I got a social media detox for the first time, and it felt like the best thing in the world. Trust me it is something you would like to try over and over again.
At the beginning of the year, as a new year’s gift to myself, I decided to take some time off work and relax. I put off my mobile phone for a complete 48 hours, and I took the time to enjoy nature’s beauty as well as read a book.
Disconnecting from the rest of the world especially social media helped in a lot of ways some of which I would mention as you read further some you just would have to discover on your own. The height of all my achievements during that 48HRS was the fact that I never felt more connected to myself that way in a very long time and it was worth every sacrifice that I had made.
The truth remains that social media in itself is not a terrible thing. In fact, it was created to help you reconnect with the people that you love but lost contact with and even make more friends all around the world so that communication does not become a challenge anymore as it used to be in the past.
However, a lot of things have changed, and different other features have been added to make things more exciting but complicated at the end of the day.
Usually, I would always be on my phone I could be watching a TV show or even creating content for this blog, but someway somehow I have to grab my phone along the line either to check messages or just to see what’s going on on social media it has become more like an addiction.
It’s so sad that a lot of us cannot go on a simple dinner date without picking our phones spontaneously time and time again. Sometimes it could be to take a photo or even upload a photo, some other times it could be to reply to a text messages, and sometimes just because you feel like picking it up you pick it up and it brings the whole purpose of you going out to spend quality time with the person or people that you are with.
I can’t recall the last time I had my phone switched off overnight; maybe while I was a lot younger before I became dedicated as a phone owner. Now you can understand why spending 48 hours without my phone felt so good.
I finally got to finish a book I started two months ago; I got to walk around and smell the flowers, I got just to sit down and watch people walk by. It felt different like something I haven’t experienced before even though I see these things every day but pay less attention to them.
That feeling of just enjoying nature without having to double check if you have a text message or if someone is doing something on Facebook or someone has come live on Instagram is just a very priceless experience, because it makes you feel like a child again who has absolutely nothing to worry about.
One reason why a lot of people are addicted to their phones these days is social media as I already said above. The question now is why exactly do you need a social media detox?
I mean, social media is really not a bad thing but is it completely good? Well, social media helps to bring the world closer you can sit at the comfort of your home and follow your favorite celebrities check on your friends and even do your business on social media all of these are reasons why nobody would want to cut down their screen time or usage of the internet.
However, even though it helps you to reach out and also get noticed by other people, it ends right there. It is difficult for a lot of people to bring that social media life to real life you can’t connect with this person in real life you probably would see them and not even say hi because it is safer just to say or do whatever you please.
Let us not also forget that a lot of people are really not themselves on social media the try to make the world look bright and beautiful on their side and that begins to make you feel like you’re not doing enough or that your life is not so perfect.
Families could easily sit together and talk about almost anything and everything for a long time have some good laughs and make beautiful memories, but that was about two decades ago.
Right now, families gather together to bond, but then everyone is on their phones checking out what’s happening with the Kardashians WhatsApp with Usher Raymond and why Nicki Minaj is cutting off from the BET. It takes away the fun and purpose of family gatherings and social time with friends.
that’s enough about how social media affect your relationship with other people, how does social media affect you as a person?
Does it make you feel very good about yourself? Does it make you want to live a lie? does it make you compare your life with that of other people? And finally, does it allow you to connect with yourself? if you have answers no to all these questions then you definitely begin to see reasons why you need to detoxify.
If you can make up your mind to take a break from social media, you will find that you would love to live in the moment and enjoy it. It’s not going to be easy because in the back of your mind you’ll be thinking about whether or not you should take photos and post them on Instagram to document the moment,?but you can decide to just live in the moment and enjoy it.
I love that I can just sit back and stay connected with my friends I love that I can easily reply to messages get all the latest news and all of this can be done using a device that will fit easily into my pocket.
As a matter of fact, this device works really great because it helps with my job and it also helps to relax me when I play songs from it however I cannot restrict my usage to just work and music social media is an integral part of my daily life.
What I have decided to do now is to set boundaries and limits when it comes to my usage of social media. I would work from 8 a.m. till 2 p.m, I would have time for social media from 2 p.m. till 4 p.m, then from 4 p.m to the end of the day is going to be dedicated solely to myself.
And then on weekends I can have time for social media from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m. and then nature has the rest of my day. This doesn’t necessarily mean you must try to detoxify in the same manner; I am only trying to say that you can decide how best to reduce your usage of social media and get more in touch with yourself.
Take good care of your surrounding, and appreciate all the wonderful things of life and the people around you while you still have all of that.
You would have no idea how much you have missed or how much you would be missing if you do not take your time off social media to do other cool things with your life.
See how beautiful the trees are, how the children in your neighborhood play, go spend some time at the beach, try out a new drink, make some new friends, and visit your grandma.
My goal is to spend less time on social media applications and spend more time reading. Maybe the new restrictions I have placed on myself might not work,?maybe I might have to think of something else, but I just want to be productive at the end of the day and see what valuable things I can do with my downtime instead of scrolling through my phone.
I know you’re probably thinking of getting a social media detox as well or maybe you’re even doing it already. what techniques do you use? Would I love to know? Let me know in the comment box below.
