April — Social Media Break
“Simply put, humans are not wired to be constantly wired.” -Cal Newport
I’m writing this here in hopes that it’ll help me stay accountable in this. I’m addicted to social media. Well, I think so at least. It doesn’t hinder my life much, but it does suck quite a lot of time out of my days. I’m, from what I can glean nowadays, kind of an old man in terms of the internet. I use Facebook and Instagram as my two main formats, but occasionally hop on TikTok if I’m feeling frisky. But, I’m dropping all of that, with the intention of using the time for more productive, life-improving things.
So, with that being said, I’m setting some intentions for this month, and, hopefully, by the end of it, those intentions will be met.
Intentions
- Declutter my workspace at home, and remove unnecessary junk
- finish this semester strong
- Journal each morning after getting to the office
- Keep the momentum going after the 30 days is up
I feel as though these are realistic goals for me to achieve, so, fingers crossed. I know I am capable of doing them, so let’s see how this month goes. Hopefully it’ll just continue on and I won’t miss social media at all. In the past when I’ve done this, it’s worked, but I always end up falling back into the trap. So, by setting these intentions, I’m hoping to eliminate my desire to check my phone whenever I’m feeling bored for more than 2 minutes.
Day 1–04/07/21
Well, here goes — deleted the apps from my phone, removed the autofill passwords from my browser, and logged out of the websites on my computers. So far the muscle memory to open the apps is still there, and I find myself mindlessly tapping the place on my phone screen where the icons used to be. Though I am finding ways to entertain and distract myself, so I need to look into further paring down my app usage. Thankfully the app Forest makes me feel really bad whenever I close it, so, to avoid killing virtual trees, I’m gonna keep using it as much as I can.
Turns out Reddit also needs to go too. I normally don’t see it as social media, but I’ve somehow auto-replaced the others with Reddit.
Day 7–04/14/21
I started using an app called Tide at the beginning of this challenge that has been a huge help for focus. Plus their soundscapes are really, really nice. Highly recommend.
I’m slowly discovering that it’s getting harder and harder to get away from social media in even a small capacity — a ton of new businesses don’t have websites, but instead just open a Facebook page and direct their traffic there. It’s tough to get away from, so finding a way to access social media intentionally seems to be the most crucial move here. Likewise, my ISP isn’t reachable by phone much anymore, so I have to tweet at them to get any issue looked at, which is…annoying to say the least.
Overall, not a bad experience, so far though. I’ve had my hand forced by some businesses, but I managed to hop on, get what I need, and hop off without much issue. This is really helping me reshape my relationship with social media.
Day 14–04/21/21
Okay — two weeks in and I am finding a groove. Though, resisting the temptation to check my notifications is still pretty tough. Which, was expected, but I thought it would have faded somewhat by now. Ultimately, I can really see the benefits in this, and I’m enjoying being away from the chaos that is The Newsfeed. I’m trying to put more effort into creative endeavors, and doing things I enjoy, rather than just wasting literal hours scrolling away at things that are entirely inconsequential in my life. This blog is sort of an extension of that, it’s a creative endeavor that I have wanted to pursue for a while, but I just…haven’t.
Thankfully, the twitch to pick up my phone when I feel the slightest bit of boredom is mostly gone. I still find myself occasionally going to where the apps were in my app drawer, but not nearly as much as 2 weeks ago.
Day 21–04/28/21
Here we are, 3 weeks in, and I…honestly don’t miss it. I’ll think about people that I want to check in on sometimes, but, that’s about it. I don’t really feel a desire to check my notifications, or scroll through different feeds. Actually, I feel better not really knowing what’s going on in the world, especially though the hyperbolic lens that is my newsfeed. Plus I’m still getting important updates through my partner so, if it happens, I’ll hear about it eventually. I am starting to find replacement behaviors on my phone, but they don’t keep me as engaged as Facebook and Instagram did.
My only concern right now is keeping up with Instagram business-wise. I’m a photographer, so keeping my posting consistent on there is important. Thankfully, Buffer exists, but I still can’t engage with followers through there, so I’ll need to figure out a good way to manage that.
Day 30–05/05/21
I honestly didn’t even realize today was the last day of this — so much for posting to a blog consistently with updates. However, I’m done with the challenge, and I feel basically no compulsion to go back to my socials. Might check them occasionally, but I really don’t feel a desire to go back to them. Although, now I really need to crack down on my phone usage. That might be my thing alongside the Minimalism Game for May. Even though I wasn’t using social media, I was still trying to fill time on my phone. Going to set a goal for 1–3 hours of screen time a day, and hopefully stick to it. I’m starting with a goal of 3.5 hours, and will slowly decrease it as time goes on. I don’t need my phone as much as I think I do, so I may as well make it a utility rather than a time-sink.
Conclusion
Social media has been a huge time consumer for me, and I’m glad I was able to get away from it for a little while. I think I’m going to continue staying off of it as much as possible. The interactions I have there are shallow at best, and don’t really contribute to my life in any meaningful way. Maybe that’s just how I’ve curated my feed, or maybe it’s just the algorithm doing its job, but I’m just going to stay away for the time being. Maybe in the future I’ll do some sort of “intentional” Facebook time or something, but I don’t really feel like that’s necessary. I feel better about how I’m spending my time, how much I’m on my phone, and how I’m filling my time with things that may benefit me down the road. Hopefully this helps someone learn how to conquer a habit, or at least allows you to learn a bit more about how easy it is to get away from the addiction, should you feel the need.
