4 Weeks Without Social Media – What I Learned

As my self-imposed social media timeout is coming to an end, I’ve been reflecting on the past four weeks. I thought I’d share a little bit about what the experience has been like.

To be honest, overall, the experience was disappointing, which is not to say I regret doing it. But, I was hoping that, at this point, I would be telling you how life-altering the experience was and how going off social media made my life so much better. Long story short, it wasn’t and it didn’t.

I don’t feel like going off social media has had a massive impact on my life at all.

When I reflect on the last four weeks, they don’t seem that different from any other four-week period in recent times. I had good days and bad days. I had days when I was full of energy and inspiration and others when I wished I could spend the day in bed reading or watching cheesy movies. I had moments of clarity and moments when nothing made sense at all. I felt happy and sad, inspired and unmotivated, excited and scared, and productive and lazy. Just like I have in most other four-week periods.

I’m not really sure why I was expecting anything else.

I think even though I know better, I am still sometimes looking for the quick fix in life.

The one thing I can change, that miraculously solves all my problems and makes life lastingly better. But getting off social media isn’t that quick fix any more than doing yoga every day or eating five servings of fruit and veggies is. Life is way too complex, nuanced and tumultuous for any one thing to make a huge impact in the long run.

Ultimately, it’s the sum of all the things we do, and the way we do them, that makes life what it is.  

While I’m a little disappointed that going off social media didn’t make a more profound difference in my life, being reminded of that fact alone has made this experiment worthwhile.

So, my social media timeout hasn’t miraculously transformed me into a super productive, always happy and positive human. However, I did learn a few things, and I think they will help me have a more positive relationship with social media going forward.

I need downtime – and social media can provide it

Probably the thing I missed most on a daily basis, is the easy entertainment that social media provides. I’ve spent a lot of time at the computer these past few weeks, working for marketing clients and launching my new business. During times like that, I value how social media offers such an easy way to take my mind off work for a few minutes – and how much I need that downtime.

In the past, I often saw how much time I spent on social media on an average day, and it felt like wasted time.

I had this idea in my head that all that time could be productive time. In hindsight, that seems a little naive. It really shouldn’t have come as a surprise that I need downtime!

But turns out I do. The last four weeks have been fairly product for me, but I think that had a lot more to do with the fact that I was working on something I’m super excited about than the absence of social media. But I definitely needed downtimes throughout the day to stay focused.

During longer breaks, I listen to podcasts, go for a walk or read, which is an excellent alternative to social media. But when I just wanted 5 or 10 minutes of distraction, I missed social media. Without that option, I turned to other easy distractions (playing games, scrolling through the news, etc) that aren’t any more productive or inspiring than social media (less though in many ways)

I can see now that some of the time I spent on social media was actually very valuable time. It gave me that little break I needed to tackle the next task with focus. Admittedly, that only applies to some of my social media time. There was definitely also time in the past that I could have used in a much better way.

Social media is not the only (or worst) source of negativity in my life

You might remember that one of the reasons I decided to take a timeout from social media was that I felt it brought a lot of negativity into my life. I struggled with seeing hateful comments, aggressive content and us-vs-them-type posts that felt like they were designed to divide.

Turns out social media isn’t the only – or worst – source of negativity in my life. The biggest culprit is the news! I don’t know if it’s a reflection of the state the world is in right now or the sensational reporting style adopted by many news outlets (probably both), but I find it increasingly difficult to keep up with the news and current affairs without feeling disillusioned, sad and scared. In comparison, social media seems like a pretty happy place.

So maybe I need to take a news timeout next?!

I felt less connected

I did feel less connected over the last four weeks.

None of my friends and family are super active on social media, so I didn’t feel like I was missing out hugely. But at the same time, some of them do still share occasional updates and photos and many more probably would share big news on social media (especially the good kind). I realised that just being on social media and following each other makes me feel connected to friends and family, and I missed that.

I also missed feeling connected to you, my Life Done Differently community. I get a lot of energy, inspiration and positivity from engaging with you, sharing snippets of my life and reading your comments.

Finally, I felt less connected with the wider world and community. I follow several people and organisations who inspire me or share content I’m genuinely interested in. It makes me feel connected to something bigger than me, and I missed that sense of connection these past four weeks.

What’s Next? An Intentional Approach to Social Media

As you can probably guess by now, I am returning to social media. However, I want to make sure I do so in a more intentional way.

The question on my mind now is:

How can I reap the benefits of social media while minimising the disruptive elements – and without spending hours scrolling through Reels without really being present?

I think this will be a bit of trial and error, but here are some ideas I want to try over the coming weeks.

• Turning all social media notifications off to minimise disruptions when I don’t want or need them.

• Pausing and setting an intention before opening any social media apps/pages.

• Set a time limit for each time I go onto social media and an alarm.

• Setting daily limit for social media apps on my phone.

• Continuing to curate feeds and block content and people who spread hate and negativity or aim to divide people.

If you have any other suggestions and ideas for how to be more intentional with social media, I’d love to hear about it.

The conclusion of it all

I’m glad I gave myself this four-week timeout. I learned a few valuable lessons and it has given me a new appreciation for the positive aspects of social media. I think that will help me engage more intentionally with it going forward. And if you have been reading my blog for a while, you know being intentional about what I do is what it’s all about for me.

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