Social media is a beautiful thing, It keep us connected. Shows us beautiful images, inspires us to be more creative and even shows us news stories that are yet to be uncovered my the mainstream media.
The fact that so many people all over the world are given their very own platform to share and inspire their stories is a good thing.
However in a quarantine enviroment, I found myself feeling unispired. I was tired of the endless scrolling, yet I just couldn't stop. The days speeded past me as I continuously rotated through Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Tik Tok and Facebook. I sort of knew I was wasting my days and I felt engulfed in an never ending depletion. After some shallow research, I found that my feelings were not uncommon.
According to a study highlighted in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology in 2018, people who decreased their regular use of social media, limiting it to 30 minutes a day (10 minutes each on Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram), reported reduced levels of depression and loneliness and felt better after three weeks.
I also watched a video by youtuber Nathan Zed, where he talks about his experience after quitting the socials for four whole months. Inspired by this, I knew to get out of my rut I needed to lay off the screentime.
Here are a few things I learnt:
There is so much time in the day
When you put down your phone, there seems to be so many hours to fill. I have so many incomplete books and half finished embroidery projects laying around. I always thought that I was just a really busy person and I simply didn't have the time to dedicate myself to my hobbies. I now know this is a lie!
When I'm not in a deep youtube spiral watching cooking videos. It turns out that I have copious amount of time to immerse myself in my hobbies. All this time I thought I was THE Emily Charlton from TDWP...but in actual fact, I am a liar and a fraud.
My siblings are actually fun
Being the oldest child in my family, when I think of my two younger siblings the phrase 'bain of my life' comes to mind. Pretending to care about a six year old's repeated anecdotes gets tiring. I cannot lie! I just always felt that they were an obstacle to productive day and I tried to keep them at arms length where possible.
This was until, I was forced to put away the distractions and spend some real quality time. It came as a shock for me to find that they are actually hilarious. Listening to an unfiltered child's thoughts provides some quality entertainment. Way funnier than any Tik Tok I have every watched anyway.
There is joy in the small things
One of my biggest fears is this. If I had not taken this detox, then I would never have known the sheer and utter joys of making homemade tortillas. There is something about making bread from scratch which is just so satisfying. I don't know how to describe it, I could die of the wholsomeness.
You can still keep in touch with your friends
When I started this, I was worried that I would be kept out the loop with friends. Whilst most of our interactions are through social media. The ol'e SMS certainly came in handy. My friends still sent me memes, told me their lockdown goss. I still felt connected, It was heartwarming.
After my five day break, I have found I use social media way less than before. I find that there is hardly any need to go on my phone. I try and limit my use to 40 minutes a day and sometimes I find there are days where I really don't check my phone at all.
I do encourage everyone to disconnect social media for a little bit, or atleast reduce their screentime. It certainly made me feel better and could do you a world of good too.