn’t perfect though, I was still often searching YouTube on Safari to watch videos when I was bored. Having to search for YouTube every time on Safari was enough friction that I didn’t always want to do it though. The fact that I wouldn’t be logged into an account meant that the video recommendations weren’t catered to me either, so I had to know what video I was going to be searching for ahead of time. These two things clearly didn’t stop me from getting distracted, but, again, it definitely helped reduce the time I would have normally spent on the site.
For the first week, I would consider it a success. I was able to drop my average daily screen time from 4h 21m the week prior, to 1h 45m this week. I don’t know what your screen time looks like, but I think that you could find similar results if you feel you are struggling with the same issues that I was. I think it’s at least worth giving a try.
4. More Free Time to Pursue What I Actually Want To
At least in my case, I was able to save myself an average of 2 hours every day. That may not seem like a lot on the surface, but that’s an extra 14 hours per week, or 730 hours per year (30.4 DAYS!). Think about what you could accomplish with all this extra time in the long run. That time you’ve gained back is all yours, and you get to make the choice of what you’d like to do with it.
Finding new things to do can be difficult in the beginning though. Like being a kid again, you’ll need to find fun new ways to entertain yourself; although it’s obviously more difficult, it’s much more rewarding when you find something that you enjoy that’s actually meaningful to you.
I noticed that when you’re constantly chasing distraction, you’re never really alone with your thoughts. Being more aware of your thoughts can be difficult in the beginning, but it’s helped me to re-evaluate my life and decide what direction I’d like to start taking it. You have to be honest with yourself and decide if you’re actually happy with where you’re at in life. You may realize how often you chase meaningless activities that distract you from the meaningful work you know would move yourself up in the world.
This past week, I’ve been picking up old habits I’ve been wanting to start again. I can honestly say I feel better with doing daily meditation and working on a gratitude journal. You don’t have to pick the same habits, but maybe there’s something you have in mind that you’ve been wanting to start, but have been struggling to find the time. Now’s your opportunity to give those things a try.
5. Started to Feel Bored Again
This may not sound like a benefit, but when was the last time you actually felt bored? It’s a feeling that not many of us are used to anymore. It’s uncomfortable at first, but realizing it’s okay to not have to chase that dopamine hit every second of the day has started to take some pressure off myself. I’m starting to realize now that it’s surprisingly draining trying to maintain an elevated sense of stimulation all day.
Learning to lean into the boredom has actually helped me to enjoy some of the other things in my life. I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but it’s true that you can’t appreciate the highs without the lows. Before, I was just jumping from one exciting activity to another, so I never really gave myself a chance to be bored. Now that I’m experiencing boredom again, I get to feel those lows, which, funny enough, actually make the highs feel even more enjoyable than before.
Conclusion:
I can’t understate how glad I am that I decided to do this social media detox. It wasn’t an easy decision because I would also use these apps for staying close with friends and family members; I had to realize that I had other means of staying in contact, and this decision would be incredibly beneficial for my mental health. Not feeling overstimulated and mentally exhausted all day has been such a relief. Because of this, I’ve found it much easier to stay grounded in the present moment, which is a nice change of pace. I’ve even found it exciting getting bored again, because that had become such a foreign feeling while getting older. Now that I’m not glued to my phone, there’s a newfound excitement for the time that has freed up because of it; opening up a couple hours each day adds up to huge amounts of time over the course of weeks, months, and years. I challenge you to give this social media detox a try, even if it’s only for a week or two, and see if you experience the same benefits.