I’ve been on social media since early middle school–that’s nearly a decade now–and to be totally honest, I’ve never really felt the need to take a break from it.
Sure, I’ve definitely limited my time online and spent some days away from particular platforms in the past, but the idea of quitting social media entirely for a while? Unthinkable. It’s not that social media actually contributes that much to my life, it’s more that it’s like a habit to me. I check it when I wake up, or when I need a break throughout my day. I do genuinely enjoy keeping up with friends on Instagram, and I spend an ABSURD amount of time scrolling on Tik Tok, but none of these platforms feel like things that would significantly impact me if I took a break from them. Especially during a pandemic when the opportunity for cute Insta photos has become rare, checking social media feels much more like a habit than a necessity.
I know a lot of people who have opted to take a break from social media of all forms for a while, and for a variety of reasons. For many, being on social media seems to create this pressure to “perform” in everyday life, to do enough fun and (more importantly) postable things to keep up with everyone else. Posting feels disingenuous, but not posting feels just as wrong. Especially in 2020, the silent pressure to show off the best parts of ourselves online can feel particularly stifling. I know the trend of showing off your productivity in quarantine made social media a little tough for me at least.
I’m usually comfortable taking a break from posting while still keeping up with what others are up to, but I still get the occasional feeling that I’m breaking some unspoken social media etiquette rules by doing so. Others leave social media for reasons regarding productivity, and that appeals to me more. I’ve spent so much collective time scrolling through apps, and I started to get curious what I’d spend that time on if I hopped off the social media train for a while.
I realized recently that since those early middle school days, I’ve never taken a proper break from social media. So, for a whole host of reasons (random curiosity being one of the biggest), I decided to take one week away. And yes, that meant staying off Tik Tok as well *gasp.* Here’s how it went.
To be completely honest, I don’t think this break changed my week all that much! I didn’t feel the sense of relief that I know some people experience when signing off, but I also don’t post much to begin with, so that might be a factor. I definitely felt the occasional FOMO though. I worried I’d miss something important, or I’d get messages and not be able to respond to them, or that I’d entirely miss some wildly short-lived meme. I definitely worried about my Tik Tok For You page a little bit too. But, for obvious reasons, none of these things happened. The week came and went, and my FOMO went with it.
Something I found interesting was that stepping away from social media didn’t actually change my screen time as much as I expected. Like I said before, scrolling on social media becomes a sort of habit, like muscle memory. Instead, I found myself clearing emails, tidying up my home screen, and reading the news more. I have a feeling that if I had waited longer than a week, my screen time would eventually go down (perhaps a future experiment?), but for now, I really didn’t see a change.
Whether or not social media breaks are effective is super dependent on the person, but I think the most important thing to remember is to know your limits.
Check in with yourself, recognize how being online is making you feel and is affecting your life, and if you want to step away for a while, go for it! You might be surprised by how much relief you feel, or you might not, but either way, you’re bound to learn something. Happy scrolling!
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