If you’re a millennial college student, chances are you spend an unhealthy amount of time on social media apps– I know I do. And that’s why two weeks ago, I decided to make the gut-wrenching decision to not just sign out of my most distracting social media apps but also delete them for two entire weeks. For me, this meant deleting Instagram and Snapchat. And as for the Facebook app, I got rid of it over a year ago, and since I’m not an avid Twitter user simply logging out sufficed.
Going two weeks without Snapchat was a relaxing walk in the park. As for Instagram, imagine walking six dogs through a park who are all pulling you in different directions simultaneously, and then eventually dragging you through it. Okay, it wasn’t that bad but I certainly had some serious withdrawal symptoms the first few days.
Day 1 & 2: Regret
Though the Instagram app is my all time favorite, I’m not the type to open it the second I pry my eyes open for the day. But throughout the day I found myself continuously opening my phone to go to Instagram just to find an empty space. Each time I went to go look for it, the more I regretted my decision to get rid of it.
Day 3: Melancholy
Day three of an Instagram less life started to weigh down on me. Three days of no funny videos, three days of not knowing what the latest social media trend was and three days of not knowing what memes and videos my friends were sending me. I was sad that I was missing out and I hated it.
Day 4: Boredom
We all have that boring class or two where we sit and scroll through our social media feeds rather than paying attention. No Instagram meant actually paying attention to whatever boring information my professor was sharing for an entire hour and 20 minutes– Yes, 80 full minutes! #letsnottalkaboutit
Day 5: Acceptance
So after four days of not having Instagram, I came to accept the fact that this was a good decision and I could survive without it. I was so much more productive with my school work now that I wasn’t picking up my phone every other minute to check a message or scroll through my feed. And by week two, I felt like a pro at this no Instagram thing.
Deciding to detox from these social media apps for two weeks was necessary for me because I found myself becoming too engulfed in what was happening on social media, and more distracted from doing my assignments that were piling up. So if you find that social media is taking away from your productivity or stirring up emotions like sadness, then that’s probably a sign telling you to step back from it. And since those two weeks without Instagram and Snapchat, I’ve made it a habit to detox from these apps more often. It will be hard at first, especially if you’re an avid user like me, but it’s completely worth it.
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