Hello there, it has been awhile since I last posted something, so here we are. As you can see in the title, this blog post is about taking a break from social media. As I write this, I am currently on day 30 of my social media fast, and let me tell you it has been hard taking a break from the online world. I wish I could say that I have been perfect and not checked my social media between when I first started this fast and where I'm at now, but I did get on Facebook around day 20. I didn't end up checking any of my messages though, so I apologize if you tried to get a hold of me or sent me something funny on the internet, and I did not respond to you. You're just going to have to wait until January for me to reply haha.
All kidding aside, this break from social media has been needful and productive. I have learned how much I gravitate towards scrolling through Instagram or Snapchat when I have free time. Where I have been on Christmas break, I have not had to do any school work, so I am less busy than I normally would be, and I have time to actually do things that I enjoy. However, one of those things I enjoy doing is keeping up with my friends and family online, sending silly videos back & forth, and posting about my latest adventures. Like many of you all, I like to take aesthetically pleasing "Instagram-worthy" pictures, make cool high-light reels, and spruce up my online profile in order to keep up with everyone else, but sometimes it can be a lot.
Social media can be draining, and it's not good to spend hours at a time scrolling through your phone. Which is part of the reason why I decided to delete all of my social media apps for 40 days, that, and I saw this book called "The 40-Day Social Media Fast," by Wendy Speake at an Olly's in Tennessee for $2.99 which I ended up buying. I bought it over the summer, and while I was not quite ready to give up my online apps then, I figured that I could try this fast over Christmas break. This way, I would not waste my Christmas break scrolling through my feed, and I could use this time to draw closer to the Lord. So, long story short, the night before Thanksgiving, I deleted Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Tik-Tok, and Pinterest. I deleted all of these apps because I knew that if I didn't I would automatically default to one and continue to spend too much time scrolling through stuff, so I decided to get rid of it all. Which, by the way, fun fact: Facebook will send you messages anytime someone shares a post of you in it or someone accepts a friend request, so no matter how hard you try to separate yourself from social media, it always has a way of coming back to you.
Anyways, I thought I would share with you what I have learned during my time away from social media and hopefully inspire you to maybe try this fast as well.
First things first, your real friends are the ones who reach out to you through a phone call or text message beyond that of commenting on a photo, liking a picture, sending a funny Instagram meme or Snapchat selfie. They are the ones that text you to make plans, reach out to you because they value your company and want to hang, or just want to tell you what's going on in their lives or weigh your opinion. Since I've been off of social media, I have paid attention to those who have reached out to me and made plans to meet up. It's almost like as soon as I got off social media, I had three coffee/ lunch dates lined up with several close friends. This was really cool because I was hoping I could have real face-face interactions with long time friends while I was on Christmas break, and God worked all of those meetings out. Face to face interactions are always better than long text messages or communicating through memes. I'm not trying to say that you can't have both, or that you aren't a good friend if you didn't check on me during my social media fast because I'm sure 99% of you did not know I was offline and truthfully, probably didn't really care either way. I am rather saying that your real friends are the ones who prioritize you in their life and care about you enough to send you a text message to see how you're doing. In a world that emphasizes having a large following or influence over others, it's better to have a few close friends that you can call when you are really having a bad day and need someone to speak truth into your life than a massive social media following.
Secondly, I think being off of social media has made me be more intentional about reaching out to others. I'm not keeping up with everyone or seeing what they're up to, so if I want to know how so & so is doing, I can just pick up the phone and call them. So, it kind of like works both ways. The people that are most important to you are the ones you reach out to when you're not relying on your cellphone feed to give you that human interaction. You get to know who you value the most and realize whose company you prefer and miss, and once you realize who you're missing you then make plans to see them. Amazing right?
Thirdly, I use social media as a distraction when I am stressed or overwhelmed or am just concerned about the future. I kind of use it as a way to numb my feelings which I don't really think is best. If I'm lonely, I go to social media to try and escape that feeling...or remedy it. If I'm bored, I go to social media to mindlessly scroll through things I don't have to read that much into. When I should be finishing an assignment and it's not going well, I turn to social media to drown out the outside world. In some ways, I kind of use it as a retreat too. When I'm on my phone, at least I don't have to think about the real world or the inconveniences going on in my life or feel things. But I think we can all see the danger in this. Long story short, my phone often takes the place of God. When I should be running to Him and talking to Him about the things in my life that aren't going the way I want them to, I'm often numbing them with social media. Which is why being away from these apps has helped me talk to God more and spend time on my phone less. It's helped me retreat to Him first rather than use my normal mechanism of avoiding things through surfing the web.
Fourthly, it is almost impossible anymore to not have/use social media. Do you know how many restaurants have Facebook pages, how many therapy clinics use Instagram to advertise their services, and how many people you first contact by way of social media profiles? I did not know how much I relied on it until I tried to contact people whose numbers I did not have and started looking up occupational therapy businesses. Which brings me to this question: What is the true purpose of social media? It is a tool that was created in order to ease communication, connect more people, and make resources more accessible or more readily available to the public. Somehow we have made it a god in our lives. While this is not true for everyone, it is true for most people who use or have social media apps. As with anything, social media can be good, but it can also be misused and abused when it starts taking precedence over your time and attention rather than your present state of well-being.
On a slightly less important note, solitaire is a great app to have on your phone if you decide to do the 40 day social media fast. It helps fill in the gap and keeps your brain active and busy. I have played many rounds of Solitaire while fasting. I am currently on Level 87 and have a personal record of winning a game in under 1 minute and 10 seconds haha. I played lots of Solitaire before my social media fast, so I can't say that I reached level 87 in 30 days but it has been an outlet I used to take the place of social media on the days when I really craved it.
If you are like me and you use social media way too much and would like to take this challenge, you are going to need to find another way to entertain yourself whether that be reading a book, learning how to play an instrument, finding a hobby, or downloading Solitaire. You will be tempted to pick up your phone so many times, so you will need to find something else to pick up. For starters, your Bible would be the best thing, but seeing that You may not like to read all of the time, maybe try exercising or using other ways to fill your time. Get creative! Make dinner plans to see a friend, write a letter to someone, and/or put someone else's needs before your own. Pretty soon you will come to find out that face to face interaction is much better and brings you more joy than chatting through dm's.
So, there you have it. These are some insights I have gained while taking a break from my social media. I still haven't decided whether I am going to delete my Instagram for good or not. Out of all of the social media apps I use, it is probably the one I abuse the most. To be honest, I miss it. I almost downloaded it back today just so I could hop on and see what everyone was up to/how everyone spent their Christmas. It's weird how social media can be so addictive, but that's where we are in today's world. Anyways, I hope this blog post has given you a new perspective of social media and maybe inspired you to take some time away from the online world. You won't regret doing so, I can promise you that.
--Hailey Renee
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