5 Things I Learnt from a Social Media Detox
Sound familiar: mindless scrolling of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok whilst you’re watching TV, in a meeting, on the toilet? Yup same here. I found myself in a mindless scrolling habit and it was getting me down. I was stuck in a rut of not enjoying social media but unable to tear myself away from it. A pacifier that was no longer pacifying.
It was time to do something about. 10-day social media detox. Yup that’s right, I deleted all social media for 10 days. Here’s the five things I learnt from that.
1. Thought I’d have FOMO… but didn’t
Social media fills up with new content faster than you can consume it because everyone’s there. Would I feel that I’m missing out because I’m no longer participating? Turns out…no.
For the first few days I noticed I instinctively picked up my phone but there was nothing there and it felt a bit…odd. I wouldn’t say it was a ‘missing out’ feeling more like noticing a reflex. I hadn’t appreciated how often I was picking up my phone until I removed social media and realised there wasn’t much else to look at. Eventually I had fewer pickups of the phone itself. I was surprised how quickly my brain adapted.
The night before the detox I ceremoniously deleted all the apps and felt a bit of FOMO trepidation; I almost didn’t go through with it. However, I’m very glad I did as I quickly adapted and never once felt out the loop. I made sure that people who I wanted to stay in genuine contact with knew how to get hold of me — I wasn’t a complete hermit. If anything, I had more meaningful conversations as we actually had something to talk about rather than knowing everything about their life through social media.
2. I got 3 hours a day ‘back’
According to my phone stats, I was sinking 3 hours a day on social media. When I cut the cord, it really did feel like I was getting time ‘back’ because I hadn’t really enjoyed the time I was on social media.
What did I do with my new-found time? Anything! Watched some TV I’d wanted to see for a while, read some new books, took some more walks, baked some cakes. I made sure I didn’t just drain this time back into that other productivity sinkhole: emails. I had 3 hours more in my day and I was sure to use it on…
