Wake up, check instagram. Walk to class, scroll through twitter. Getting ready to go to bed, go on facebook.
Step away from your phone, tablet, or computer. Please.
Now I have gone without social media for a variety of reasons before. I have been fortunate enough to leave the country and when that happened I had very limited access to wifi so I just put my phone in my bag and went about traveling. In high school I deleted my Facebook because I was trying to focus on getting into college. I have deleted my twitter before because sometimes I just cannot handle all of the drama that came out of it. I have taken a step back from snapchat multiple times simply because I needed a moment to live my own life and not see what others were doing. However, I will admit I have never been able to not check my instagram.
Sometimes life throws about a million things your way at once, like it did with me. That was when I decided to do a true detox from social media. It seemed like the perfect time to do whatever I needed to do to take a break from it all. I went for hikes and runs, hung-out with my dog, went to lunch with my mom, and when I got back to my college campus I threw myself into schoolwork and art and anything else I could seem to use as a distraction. Of course I would slip up every now and again, but my intentions were there and that’s what matters here.
It’s worth logging out of your facebook or twitter for a while, they will be there when you return. I am not saying that there aren’t benefits to social media and social media usage. You can stay connected with friends who have moved away, develop a brand for yourself, discover new music, watch videos of dogs (yes that is important), and a laundry list of other amazing things. However, social media is not something that should ever control your life. Not everything you see is real and I think that’s why everyone should do a detox every now and again. It is so simple to twist your life around and make it look like something it isn’t. Unnecessary negativity and distraction can come out of social media and that is why I personally think everyone should try to go cold turkey for a little while, I promise you can do it.
So log off, logout, shut down. It really is worth it. There is something amazing that comes from this form of detoxing. You realize so much more about anything and everything when your eyes aren’t glued to your phone.
