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nt, I still felt the desire to check social media and I wanted to keep up with what was happening in the world. But I knew I had reached a breaking point. Writing in my journal I said,<blockquote id="b2bd">“Today I’ve finally had it. The whole weekend I felt lethargic, depressed, de-motivated and like I couldn’t do anything apart from lay on my bed scrolling all day on social media. It makes me feel inadequate as I constantly compare myself to others.”</blockquote>Recognising the relationship between my social media use and my mental health was already half the battle, but I had to fight the other half too.I didn’t know how the week was going to go, if I was going to be able to break the habit or how it would make me feel. But I was already feeling the effects at the beginning.Instead of scrolling after lunch or in the evenings, I started to replace this with reading online and watching Netflix. I re-discovered my Friends addiction, which is never a bad thing.For my ratings on the first day, this is what I gave myself:<ul><li>Mood = 7/10 (10 being the best ever)</li><li>Productivity = 7/10</li><li>Motivation = 8/10</li></ul><h2 id="209c">Day 2 — Tuesday 13th October</h2><figure id="1df9"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*iDGMQrCfOciDK3ikdllcSw.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://burst.shopify.com/?ref=pexels">burst.shopify.com/</a> from Pexels</figcaption></figure>At this point, I was already noticing that there was so much more time in the day.Being on social media takes away the ability to be able to notice the passing of time. A quick 5-minute scroll often turns into 10, 20 and before you know it an hour has passed. But being without it, the days felt slower and more manageable.And I liked it. I had the time to check in with myself, I felt I was more present and able to control my emotions without the influence of incessant highlight reels from complete strangers,<blockquote id="40f1">“My overall state of mind and mental health is stable, rather than in a constant cycle of self-hatred and anxiety, so that’s always good.”</blockquote>That being said, at this stage I had already recognised that I was missing Twitter. It had been a heavy news week in the UK, as where I live was put in a Tier 2 stage of lockdown, meaning cases of Coronavirus were rising and the area was considered high risk.I desperately wanted to log onto Twitter to read all the analysis from journalists — but I refrained.<ul><li>Mood = 7/10</li><li>Productivity = 7.5/10</li><li>Motivation = 8/10</li></ul><h2 id="ab1e">Day three — Wednesday 14th October</h2>This was the first day where I felt like I wasn’t missing Instagram or TikTok.I was slowly realising that engaging within those platforms was not bringing me any benefits. Staring at someone else's’ highlight reels and what they presented as a perfect life, was not adding anything to mine.Being away from it was giving me more benefits. Looking back, I definitely think this was the turning point.<ul><li>Mood = 8/10</li><li>Productivity = 8.5/10</li><li>Motivation = 9/10</li></ul><h2 id="11f9">Day four — Thursday 15th October</h2>I was missing Twitter — severely. But Instagram — forget it, it was done.On this day, I was beginning to enjoy my life without social media and felt like never going back, “Life without social media is good, and I kind of don’t want to go back to it.”I was seeing improvements in my writing, mood and general wellbeing and even dreaded the prospect of logging back onto Instagram and catching up with all the crap I had missed.But I was also feeling quite stressed at this point due to some personal things, but importantly, I didn’t turn to social media to drown my sorrows, and as a result, felt better than I would have normally done.<ul><li>Mood = 7/10</li><li>Productivity = 7/10</li><li>Motivation = 7.5/10</li></ul><h2 id="0085">Day five — Friday 16th October</h2>That night I had a really bad sleep, as a result, I didn’t do much on this day as I felt so lethargic.As a result, my productivity rating and my motivation levels were pretty low but importantly, this wasn’t because of social media use. I’m pretty sure the ratings would be even worse if I had <a href="https://readmedium.com/your-brain-is-wired-to-doomscroll-can

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-you-stop-it-b632396a77b4">doomscrolled</a> my way through this mini-crisis I was having.I really wanted to scroll my day away, as I was so tired and didn’t feel like doing anything else. But I didn’t, I resisted and ploughed through some work I needed to do.<ul><li>Mood = 5/10</li><li>Productivity = 4.5/10</li><li>Motivation = 5/10</li></ul><h2 id="6fc1">Day six — Saturday 17th October</h2>This is the day the tables truly turned, “I’ve deleted my personal Instagram account and it feels amazing.”After one final scroll and look at my feed my realisation was confirmed, I wasn’t gaining a single thing from being on the platform, and whatever I did gain, was making me feel inadequate, unmotivated and very low about myself.So in a snapshot moment, I deleted my personal account. Now, I only have an <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thevioletreview_/">account</a> for sharing my writing and posting book reviews, and I don’t follow any influencers, but people I know, or those that genuinely add to my life.After all this, I still think Instagram is a useful tool, but for me, its use has to be crafted in the right way.<ul><li>Mood = 7/10</li><li>Productivity = 7/10</li><li>Motivation = 7.5/10</li></ul><h2 id="843e">Day seven — Sunday 18th October</h2><figure id="961e"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*eea3RiSMxtFQUlvBwrFxQQ.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://www.pexels.com/@suzyhazelwood?utm_content=attributionCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pexels">Suzy Hazelwood</a> from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-and-brown-wooden-tiles-3656855/?utm_content=attributionCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pexels">Pexels</a></figcaption></figure>This was a bad bad mental health day. The entire day was spent over analysing and critiquing every aspect of my life.As I said, there were a few personal things going on at this point which were making me feel anxious, and as usual, my thoughts spiralled and I was catastrophising.But — crucially, I didn’t self-sabotage and end up doomscrolling, as I would have done before.I still managed to be self-reflective about the experience,<blockquote id="b779">“So how was the week away from social media? So much better — deleting my personal Instagram, which is filled with celebrities and influencers that make me feel like crap and don’t add anything back into my life, was so refreshing and needed.”</blockquote>I was ending the week, despite everything, on a far better note than I had gone in with.<ul><li>Mood = 8/10</li><li>Productivity = 8.5/10</li><li>Motivation = 8/10</li></ul><h2 id="9353">So What Did I learn?</h2><ul><li>I recognised a direct correlation between my mental health, low mood and social media usage</li><li>I realised how different platforms made me feel. I was using Instagram and TikTok in a negative way which is perpetuated by the highlight reel culture. However, Twitter had next to no effect on my mental health, as I use it to access information and get feedback from other writers.</li><li>A week away from social media made me see there was so much more time in the day, time I could be using to do things that truly make me happy</li><li>I became more present, aware of myself and in touch with my emotions</li><li>I don’t want to abandon being online completely — but rather, implement self-control and become mindful of how I use it</li></ul>Social media is amazing. It has the ability to bring people together in moments of crisis and can be a source of inspiration.However, when used negatively, it can be a real problem. Naturally, its impact depends on the user. But for me, the way in which I was using it and my relationship towards Instagram in particular, was detrimental to my mental health and well being.If you are noticing that after using social media, you are feeling more negative, I would highly recommend taking some time off and journaling about how the process makes you feel.Just because it’s mainstream, it doesn’t mean you have to be a part of it.My time spent away made me realise there is so much more to gain from the day, and my general mood was improved. I can now approach using it with mindfulness and contemplation — rather than an unhealthy cycle of self-sabotage and addiction that I had created for myself.</article></body>

Spending a Week Away from the World

Taking a social media detox ended up having remarkable benefits on my mental health.

Whilst social media trends come and go, platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and TikTok have become a permanent feature in our lives.

As the world isolates more, due to the global pandemic, our reliance on these platforms becomes stronger by the day.

A few weeks ago, I saw the emergence of the “How it Started vs How it’s Going” trend, where users on Instagram and Twitter were showing two photographs side by side to illustrate a passage of time and showcase various achievements.

Inherently there’s nothing wrong with this, and by far, I believe everyone should celebrate their achievements. But seeing these litter up my timelines, made me think that in comparison, I had done nothing with the last 7 months, which led me to embark on a pitfall of despair.

Part of this is due to my own personal responsibility. Despite knowing that “comparison is the thief of all joy” I am someone who compares every aspect of my life to other people. It’s a problem, and one I need to work on, but being so active on social media, only increased these habits.

As a result, my opinion of myself has plummeted. After all, in this time, I haven’t found my dream job, discovered who I want to be, or achieved a personal milestone, despite the trend making me believe that I should have done.

I’ve been fighting a battle with social media for a long time.

My relationship with Instagram has always been topsy turvy, I spent a whole year without it after deleting my first account, only to hop back on it a year later.

During lockdown, I got into the habit of treating myself to mindless scroll sessions — but failed to acknowledge the link between my anxiety, low mood and social media usage. I found myself using social media whilst being acutely aware of how rubbish it was making me feel, but yet preserved.

Evenings spent scrolling on TikTok became my way of self-sabotage, I could sink further into the feeling of hopelessness and despair because there was not much to lose anyway.

But, like all unhealthy habits, I reached a breaking point. I decided to take a week off all social media to see how I felt.

How Did I Begin?

Strangely, I was able to keep the apps on my phone but I moved them into a separate folder that wasn’t as noticeable. In this way, they were still there, and I knew that if I really wanted to, I could have a quick five minutes if I was desperate. This was a comfort blanket in a way, as they weren’t completely eliminated.

I lasted around 5–6 days away from social media, apart from posting to share articles I had written. To truly assess how I felt, I kept notes each day and rated my motivation, productivity and mood.

On average, before this, I was spending between 2–4 hours a day on my phone, which is at the lower end — but for me, it was a lot, and it was making me feel pretty worthless. After all, 2 hours spent on your phone daily, equates to 35 full days in a year.

Here’s how it went.

Day 1 — Monday 12th October

At this point, I still felt the desire to check social media and I wanted to keep up with what was happening in the world. But I knew I had reached a breaking point. Writing in my journal I said,

“Today I’ve finally had it. The whole weekend I felt lethargic, depressed, de-motivated and like I couldn’t do anything apart from lay on my bed scrolling all day on social media. It makes me feel inadequate as I constantly compare myself to others.”

Recognising the relationship between my social media use and my mental health was already half the battle, but I had to fight the other half too.

I didn’t know how the week was going to go, if I was going to be able to break the habit or how it would make me feel. But I was already feeling the effects at the beginning.

Instead of scrolling after lunch or in the evenings, I started to replace this with reading online and watching Netflix. I re-discovered my Friends addiction, which is never a bad thing.

For my ratings on the first day, this is what I gave myself:

Mood = 7/10 (10 being the best ever)
Productivity = 7/10
Motivation = 8/10

Day 2 — Tuesday 13th October

At this point, I was already noticing that there was so much more time in the day.

Being on social media takes away the ability to be able to notice the passing of time. A quick 5-minute scroll often turns into 10, 20 and before you know it an hour has passed. But being without it, the days felt slower and more manageable.

And I liked it. I had the time to check in with myself, I felt I was more present and able to control my emotions without the influence of incessant highlight reels from complete strangers,

“My overall state of mind and mental health is stable, rather than in a constant cycle of self-hatred and anxiety, so that’s always good.”

That being said, at this stage I had already recognised that I was missing Twitter. It had been a heavy news week in the UK, as where I live was put in a Tier 2 stage of lockdown, meaning cases of Coronavirus were rising and the area was considered high risk.

I desperately wanted to log onto Twitter to read all the analysis from journalists — but I refrained.

Mood = 7/10
Productivity = 7.5/10
Motivation = 8/10

Day three — Wednesday 14th October

This was the first day where I felt like I wasn’t missing Instagram or TikTok.

I was slowly realising that engaging within those platforms was not bringing me any benefits. Staring at someone else's’ highlight reels and what they presented as a perfect life, was not adding anything to mine.

Being away from it was giving me more benefits. Looking back, I definitely think this was the turning point.

Mood = 8/10
Productivity = 8.5/10
Motivation = 9/10

Day four — Thursday 15th October

I was missing Twitter — severely. But Instagram — forget it, it was done.

On this day, I was beginning to enjoy my life without social media and felt like never going back, “Life without social media is good, and I kind of don’t want to go back to it.”

I was seeing improvements in my writing, mood and general wellbeing and even dreaded the prospect of logging back onto Instagram and catching up with all the crap I had missed.

But I was also feeling quite stressed at this point due to some personal things, but importantly, I didn’t turn to social media to drown my sorrows, and as a result, felt better than I would have normally done.

Mood = 7/10
Productivity = 7/10
Motivation = 7.5/10

Day five — Friday 16th October

That night I had a really bad sleep, as a result, I didn’t do much on this day as I felt so lethargic.

As a result, my productivity rating and my motivation levels were pretty low but importantly, this wasn’t because of social media use. I’m pretty sure the ratings would be even worse if I had doomscrolled my way through this mini-crisis I was having.

I really wanted to scroll my day away, as I was so tired and didn’t feel like doing anything else. But I didn’t, I resisted and ploughed through some work I needed to do.

Mood = 5/10
Productivity = 4.5/10
Motivation = 5/10

Day six — Saturday 17th October

This is the day the tables truly turned, “I’ve deleted my personal Instagram account and it feels amazing.”

After one final scroll and look at my feed my realisation was confirmed, I wasn’t gaining a single thing from being on the platform, and whatever I did gain, was making me feel inadequate, unmotivated and very low about myself.

So in a snapshot moment, I deleted my personal account. Now, I only have an account for sharing my writing and posting book reviews, and I don’t follow any influencers, but people I know, or those that genuinely add to my life.

After all this, I still think Instagram is a useful tool, but for me, its use has to be crafted in the right way.

Mood = 7/10
Productivity = 7/10
Motivation = 7.5/10

Day seven — Sunday 18th October

This was a bad bad mental health day. The entire day was spent over analysing and critiquing every aspect of my life.

As I said, there were a few personal things going on at this point which were making me feel anxious, and as usual, my thoughts spiralled and I was catastrophising.

But — crucially, I didn’t self-sabotage and end up doomscrolling, as I would have done before.

I still managed to be self-reflective about the experience,

“So how was the week away from social media? So much better — deleting my personal Instagram, which is filled with celebrities and influencers that make me feel like crap and don’t add anything back into my life, was so refreshing and needed.”

I was ending the week, despite everything, on a far better note than I had gone in with.

Mood = 8/10
Productivity = 8.5/10
Motivation = 8/10

So What Did I learn?

I recognised a direct correlation between my mental health, low mood and social media usage
I realised how different platforms made me feel. I was using Instagram and TikTok in a negative way which is perpetuated by the highlight reel culture. However, Twitter had next to no effect on my mental health, as I use it to access information and get feedback from other writers.
A week away from social media made me see there was so much more time in the day, time I could be using to do things that truly make me happy
I became more present, aware of myself and in touch with my emotions
I don’t want to abandon being online completely — but rather, implement self-control and become mindful of how I use it

Social media is amazing. It has the ability to bring people together in moments of crisis and can be a source of inspiration.

However, when used negatively, it can be a real problem. Naturally, its impact depends on the user. But for me, the way in which I was using it and my relationship towards Instagram in particular, was detrimental to my mental health and well being.

If you are noticing that after using social media, you are feeling more negative, I would highly recommend taking some time off and journaling about how the process makes you feel.

Just because it’s mainstream, it doesn’t mean you have to be a part of it.

My time spent away made me realise there is so much more to gain from the day, and my general mood was improved. I can now approach using it with mindfulness and contemplation — rather than an unhealthy cycle of self-sabotage and addiction that I had created for myself.