On October 1st, I embarked on what might be the scariest endeavor for a 21st-century teenage girl: deleting my social media. For the next two months, I’ll be separated from the online world and forced to “touch grass.” I deleted two of my biggest time-consuming apps: Instagram and TikTok. In the past, when I tried a short social media detox, I was less anxious, had a better attention span, and felt more connected to friends and family. Honestly, the biggest challenge for me is fighting boredom and feeling disconnected from the outside world. So, how do I replace hours of doom scrolling and internet stalking? I made a list of a few ways to keep myself sane, and I hope this inspires you to try it out for yourself.
- Reading
-
This should be super simple for me as an English major, but I’ve barely touched a book during the past few weeks of college. The main reason? I replaced my reading time with social media. Now, I can be more intentional with how I spend my time. A friend introduced me to this new reading app called Fable, which is a great way to connect with people who share similar book tastes. If you’re having trouble figuring out what to read next, you can join a book club for a specific genre that you’re drawn to. I joined a book club that mainly reads contemporary literary fiction. One of the best features is the ability to chat with other members about each chapter. Now, I’m more optimistic about reaching my reading goal for 2024.
- Self-Care
-
Self-care can mean a variety of things for me, whether it’s skincare, journaling, reading my Bible, exercising, or simply going to bed earlier. Without social media, I can focus on what I actually need, instead of what social media tells me I need. Mainly, I need to finish my homework—but that’s not as fun. Overall, I’m trying to create a schedule that allows me to accomplish everything I need to do in a day, with fewer distractions.
- Connection
-
For the next two months, I won’t need to know the latest celebrity scandal, and instead, I can focus on creating stronger connections with the people around me. Social media isn’t just time-consuming; it can also be mentally draining and stunt real-life conversations. This forces me to stop pretending to scroll on Instagram and actually talk to the person next to me. My biggest worry about deleting my social media is that I won’t be able to connect with friends and family from back home. But the good news is I can always text or call my loved ones — and ask them to send me cat memes. This also makes me more intentional about catching up with people, since I won’t be seeing their updates on my feed.
Looking back at what I’ve written, I realize I sound a little like a grandma, warning the younger generation about social media addiction. But maybe there’s something they’ve figured out that I haven’t. Either way, I know this will be a challenge, but I’m hopeful it’ll lead to some real, positive changes. By the end of these two months, I might be more present, less stressed, and just feeling better overall. Time will tell, but there’s no harm in finding out. If you’re curious about what life without constant scrolling feels like, why not try it for a week? It might be harder than you think, but who knows—it could also be the break you didn’t know you needed.