How Deleting Social Media Impacted My Life
A view months ago I was depressed, anxious, demotivated and felt miserable in my own skin. And what if I’d say that all of this was linked to social media? Back then, if people would have told me that social media is causing all of these symptoms or in any other way making them worse, I wouldn’t have had listened and just went on mindlessly scrolling through TikTok like some kind of zombie wasting 4 hours on it alone, while checking Instagram and Twitter regularly every time a notification popped up. It was like being a toy that’s been passed around. There was no meaning in my life. If someone would have asked me about my hobbies, I seriously would have no answer to spare.
How I encountered the Idea
My personal antidote to getting out of my miserable state temporarily was watching self-improvement content on YouTube. It somehow made me feel superior and productive although I haven’t done anything for that matter. I just watched people talking about what I should and should not do, not even trying one suggestion for myself until people started to talk about a particular movie that aired on Netflix (Yeah, maybe some of you guys are already able to guess that movie). It’s called “The Social Dilemma”. If people believe me or not but that movie opened my eyes and set me free from a life of misery.
My first few days…
They were incredibly hard. I didn’t really know what to do. I was totally bored, and I was looking for something to do and instead of doing something productive I chose to play video games and watch a lot of Anime and Netflix all day. I lie to you if I’d tell you that I became a productivity beast once I quit social media (Disclaimer: I’m still not). I just jumped right into it and gave it no further attention. I didn’t consider myself addicted anyway (as many addicts do) but I felt uncomfortable not being able to check my Instagram or scroll through TikTok because that was my main source of pleasure. For that reason, I had to get my pleasure elsewhere and I chose Netflix, video games and Anime.
My first improvements
After about a week without social media, I started to get my nutrition back on track. Don’t get me wrong, I still wasted a lot of precious time but that was my first project in a while, and I was excited about the changes that were to come, and they were huge. After I changed my diet, I got more energy and got also less interested in dopamine bombs like Netflix and video games. My life started to change drastically and instead of seeking social interactions through an app I spend more quality time with my family and friends. I literally could feel the ongoing shift in my life. Although I still were watching Netflix on a regular and unhealthy basis, I got more interested in documentations which before would bore me to death. Before the detox I were exposed to news that made me feel scared and angry, mainly through twitter but sometimes being ignorant is a blessing and I felt more at ease and were able to focus on myself and the people I care about. My life started improving decently and I was more energized and happier than I’ve been for a long time.
My increasingly emerging authenticity
Being off social media gave me increasingly more time with myself. I started meditating. Not in an obsessive fashion but around two to three times a week. I would get to know what I liked and what I wanted. The “real me” started to emerge. I increasingly started to become more relaxed and confident being myself. That may be because I haven’t been exposed to the perfect lives I saw on Instagram and the political discussion on twitter which, being honest, is a toxic shit show. I was able to figure out my own values and beliefs without being manipulated into believing what other people want me to believe which is a terrific skill nowadays to possess regarding that everyone is trying to get you on their side, whether it is through persuasion or manipulation.
After around a month …
I found myself completely changed if I dare say so. The first month was kind of an experimental stage where I tried to figure out activities I could do, even though the Lockdown was going on and there was (and still is) no real activities to pursue which makes it the more difficult to not fall back into old habits. But nonetheless I got through it and you don’t believe me what happened then. For some of you this might be just lame and small improvements but for me who just shortly before was wasting 9 hours a day, all the improvements of my daily life were astonishing. I started working on projects such as this one, because I wanted to try out writing for a long time and well, here I am. But besides that, my focus enhanced so much, it’s incredible. Before I wasn’t even able to maintain focused for more than 15 minutes if I were lucky. But now I can throw a 90-minute session in and all is well. I got more motivation and passion. I was always the kind of person who never really was passionate about anything, I had no idea about what my career should look like, so I didn’t have a goal. And what I can tell you is that once you have nothing to do because all the options of entertaining you had before are gone or just not as pleasant anymore you start thinking and let your mind wander. People nowadays are so caught up in their own reality and information overload that our minds are hugely overwhelmed! Thinking and giving our mind a break of information is helping a lot at figuring yourself out. And if you know yourself, you know where you’re headed and the path you want to follow. And more importantly I have a more joyful life. I meet the people I want and have real conversations and interactions and that is worth more than a thousand hours of “social”-media.
How people perceived this change
When I told my family and friends, there were two kinds of people, the minority of them were accepting of that idea and thought it was a good step to undertake and wanted me to let them know how it’s going because they thought about doing the same. Most people looked at me strangely and told me my social death was upon me if I decided to really do the detox. Some wondered “why?” and told me that they could not understand my decision because they “couldn’t live without social media” which was a shocking statement for me which again shows the terrifying effects social media has on people.
Where I am now
I’m currently living a decent life pursuing my goals and acting on them, and that’s all because I have more than enough time and energy to pursue these goals. Social media is nothing inherently bad or evil but what it does is draining your time and energy. As I implied before I’m still no productivity beast and I don’t think I really want to be one. I work on my goals around 4 to 5 hours a day and that’s totally fine for me. And what I want you to know is that I still watch Anime or play Videogames from time to time, even though it’s greatly reduced I don’t want to get rid of them completely but what I can proudly say, is that I won’t go back to any social media platform. I don’t need it and I don’t want it. That’s personal taste and everyone’s own decision to make but the important thing is that I’m now able to choose consciously what I want to spend my precious time on and what’s not worth my time.
