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Phone with social media apps on screen
Phone with social media apps on screen
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Life > Experiences

Unplugged: 3 Things I Learned from a Social Media Detox

Sarah Smith
The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Tampa chapter.

As an avid social media user, I am aware of how distracting it can be. That’s why when I found myself overwhelmed with a busy week ahead I decided to limit my distractions by deleting all social media for the weekend. It was an informative experience that taught me more about myself and the dangers of social media. 

Here’s what I learned:

  1. Social media is deeply engraved into daily life.

When I had a moment of free time or boredom I found myself automatically clicking on the spot where my Instagram or TikTok app used to be (I know, embarrassing). I am so used to having something to entertain me at all times that I didn’t know how to adjust to little moments of downtime. What was I supposed to do with the few minutes I had between activities? When I was home I used this time to accomplish little tasks like dishes or making my bed. In public it was different. I ended up finding other ways to entertain myself on my phone like going through my camera roll and listening to music or a podcast.

  1. Social media is the ultimate procrastination tool.

I have always struggled with procrastination and never realized how much social media contributed to that. I open Instagram first thing in the morning before getting out of bed and doom scroll on TikTok in bed at night, keeping me from a full night’s sleep. In the day I’ll scroll to keep myself from doing a task I’m putting off such as homework. With the distraction of social media gone, I was infinitely more productive. I got out of bed immediately in the morning and went to sleep as soon as I laid down at night. It essentially gave me more time to focus on the things I needed to without the distractions. 

  1. Social media isn’t all bad.

This experience showed me that I used social media for more than  scrolling alone. It can be used as a search engine, to learn about events, and to relate to the people around you. I was disappointed when I couldn’t double-check when a club meeting was or show a friend a funny video that reminded me of them.

Final Thoughts:

Through this experiment, my screen time dropped from an average of 4.5 hours a day to 2.5 hours. This means I was getting an average of 2 extra hours a day to dedicate to anything I wanted (homework, hobbies, fitness, etc). It may be unrealistic to delete all social media forever in today’s day and age, but if you find yourself using it more than you know you should, I recommend a short detox to learn how it affects you. Social media can be extremely distracting and while not all bad, it may have a bigger effect on your day-to-day life than you realize. 

Sarah Smith is a writer at Her Campus at the University of Tampa. She is a senior studying advertising and public relations and likes to write from her personal experiences as well as informative articles. Outside of school she loves the beach, shell hunting, concerts, trying new coffee shops, and is a self-proclaimed “sit-com enthusiast”.