I Took a Break from Social Media — Here’s What I Learned

As cliché as it may sound, giving yourself a break from anything can be beneficial, this is especially true when it comes to social media. Personally, I often find myself browsing social media apps over interacting with those who are around me. This is not an issue that is exclusive to me. Think about it, when you take a second to look around, wherever you may be, you often see groups on their phones rather than interacting with what is around them. We may not see it as a big deal but in the long-run it could be affecting our mental health more than we may think. 

Instagram is the social media app I spend the most time on. Throughout the years, I have found myself comparing myself to others- the way that they dress and how they look– and Instagram simply added to this tendency. As this continued to build for me, I realized I was getting a form of anxiety. Truth be told, I didn’t like the effects it was having on my life. 

One day I finally hit a point where it was occupying too much space in my mind and I decided to delete the app for the week. I wondered how this decision would affect my life, and was surprised by how much changed. I was more attentive and intuitive to what was going on around me, I went to coffee with my friends more that week, and I took more time for myself because my “Instagram-time” was free. I had less anxiety. I didn’t have anything to compare my outfits to, and at the end of the day this made me feel more confident. For that one week I worried less about being on my phone and took the time to rediscover what I was missing in my everyday life. 

Social media has changed a lot about our society, which can be seen as a good thing or a bad thing. That being said – giving yourself a break from whatever apps might be occupying your time could change your outlook. Even though I only spent a week away from Instagram and a few of my other social media apps, this short amount of time changed my perspective on social media and the way that I have been using it. Take a break, you never know what you might discover. 

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• focus
• instagram
• mental health
• social media
• wellness