Social Media Detox - Why and How
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may have noticed one thing. That I always tell to avoid social media. I am not against the social media. It is the great platform to connect with friends and family. What I dislike is constant use of it. Continuous meaningless scrolling of your timeline or peeking your feed as soon as you wake up in the morning are the signs of social media addiction.
A research says that an average person spends 1 hour and 40 minutes of a day on social media. That is just an average. Some of us spend way more time on social media than the average.
So Why it is important to detox yourself from social media? We all started our first social media account (most probably on Facebook) out of curiosity or just because our friend(s) did so. Stultified by looking at just one site every day, we started one more social media account after few months. And one more after that. A normal person has account on average 5 social media websites. Now, if you spend just 20 minutes on one site, it will eat up more than one and a half hour of your productive time every day.
But the story doesn't end here. Soon it will become habit. As mentioned earlier, mobile phone is the first thing we search in the morning. We check posts (or stories) from our friends or family or relatives even before we brush our teeth. The notifications distract us throughout the day. Again, in the evening, we scroll through the photos or tweets shared by others. Soon, unknowingly, it becomes the pattern. And that pattern is toxic. That pattern is hard to avoid and you just have to surrender yourself in front of it. Everyday.
This is why you should take a break and detox yourself from that pattern. Other than braking the toxic pattern it has lots of other benefits.
1. You will get lot of time
When you stop use of social media, you get more time to do some productive work. You can spend that time to work what you like. Read a book, start a hobby or work on your health. Or you can develop a new skill which may help you to earn some extra money.
2. You will get out of comparison cycle
At one point, most of us, compare our life to others by looking at their posts or stories. Whether you are aware or not, social media bring out comparative element in us. Sometimes this leads to depression, isolation and loneliness. The more you check others' status, the more you compare. By detaching yourself from social media, you will break this cycle. And re-establish your bond to real things.
3. You will become more social
Here social means person to person contact. Even if you have hundreds of friends or followers on your social media, you will feel alone without in-person human contact. By staying away from social media, you will make more time for people. And you will spend more time with your friends or develop a healthy relationship.
4. Your overall efficiency will improve
Social media is always live. So, it's always pushing notification to your devices. This will distract you while working. Also, a study shows that the person who spends a lot of time on social media, is likely to develop depression over time. So when you let go of social media, you will improve your concentration and your mood. Which in turn, improves your overall efficiency.
5. You will live moments instead of capturing it
Today, whenever we go, the first thing we do is put a check-in status or story on social media account. And start capturing photos to post later. Basically, instead of enjoying the moment, we see it through the social media lens. This will make the trip or event less memorable. When you disconnect from social media, you free up from forcing yourself to capture and post every moment, thus enjoying the moment.
From protecting your privacy to getting a better sleep, social media detoxing has many more benefits. However, it is not easy to disengage yourself from social media sites. Specially, the one (or two) you use regularly. Here's how to do it.
Plan A
Turn of all social media notification and set time limit for social media usage. This way, you won't get distracted and won't crave to look at social media feed all the day. You will end up reduced use of social media over the time.
Plan B
If Plan A doesn't work, then the next step should be removing all the social media app from your mobile phone. It's simple, if you don't have apps to scroll through, you will divert your mind on more productive things. Resulting in getting away from social media.
Plan C
Even after removing all apps from mobile phone, if you check your social media accounts on PC or other devices, then there is only one final way. Deactivate your accounts. Most of social media sites have option to temporarily deactivate or disable your accounts. Try it and take a long break from social media. And after returning back, if you observe the same symptoms as before, DEACTIVATE PERMANENTELY.
-- Purvit Soni
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Very nice bro..
ReplyDeleteI will try my best to remain far from social media 👍