I’ll admit, there have been many times late at night where I’ve binge stalked people’s Instagram accounts. We’ve all been there. But through these intensive stalk-sessions, I’ve noticed myself feeling multiple emotions: jealousy, sadness, and most of all, FOMO.
It’s hard to see people you know and love out doing things without you without the mention of an invite. Stalking sessions like these can be the catalysts for petty comments and negative emotions.
Multiple times throughout high school, I made the embarrassingly difficult decision to take a social media detox. My friends were always confused when I made these decisions.
“How am I supposed to communicate with you?”
“What if I want to send you Insta reels?”
Though their insistences didn’t matter, and I deleted my social media apps.
At first, it felt weird. I would notice myself feeling bored often without something to scroll on. When waiting before class to start, or waiting in line for coffee, I had nothing to preoccupy my time. Though quickly those feelings evaporated and I noticed myself become more aware of my surroundings.
Taking that time away from social media genuinely did make me feel a lot more peaceful. I found myself picking up my phone less, spending more time on hobbies, and most importantly, erasing any feelings of FOMO.
FOMO is normal, but eliminating the ability to have FOMO is powerful. It allows you to spend more time focusing on the people in front of you rather than worrying about what everyone else is doing. At the end of the day, this is your world, and other people are just living in it. Nobody deserves to feel down about the choices of others.
I eventually caved and re-downloaded social media out of sheer curiosity about what I had missed. And the truth was, it was next to nothing. I noticed new photos of old friends at the lake and got updates about people from high school getting married. I asked myself why I even felt FOMO in the first place when during my time away from social media when I had been out doing things that were 100 times more fun than anything I had “missed”.
I would recommend that anyone try a social media detox. It doesn’t have to be long, but a few days or a week could be beneficial. I think it helps us to remind ourselves about the things we actually, truly care about. I guarantee is not anything that’s being put on social media.