If you’re a millennial like myself, you have had the chance of watching the evolution of the internet and everything involved with it, from smartphones to artificial intelligence. Or as I say, having the privilege of having known life before things started to get complicated. As I’ve gotten older (I sound like an old lady!) I’ve come to conclude that having a ‘normal childhood’ was a privilege that generations to come wont have.
While the internet and smartphones have made life easier, it has come at a cost, specially when it comes to social media. I wont turn this post into a documentary about the impacts on social media on our society. Let’s just say that for me, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram started to become a little too much in too many ways; which is saying something for someone that saw their birth and grew with them. I started to realize that…
Social media was not creating any value for me and it had become a draining source of time, energy and more importantly, happiness
If you had the chance to know me, you would know that sometimes it can take me time to get around an idea, but that once I set my mind, I stay firm. So, on Sep 30th I woke up and just did it, I started a one-month social media break. Not only deleting the apps from my cellphone, but actually closing temporarily (or so I thought back then) all my accounts. Some people of my inner circle thought I wasn’t gonna last a day. I would admit, it was hard at the beginning, because hitting the app button on my phone had turned into an automatic reflection; but I pursued on my commitment to myself and completed the month.
What did I learned? Did it changed anything?
I learned that not only I can live, but that I actually enjoy living without them. We believe they ‘keep us connected’, but that’s only the story that we tell ourselves to feel ‘connected’ to the people ‘we care’. Truth is that not having them, enables you to actually connect and most importantly, being intentional about it. A week into the experiment, I concluded that if I wanted to keep up-to-date with the lives of others I had to reach out. I sent out texts or made phone calls, with the difference that I had to think about who I wanted to reach out to; which brought to light the small circle of people I genuinely care about.
I just had more time to do the things that actually bring value to my life. Again, being intentional about the content and topics I decided to be exposed to, instead of letting the ‘content creators’ or people in general make that decision. Instead of pulling up my cellphone immediately after I woke up, I heard a podcast. Instead of scrolling to social media before bed, I pulled my Kindle and read and instead of watching stories or videos because I felt bored, I wrote.
I significantly reduced the dependency on my cellphone. Another story we tell ourselves, that ‘we gotta have it next to us’ wherever we go. During that month, I used the cellphone for the purpose it was created for, being reachable (calls/texts) and if it wasn’t for my job, I probably could have gone without it. I’m not lying when I say that there were days when I forgot where the device was. With more time, came new interests. I started learning about minimalism, which I decided to try.
Am I going back to them?
May you be asking. I opened back my Instagram account, but made a major and much needed cleansing under two criteria: ‘If I ran into this person in the supermarket would I want to say hello?’ or ‘Would I invite this person to my wedding?’. I set time limits on my cellphone, limiting my daily those of Instagram to 30 minutes a day.
I learned the hard way that Twitter deletes accounts if you don’t reactivate within 30 days, which means I lost my account forever. I would probably just go without it for now. As far as Facebook goes, I just decided to give up on it.
So, I guess that when all things consider it was a great experiment. I don’t know how we ended up here social media, but from now on, I’m choosing to be intentional about you!
Unapologetic Thoughts 