This week had me thinking a lot about social media throughout my life. I wasn’t born with social media. It came into my life when I was around ten years old. I wasn’t allowed to use it until I was twelve, which is still young, but in the grand scheme of things I have only had it for half my life. 

For the past five days I went on my first digital detox since I was twelve. I decided to cut out all social media apps, mainly tiktok and instagram. I turned off all the notifications, set my time limit to one minute a day and started researching ideas of alternative ways to fill my time. Here’s what I found.

Even though I decided not to look at any social media apps, I have been so conditioned to open them when I get bored. I try to open the apps a lot more than I thought I would. This opened my eyes to how often in my free time I just opened an app and mindlessly scroll. 

Although I broke a few times, I managed to significantly bring down how much time I spent on these apps. Since I turned on the time limit, my phone would ask me if I’d like to continue after my allotted one minute. This forced me to make an active decision. That helped me stay productive because I would get a positive reward if I got off the app and did some work. 

I also tracked my emotions and feelings throughout this week. As much as I was happy to notice I didn’t feel the need to be on those apps as often, it also came with a heightened sense of anxiety, loneliness and sadness. I was happy and amused by all the other things I got done, but it added more stress. 

One way I have relieved stress over the years was by going on tiktok or instagram. I felt like I had lost an outlet to decompress. On top of all that, I currently live on the opposite coast as my family and friends and sending tiktoks and instagram reels to each other is a great way for me to still feel connected. This left me feeling quite lonely this week.

In all reality, I was more productive this week but I was also more stressed. I have realized social media has more upsides to it as well. Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook to connect people with people and that’s a large part of how I use social media. Without it I would feel a bit lost from my own world. There is good in these apps if used correctly and in moderation.  I think giving myself a time limit and setting more boundaries will make a good middle ground for my life moving forward.