Abstaining from Social Media
I had just finished reading Jaron Lanier’s “Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now” and I pondered on the subject. Below is a reflection on how my individual life has been impacted by logging out of social media in the short term. Disclaimer results may vary for others.
Reasons for Staying?
I have always had Social Media accounts to keep in touch with friends and family from afar. This was the first reason I told myself I should keep my social media accounts. But then I tried to remember when I had actually last spoken with a friend overseas or a family member and I could not remember.
The second reason I told myself I should keep my social media accounts was as a way of connecting with others, being invited to events and networking in my local area. However, upon reflection I thought what is the point when I could email, text message or call which would probably lead to a more genuine conversation. Besides if someone really wanted to invite me to something they would probably just text/call me.
So I sat there and I could not bring myself to just deactivate my accounts. Instead I decided to log out for a short period and to see if they really brought benefit to my life. So I logged out of all my social media apps, removed them from my front screen of my phone, and completely turned off all notifications for each application. The reason I did this was to avoid having constant notifications attempting to lure me back in.
So what did I notice?
My morning routine consisted of habitually grabbing my phone, and attempting to access my social media applications. This was really quite something I hadn’t noticed before. Since I had removed easy access to my social media apps I ended up putting my phone away. This behaviour I noticed happened throughout the day for a long period of time. But in the end I have noticed by not having my social media applications easily accessible this has changed my actual physical habitual motions.
Secondly I noticed that I just felt less anxious and distracted from my own life. As a result of not constantly seeing images of advertisements and other things people were doing that seemed so awesomely fulfilling I was able to appreciate my own life. I was able to gain an insight into how to measure myself against my own views and not the constant barrage of other people’s lives. I actually noticed an appreciation for what I had and not what I was wanting. This really helped me bring a new perspective to my own life and how I want to proceed into the future.
Thirdly I just had a fair bit more time as I didn’t spend the odd 20 minutes aimlessly scrolling through social media multiple times a day. This has equated to a number of positive changes waking up earlier, reading every morning, more productivity at managing general household chores, improving my bond with my dogs, going for a walk during my lunch break, establishing more meaningful time with my partner, and going to bed earlier with less effort.
When I finally did log back into my accounts I did notice something. I had no information that wasn’t already available to me otherwise, and I had no new meaningful notifications. This made me really wonder about the utility of social media for myself?
Final Thoughts
In short for me I have seen a number of benefits from having a break from social media and very little negatives. I will not fully deactivate my accounts just yet. This is because I have only been logged off for a short period of time. I plan to reflect again on this area of my life into the future in which I will really ponder what long term benefits and disadvantages have occurred as a result of not being constantly logged in.
I would love to read about other people’s journeys around social media, and thank you for taking the time to read.
