This past weekend, I decided to take a 24-hour social media detox.. and here’s what happened.
I’m on my phone constantly – by that I mean I basically fall asleep holding it. I actually have my screen settings turned so it never shuts off on it’s own.. because I’ll usually reach for it again before it has time to shut off. It’s a bad habit. I’m usually pretty embarrassed when I get my weekly screen time report, and see that I spent most of my waking hours on social media apps. There were a series of events leading up to the weekend that caused my need for the detox, but I won’t lie – I secretly welcomed the break. So, I logged out, and deleted the app, and began my detox.
This may sound dramatic to people who aren’t also glued to their phones for work, but I instantly didn’t know what to do with myself. I compared the feeling to when the power goes out and you realize there’s so little to do without it. First world problems, I know. However, as a creative, my mind never stops working, and when I get an idea, I usually like to implement it right away. It took a lot of self control to not log back in and start sharing about thirty minutes in.
I finally decided the best thing for me to do was to go put my phone away, and keep myself busy in other parts of the house. I spent the next couple of hours cleaning, working on renovation plans, and doing all kinds of other things I always feel like I “don’t have time” to do. After that, I started watching a new TV show – like actually watching it instead of just having it on for background noise. It was amazing! I also realized there was something else I enjoyed doing on my phone… READING! I haven’t read an actual book in months, and though I didn’t get far before I fell asleep, it was soooo nice to take the time out for myself.
The next morning, I didn’t wake up and immediately grab my phone. I could actually enjoy my morning coffee without scrolling through my feed. I realized I actually felt more inspired when I had ideas building up that I wasn’t able to share immediately. It took the pressure off of creating for a few hours, and that was nice. I will admit, when my 24-hours were up, I was ready to log back in and see what I had missed. I’m definitely not the type of person to do this sort of thing often, but it was a fun little experiment to see how I would spend my free time. If anything, I’ve learned that the world won’t end if I put my phone down for a few hours, and it can be a good thing to take some time out for yourself.
If you’ve ever done a social media cleanse before, let me know in the comments how it went for you! xoxo