I was kind of tired with our daily boring life hustle and bustle, I guess we all are, but there’s not too much that we can do.
I Just wanted to experiment and spend some time without social media and physically I was not doing well for a few days, so thought why not use this time to do something productive for myself.
What I really achieved?
I know people/studies and shit facts make a lot of claims which may not be applicable in all the cases, but here are some of the major changes that I think I achieved after a week without social media.
It helped me to get refreshed and continue my daily life with more energy. We all are human beings and get tired in our daily lives as well as it becomes one track. If you are in school, the school routine continues, if you are working professional, the EMIs, race for a better life continues. I am not sure about everyone, but I really get tired sometimes and needed a smoke break kind of refresher maybe for a week or so. After coming back from the break, I felt energized and I got energy for some more years to continue with the daily struggle.
I felt like I don’t know what to do online. My chrome homepage opens with Facebook, WhatsApp web and Spotify tabs. Now I felt like I don’t know what to do next without checking some friends, stalking my ex, crushes and all. But this feeling went after the second day, Now I start my web browser by reading something productive or researching about something. I am not sure how much could I download, but better than watching strangers debating and abusing over political views.
I see my goals and targets clear. As per my phone’s usage, I waste 3-4 days every month on an average on social media, checking messages and tagging each other memes. It really kept me busy and packed. Positive point: I was entertained all the time; Negative point: I was wasting too much time.
I felt connected with the people in real life. In this age, we are not even aware who our neighbours are, forget about someone else. This is the time when our friends, relatives and families grow apart from us. I think we can, and we should take out some time for them who cares for us.
I learnt how to live like with some fewer likes and reactions from strangers. We all are hungry for attention in our lives and after Facebook added the reactions, it has become an important part of our life. I really feel bad, when the posts I share doesn’t get enough reactions, but in this week, I realized that it is not really that important and I don’t need anyone’s expert opinion on my life.
In real person, interactions replaced the meme tags. Sharing a joke with a friend is always great, but nowadays we are too busy for that so, we started tagging each other in memes. Though the memes are dank and awesome as compared to the lame jokes we friends used to crack. So, I was back to ’90s for the week and It really felt great connecting to the friends and actually talking to them.
On asking Monidipa the question: What do you think about the excessive usage of social media? what do you think when I say, “you will have to stay without social media for a week”?
Monidipa said:
For individuals who are dependent on social media, it can harmfully affect their lives and even their well-being. Any habit is conceivably hurtful on the off chance that it saps your vitality away from different exercises, for example, work, physical action and real-life relationships. For me social media is a good way to stay updated about various stuff, but it shouldn’t be an addiction. Next, your answer to the second question is: Only one word that came to my mind was PEACE…
Why you should do that?
Don’t worry, I am not going to from the holy book, which will save both of us sometime. But these are some of the reasons why you should take a little time out of social media accounts.
Getting out of that competitive zone. Feeling insecure about the number of reactions and comments all the time or wasting too much time for getting a perfect picture to make yourself feel good? Ahh… come on, you can do better than that. Once you start staying out of it, you will know about the self-worth and the things you can accomplish.
Getting protected online. Incidents like Cambridge Analytica remind us, that data is not that protected in this era of Social media
Instead of me boring you, you can watch the documentary named “The Great Hack” on Netflix. Click here to watch it on Netflix.
It will Improve Your Mood. You will get unnecessarily angry, anxious, jealous on others if they are moving fast, compared to you. Showing off is a well-known thing in social media. Fake smile, fake happy couples and fake travel lust and all type of shit, which will make you question your life and all the accomplishments.
You will not be missing out anything important, It’s just the fear. In today’s world, we are not on phone calls or SMSs anymore, we are connected via social media. We keep on checking Facebook and WhatsApp every minute, every hour to make sure that we are not missing out on gossips without affecting your current environment. We only fear that our world will change, or we will not be updated with the latest news.
Instead of stalking your Ex and going back to your past, you will start living the present. Agree or not we all check out on our ex, sometimes, sometimes daily or sometimes in a few months, but we keep on doing that. This is not because we aren’t able to move on or something, it’s just a bad habit. Once we are out of social media for some time, the habit seems to be in control.
You will discover the amount of time you wasted on Social media. Not getting enough amount of sleep or not getting enough time to study for your own growth is one of the problems we all are facing because of the amount of time we are wasting in our laptops and mobile phone and checking out the latest updates on Twitter.
Final words:
It is completely up to you if you want to come out of social media or not. By merely reading a blog post or an article, it won’t change your mind and I completely get that. But, give it a try and you will love the outcome of it.
Not sure, about how exactly you will feel, but the people around you (family and loved ones) will feel better for sure. Take out some time for them, they deserve it more than the people who are just an online acquaintance.
Hmmmm!
I think I need to try this! My phone is my life cuz it’s my work! But I do feel a little disconnected to real life some days!!
Exactly, we all feel the same.
Good for you going without social media. I have to use social media for work, so it’s very challenging to balance.
Same here, try taking a break whenever possible :)
We usually do this when we go on fasting as fasting can also be done aside from food. VERY recommendable actually. So great job recommending this.
Its a very good practice.
Thanks for sharing it with us.
Oh man, this would be so hard for me, everything I do is wrapped up in social media. Godo for you for getting through it!
It was initially hard, but started to love it.
I think I cannot just now leave social media. I have lot of connects and it keeps me alive.
True, we are too connected these days to stay out of social media.
We need to detox from time to time. Social media can eat you whole if you will spend every minute of your time on it. It’s really not healthy.
Exactly, it is not at all healthy.
I totally need to do this, its my job though so there limits to the amount of time i can take off.
Just give it a try on the weekends, You are gonna love it.
Social media is a toxic nowadays! Sometimes you need to enjoy yourself outside technology!! Lovely post!
Seriously, It is really toxic.
Thanks for dropping by :)
I couldn’t agree more with the points you hit in this article! Social media is so bad for our mental (and physical) health! I always end up taking small breaks like this when I notice myself getting too involved
Glad you are able to make it multiple times. Though it’s really hard to stay away.
We all need to take some time from social media at some point. I like the point about dealing with people in real life! Thanks for sharing!
Yes, people who love us are really important.
Agreed. A break from time to time gives you a fresh mindset and connect to your inner self.
Yes, so true.
It’s so easy to forget what life is like in REAL LIFE. We can get caught up on the social media lifestyle.
So true, we are really caught up.
It’s a great idea to be without social media for a week and enjoy real life :)
Lauta
True, especially with someone you adore…
sometimes we need to disconnect and be more with the real world and live more relaxed
completely agreed. We need to give ourselves some time.
Yes, it is really important to disconnect once in a while. I find it difficult to do that because of my work requirements, but i know i should try to do that
Yeah..
Thanks for dropping by :)
I liked the great haack show on netflix.cambridge analytica with help of data science has down quick a mass
It was shocking to see how people can be manipulated.
I have a really hard time going a day without social media let alone a week! I do go without when we camp, but just for a few days!
Yeah, it was hard initially.
If social media wasnt my job i would go a week no problem. I actually did when I was in Mexico but I want to do it more often.
Don’t worry, try it on the weekends. You’re gonna love it.