It all began when I turned on Netflix to watch the documentary called “The Social Dilemma”
As soon as I finished the hour and a half show, my heart sank and I opened up my phone to look at my screen time.
Over 5 hours of each day, I would spend on some type of social media platform. I noticed my attitude had changed and the way I looked at life had changed over a 7 year period of being heavily involved in social media.
I would wake up and grab my phone, flip to Facebook to get the family updates… watching some videos along the way, I would then move on to Instagram to see what my friends are up to today, as well as Snapchat and occasionally Twitter. I would lay in bed for an additional hour or two just to “catch up”.
I would then get up, feed the cats and the dogs… make my coffee and grab a donut and begin to scroll again. Scroll through the infinite stories of other people’s lives but what I failed to do was take a good look at mine…
After watching the social dilemma and realizing how much these companies take from you, not just your time but your energy and creativity… I wanted to take it all back.
I wanted to take a break and see what I was actually missing… if anything.
I deleted and deactivated my Facebook, Snapchat, twitter and Instagram on November 11th 2020.
The first week felt very lonely, it almost seemed like I had lost thousands of friends. No one reached out, no one asked if I was okay, no one was there for me when I felt a sense of loneliness. Even though, these friends were a double click for approval, even though these friends were sometimes building you up but mostly disagreeing and creating tension, even though these friends were all miles away but a screen close enough to feel as if they were actually there… even if those friends weren’t actually your friends… it felt as if I had lost everyone that I was “close” to.
Unfortunately this is what our world has become. A socially distanced relationship… long before the virus we were already distanced.
But here I am, 2 months in without any type of social media and I have become a NEW person.
With the time away from my phone which came gradually, after about 2 weeks off of social media I began to look for other apps to spend my time on because I felt as if I was missing something. I put that time into cell phone games and stupid apps that I never even spent time on before… however, I drew a line for myself.
I told myself if I spent more than an hour on an app (besides email) I would delete that app.
Well, my game apps are all gone. HA!
It’s coming up on my 3rd month social media free and Let me happily tell you some of the things I have done to replace my time on my phone…
I began working out each morning. (I can finally see the muscle building too! Whoo hoo!)
I began to work on quitting smoking (another topic of discussion later on)
I began taking online classes!
I have achieved a few certifications during this time as well : Break Making , Emotional Intelligence, Piano introduction, introduction to the Russian language, introduction to Graphic Design and currently finishing up a “know all” photoshop class!
Taking a break from social media cleared my head and gave me my confidence back.
I have learned that I don’t need approval from everyone else because the best kind of approval is the approval you create for yourself!
If you have any questions, would like to know a little more or just need some encouragement… please feel free to reach out!
feels pretty good to have people actually looking at beautiful resolutions and splendid colors. Haha!