There is something to be said about the false feeling of connection that social media gives to us. TikTok in particular, allows its users to stay “in the loop,” whether that be a trend that has resurfaced, or an influencer that is making it big: everyone knows about it. There is also something to be said about forming authentic connections, without the help of technology. This is something that has been lost in the world of social media; and sometimes we lose ourselves in the process. There have been several times where I found myself saying “I could be doing so much more with my time.” I decided to delete my TikTok in June of this year, and since doing so I have learned three key things about myself that otherwise would not have been discovered.
-  It’s okay to be in a rut. However, it is not okay to use a “rut” as an excuse to displace your boredom into technology. According to The Harvard Business Review, boredom stimulates the majority of our creativity. The first couple weeks without TikTok, I fought this idea; wanting to shut the noise away into something that required no thoughts for me to find a sense of rest. Denying myself this instant gratification allowed me to create new hobbies such as book-binding and cooking; both of which energize me and spark my creativity. Personally, I found that TikTok not only drains my energy, but also distracts me from things I am passionate about such as self-care and hobbies. A habit that I have developed that helps when boredom strikes, is to write a list of all the things that bring me joy. For example, when I write down that a family member brings me joy, I will give them a call and ask about their day instead of tuning out of reality. Things like this have strengthened my relationships with family, but also have strengthened my relationship with myself by the subconscious building of confidence and discipline.Â
-  Success is earned, and everyone has the power to achieve it through discipline. This is something that I am still in the process of figuring out since deleting TikTok. Before making this step towards discipline, I was slowly beginning to see how much time I was unintentionally spending on things that did not serve me or my future self. Sure, TikTok may have given me ideas for stories to write or books to read, but in reality, I would become so wrapped up in the idea of making my life better, that I was unable to actually take those steps towards the life I wanted. I realized after deleting TikTok, that a lot of the habits and skills that creators are showcasing to inspire interest within a community, are the same things that I find myself doing when I actually let boredom hit me. Taking walks, finally using that gratitude journal I bought myself, or simply making myself a nice meal; these are all things that these creators advocate and push as a healthy lifestyle. Yet, these people make their money off from viewers’ doom-scrolling lifestyle. It didn’t make sense to me. Through this realization, I found that discipline– getting up at the same time every day with an activity to get me going, or starting my day without looking at technology– powers my mood, and from that, I gain personal success. I was struggling to dedicate time for my hobbies before making this change, and now, I am writing and reading and hobby-ing all over the place! I have never felt better, and I have never felt more like I was on the road to success than I do now.Â
3. Deleting TikTok meant that I had to find other things to do, leading me to acknowledge the fact that there is so much that you can accomplish in the span of a day. The harm of mindlessly scrolling is the fact that it is mindless, it pays no heed to time unless someone is conscious of it, and for me, most of the time I was not. TikTok ate away at my days and nights. Think about it, let’s say you spend an hour each morning, whether that being bed or getting ready, on TikTok. Okay, not too bad, now let’s say you spend another hour while waiting for classes to start or on the bus ride home. That’s reasonable, right? You can’t forget about the hour you spend on it before you go to bed as a “wind-down”. This adds up to three hours a day. Seven days a week…twenty-one hours lost. That is almost one full day of your week gone, that’s fifty-two days of the year…which is over a month. A month that could’ve been spent working on your personal goals, plans, or future career. These small minutes add-up to an expansive amount of time that doesn’t even seem comprehensible, yet we waste our life away all the same. This mindset, this discipline is what makes me get up in the morning and reach for my journal instead of my phone, my book instead of TikTok, or at the very least, doing the NYT Wordle… how could I give it up? Needless to say, when you start utilizing these small portions of your time, you begin to feel fulfilled. It seems so small at the moment, but your future self will thank you for the extra fifty-two days towards that goal you’ve been trying to achieve for the past three years, or those extra days to practice habits that you’ve been meaning to form. It all adds up.
I will not pretend like I am perfect, or that I was able to maintain this mindset every day; because the truth is I did not. At the end of the day, as long as these mindful switches are being made, you are already inching closer to the life that we all strive for; one filled with genuine love for yourself and those around you without the internal judgements caused by social media. Everything is a process, and everything comes with cost. You may feel out of the loop, disconnected, or even lonely. But what made me realize that deleting TikTok was one of the best decisions that I have ever made, was the fact that those feelings of uncertainty and loneliness faded over time, and now, I feel more myself than I ever have before.Â