What Happened When I “Quit” Social Media For 1 Month

Outlining the positive takeaways I had when I went on an Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok “detox”

Social media is a powerful tool. In fact, it is so powerful, there are over 2.6 billion active users on Facebook and 1.2 billion for Instagram, alone.

For many of us young millennials or older Gen Z-ers, it’s hard to imagine a world that existed before social media.

I remember secretly getting my own Facebook account at 13 years old because my parents banned me from having online profiles. They said I could get Facebook once I graduated high school because it was dangerous and they were scared that I would use it irresponsibly i.e. posting incriminating photos of myself that would prohibit me from getting a job.

The thing is, they weren’t entirely wrong, but not necessarily right either.

I have used social media irresponsibly for over a decade, but not because of the type of content I post on my profiles, but because of the rate of how much I use it.

On average, Gen Z spends just under 3 hours a day on social media. Millennials are close behind and spend around 2 and a half hours on social media. This makes sense, social media has a lot of positive aspects. It allows users to:

• Stay connected
• Stay up to date with current events
• Create online content

… and so much more! The possibilities of social media are endless. No wonder we are all capitalizing on it.

However, there are many downsides to using social media as well. In February I spent a staggering 4 hours a day on social media (mainly Instagram, Facebook, and Tik Tok) in one week. In one week. That means that I spent an average total of 28 hours on social media, and this does not include other platforms such as YouTube, Medium, LinkedIn, etc…

Anticipating a stressful and busy March, I gave myself a challenge. I would “quit” my 3 most used social media platforms for 1 month: Instagram, Facebook, and Tik Tok. There were some platforms I still needed to be on such as Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp, but other than that I went cold-turkey on my 3 “notorious” apps. Here’s what I found.

I Spent More Time Outside

I could attribute this to the changing weather, however, I think eliminating the use of social media apps allowed me to re-think the way I was spending my time.

One of the ways I chose to spend my time was by heading outdoors. I live in one of the most most beautiful regions of the world (the Pacific North West), and staying off of my phone allowed me to venture out a little more than I had in previous months.

Instead of staying indoors and ending up on an endless loop of Tik Tok videos, I spent time exploring local parks, walking around neighbourhoods, and spending time at the beach. I often took a book or notebook with me to either read or write so I wouldn’t be tempted to go on my phone the whole time.

My Focus Was Better

Social media apps are distracting and I always find myself reaching for my phone to check Instagram almost every few minutes even though I did not get any new notifications.

I am a victim of the goldfish effect.

The goldfish effect is a term that aims to explain why people in modern day have shorter attention spans and are more forgetful. There is evidence to suggest that our over usage of social media causes our brains to be overstimulated, thus, resulting in an overload of information that we can’t process properly.

Contrary to popular belief, we can’t effectively multitask and social media has tricked our brains into thinking we can.

By eliminating apps that I frequented often during the day, it forced me to focus more on the tasks I needed to get done in March. This was extremely helpful since I often had to switch between jobs and tasks mid-day and quitting social media eliminated the confusion it had caused my brain in the months before.

I Developed a Better Night Time Routine

I am guilty of the endless scrolling when I should be getting some shut-eye. By eliminating the apps I would often go on before bed, it forced me to do other things instead such as doing a longer stretching routine or reading.

Going on your phone at night can have detrimental effects on your health such as disruptive sleep patterns and eye strain.

In one study, researchers analyzed the usage of social media among 300 female students at one university and found that 46% of them (139 individuals) were going to bed between 11 pm — 12 am, while 39% of them (118 individuals) stated that they were going to bed between 1 am — 2 am, despite the fact that 93% of them (279 individuals) were leaving for school at 8 am.

68% of them (208 individuals) attributed their delayed bed time to social media use.

Lack of sleep can have a negative impact on our mental health, physical health, and work and school performance. I noticed staying off my apps allowed me to increase my chances of getting a good night’s sleep so I can be ready to tackle whatever it was I needed to do the next day.

I Don’t Feel Compelled to Check my Phone Every 5 Minutes

As mentioned before, I would check my phone every few minutes even though there was no reason to be on it.

Stopping my social media usage made me realize that I really don’t need to go on my phone so often. Social media apps do a good job of taking you out of your reality, however, it was doing so too frequently. It’s good to be present in your life — something I found that I was lacking, especially in this last year.

Now, I even feel comfortable leaving my phone in a different room while I am working remotely because there really is no need for me to be checking it while I am doing something else. This is something I don’t think I would have accomplished without “quitting” my social media habits.

If anything, this challenge reminded me of how valuable my personal time is and that I don’t want to look back on my 20’s and think “I spent 4 hours a day on social media instead of doing this or that.” What a waste that would be.

This isn’t the first time I stayed off of social media for an extended amount of time, however, this time was different because the fact that I have to take social media “breaks” was indicative of how easy it is to fall back into the digital traps of social media.

I now feel like I have a healthier grasp of how to use social media than before because I am being intentional about my activity.

Going on this social media “detox” allowed me to realize that I don’t always have to be “tapped in” to the digital world.

I don’t need to be updating my Instagram stories every day, or feeling like I am missing out on some exciting news, or liking every single photo I see. It’s just not necessary.

Even though it was scary at first to quit cold-turkey (especially during COVID-19), I learned a lot about myself through the process and would highly recommend at least weaning yourself off to see how it impacts your daily life.

You never know what you might discover.