4 Reasons To Take A Break From Social Media
- Hannah O'Brien
- Nov 4, 2020
- 4 min read
I may have mentioned before on my Instagram account how I've taken a short break from social media before but never really explained why. Me being someone who has essentially picked a career path that will always need me to be "connected", I still think it's important (and healthy) to live your life past social media. I've found myself to be super absorbed to my phone the past couple of weeks, so this is not only a post for you but a reminder myself.
Below are 4 reasons to take a break from social media:
1.Ask Yourself: What Are You Getting Out Of The Hour You Spent Scrolling On Your Phone?
Despite, different platforms entertaining everyone for a time, you need to ask yourself: what have I gotten out of my time on social media? As someone who admits to spending way to much time on social media, my answer is usually: nothing. Fine, I got to see where someone I know from high school went to lunch that day or get a little laugh out of a TikTok, but do those things really matter? All of it really hadn't brought much or any value to my life; I’m not saying everything you do in a day needs to be valuable but after spending an hour+ scrolling, I'm starting to see the useless time I've created for myself when I could of been doing productive things.
2. Not Everything You See Is Real
People need to know that not everything they see on social media is true. For example- and, yes I’m definitely going to sound very bitter or annoyed writing this, so I’m sorry in advance- but my boyfriend literally had no clue that some of these celebrities are photoshopping their photos. Like, he genuinely thought some of these influencers on Instagram magically had airbrushed skin and perfect bone structure. I mean how would he know but yikes, compared to the photos I post then. Lol.
To me, it's terrifying to think that probably most men truly believe some of these images are real (not saying that some people aren’t naturally blessed with beauty or have some extra $$$ for good botox...kidding..but not really) compared to a normal person just posting an image of themselves without touching it up. Overall, we're currently living in a society that thinks of the perfect body type is something that is essentially unrealistic- it's photoshopped.
3. Understand How Social Media Makes You Feel
Honestly, how does social media make you feel at the end of the day? Besides having some good laughs with my friends and family on different platforms, when you sign off for the day, how has it left you feeling? For me, most times I’m left feeling neutral. I scroll through all of my feeds, not really having any reaction to any posts, and then that’s it. It’s not like once I've checked all of my social media it's helped me become a happier person.
Or, when I'm not feeling neutral, I'm self-conscious about my body, jealous, or generally sad. I hope this is similar to other women around my age but especially when I scroll on Instagram. I compare myself to everyone I see, people I know, people I don’t know, random posts of that pop up on my popular page... essentially everything. When I finally leave the app, I’m ultimately wondering, "why I’m not as pretty?", "why my waist isn’t thinner?", "why someone seems to be having the best day ever and I’m just sitting on my couch?", or "wow, that person’s lucky they get to do that". It sounds so silly when I’m finally writing this all down but sometimes I feel like complete crap after checking the apps.
My advice to everyone else dealing with these issues is to recognize these feelings and understand social media are just snapshots of people’s “highlight reels”.
4. Enjoy Your Life Without Having To Record It
The best memories in my life are the ones I haven’t captured through a lens. It’s the times when I’ve been laughing too much with my friends to even remember I have a phone. It's the times when I've spent quality time with family. It's been the times I put all my focus into the person I care most about. What I'm trying to say is that there is a life to live past your phone. I’m not saying it’s not okay to post things that make you feel happy, but please remember to enjoy every moment life has to offer you.
There's never been a time when I've been disconnected that I'm truly upset I couldn't post about what I was doing. Obviously, I know in the past I may have posted too much about every aspect of my life, from what I'm eating, who I'm with, making sure everyone knows I'm having a good time, etc. but I've always found my happiest moments were when I lived my life outside of my lens.
Just try it out. If you end up not liking it- you can always redownload the apps.
xoxo,
Han
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