I Quit Social Media and It's Awesome

After much thought and consideration, I have finally made the decision to delete and/or deactivate all of my social media accounts. For me, this included Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

I was never one to stay on social media for long anyway, but even in short bursts I began to notice the harmful effects on both myself and my family.

A short while ago, I began to notice myself becoming more irritable, impatient, self-conscious, and anxious. The façade that we both receive from others and portray ourselves can be quite deceptive and trigger a cacophony of emotional responses from ourselves and others. For myself, I was noticing that I was becoming quite jealous of others as they posted their successes, I became angry at opinions expressed, I began to understand the reality of a myriad of false information, and I became upset while watching people argue in the comments over a post and retaliate with harmful words. It didn’t take long for me to realize just how toxic my time on social media really was.

And, of course, we all know it. I knew it. But for some reason, we require it. We can’t go a day without it. We can’t look at our phones without checking, we feel a need to be ever and always available. However, this need to be available makes us just the opposite .. unavailable. A moment of checking notifications, inevitably turns into minutes and maybe hours of scrolling through feeds. This, in turn, takes our minds, attention, emotions, and presence away from what matters most - the present REALITY.

Even though I was never one to waste away hours, even 10 minutes of staring at my screen was 10 minutes that I wasn’t there for my kids, my husband, and myself. While scrolling, it is so easy to dismiss a whimper from a child, a sign of discontent from a spouse, or an internal cue to take care of ourselves.

It truly is toxic.

So, I finally threw in the towel and got rid of the platforms that demanded my attention.

It’s been two days and to be honest, the feeling is so freeing.

In my accumulated minutes and maybe even hours that are now free, I have read more, journaled more, played with my children more, sketched more (I’m really bad at it, but hey - it’s still fun!), and I am present more.

It’s funny though, now that I don’t have the option to pick up my phone and check the “latest”, I see the sad reality of the world we currently live in. I don’t see faces on the metro, I see screens. I don’t see parents interacting with their children, I see parents sitting on benches and scrolling while their kids swing. I don’t see healing conversations, I see ferocious typing with the intent to harm. I see swarms of people almost bump into each other. I see individuals walk off of sidewalks or hit lampposts. I see the masses miss the beauty of a day and waste eyesight on a phone or tablet. It’s sad, really.

While I did not type this in any way to shame anyone or appear “better then thou”, if you are reading this, I would ask you to consider the questions “What is really the purpose of my time on social media?”, “Is it truly necessary?”, “If I stopped scrolling, what could I do instead or who could I spend time with?”, and “Is there someone that is being hurt or neglected by my time on a device?”

You make the right call for you. All I can do is tell you just how freeing it is to be free.

Here are some “in the moment” photos!