31 Days NO Social Media ?!

On January 1st of this new year I got rid of social media COLD TURKEY. I deleted Instagram and TikTok (which was all the social media I had) and spent 31 days without scrolling. As cheesy and possibly cringe as it may sound, I believe that getting rid of social media helped me beat the "January Canon Event" and I had the best month ever. It's sort of embarrassing that going that long without any social media feels like an accomplishment, but nowadays that's what it is. As someone who constantly has elevated screen time, this was a bit of an adjustment, but as the days went on I found myself thinking about social media less and less. Here are a few things that I did to pass the time instead of scrolling and what I learned because of it.

Without the ability to pull out my phone and mindlessly scroll on Instagram whenever there was a lull in conversation or I was waiting in line, it caused me to be more present. What I mean by this is, I spent more time in the moment instead of disassociating and being consumed with my phone. In doing this I became more spontaneous and went on several different side quests with my friends, managed to get more work done since I had limited distractions, and was able to get into a routine. Without wasting 15 minutes sitting on my phone and scrolling, I was able to be more intentional and productive with my time whether that be with homework, cleaning, or just relaxing. This is NOT me saying that I was just sitting down on my phone 24/7, but without the ability to scroll for even just a second I got a lot more accomplished within my day. Personally, the absence of social media helped slow down my thoughts without my brain constantly feeling over stimulated.

So overall, my short 31 days of no social media was a total success to me. I mean having a good day everyday for 31 consecutive days is pretty great. While I do not believe that you have to get rid of social media to have an amazing month, it can be a good way to give ourselves a refresh whenever things get super crazy or hectic in our lives. I found that the start of a new year was the perfect opportunity for me to do a reset. I have since redownloaded social media and while I am happy to be back, my goal is to still keep that screen time low!

Have a great rest of your week!!!

~Side Note xo🤍