I occasionally like to do a social media detox as a form of self-care.
My first time doing a social media detox was for Lent. The next time I just wanted to challenge myself and see what I could do. Now I love incorporating them into my self-care.
It helps even me out when I feel overcome with some of the negative impacts of excessive social media use or when I want to focus on me a little more. There are quite a few benefits to a social media detox. I wanted to share some with you.
Why detoxing from Social Media is good
iPhones have this feature now that tells you you’re screen time for the week and breaks it down by the type of app. One day I say that 80% of my screen time was on social media. I was ashamed.
Between Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, and now TikTok we are constantly on our phones. If we aren’t absorbing the content that others are putting out there we are creating content to put out there ourselves.
It’s a never-ending cycle. I don’t mean to spend that much time of social media. It’s entertaining, I’ll give you that.
But it’s also addictive and not so great for the psyche. After a long scrolling session have you ever felt anxious or drained?
7 Benefits to a Social Media Detox
1. Bye Bye Comparison Syndrome
It’s easy to fall into the trap of comparing your life to the lives of others on social media. For the average person, it can be a bit depressing when those are your timeline seem to be living their best lives and you’re living a REAL life with ups and downs.
Without other people to constantly compare to, you can retrain your brain to daily self-improvement. Your only true competition is yourself.
2. More Privacy
They say sharing is caring but honestly, I think we share too much. Posting everywhere you are, everything you do and everyone you’re with.
Privacy is slowly becoming a thing of the past as well are being more social. I personally love and cherish my privacy.
3. Mood Booster
Maybe it’s because of the comparison syndromes or maybe it’s the pressure of having to constantly be active on social media and get a certain amount of likes.
I personally think a lot of the foolishness and negativity that we constantly have access to on social media plays a part but there are many studies that show chronic social media users are among the highest depressed.
4. FOMO turn to JOMO
Fear of Missing Out or FOMO is a real thing. When all of your friends are posting vacay pics on a yacht or together for a night on the town while you’re at home studying or cleaning, it’s easy to feel left out.
But there’s nothing wrong with quiet nights at home. Unplugging from social media will restore JOMO to your life.
5. Reconnecting
I find it interesting that we are so disconnected as a society. People don’t know how to have conversations anymore.
While social media is a nice distraction from time to time, it can be a crutch from developing good socialization skills.
People are more comfortable talking via text and DMs than face to face. But face to face convos are so much more intimate and productive.
6. Being Present
How can you enjoy an experience if you’re focused on taking the perfect photo or video to post to social media? We miss out on the fun by trying to capture the fun for others to see.
7. Free time
Most people can spend 2-3 hours easily on social media a day.
What else could you be doing with that time? Reading a book, learning a new hobby? The possibilities are endless.
How to Do a Social Media Detox
If you’re tempted to try a social media detox, one of the easiest methods is to delete the apps off your phone.
Our fingers have muscle memory. You’ll find yourself picking up and phone and just clicking on the app because it’s habit. But if the app isn’t there, it’ll prohibit you from going on there until you download it again.
As far as how long to do a social media detox that’s completely up to you. You may want to start with something light like a weekend or 3 days. Maybe you want to dive in and challenge yourself to a month.
It’s all up to you.
Here is a super dope article detailing how to successfully do a 7-day social media detox.
Dare to Unplug and Do a Social Media Detox
Again, I’m not preaching that social media is bad. Overindulging in anything isn’t healthy for us.
So if you dare, I challenge you to try a social media detox and let me know if you felt any positive benefits (after those first couple days of freaking out).
