“An average person spends four years of his life looking at
his cellphone”
Let that sink in for a second……
Psychologists and therapists are noticing a massive
increase in anxiety and depression partly because we’re constantly filling
every single second we have alone on our phones and so a few weeks back I asked
myself the question , as we have gained through the invention of social media
what have we lost?
Today 3.4 billion people use social media every single day in just 2019. We spent on average over 3 hours per day on social networks alone.
Time is the most valuable resource we possess so its
important that we pay attention to how much of our lives we trade for the
various activities we allow to claim it and so to finally make time for the
daily habits that I know will significantly make me happier and healthier I
decided to take a drastic approach QUIT SOCIAL MEDIA FOR 30 DAYS…
## HOW I STARTED
An average
Millennial spend more than three and a half hours on their phone every day. A
majority of that time is spent on social media. My question: what benefits
could you receive from stepping away from social media?
Would
you be more productive? More focused? In what ways might your life change?
So I
quit social media for 30 days to find out.
The
first few days were the most challenging. I knew without taking extreme
measures I would slip back into my old routines and check my phone frequently
throughout the day. So I deleted all social media apps from my phone. I logged
out of all accounts on my computer
But that wasn’t
enough, like many people I had hardwired into my brain this compulsive
checking.
But it
wasn’t the content that I was addicted to. It wasn’t the likes, comments and
Direct Messages
It was
the anticipation of what could be. Maybe that potential client messaged you
back.
Maybe
one of your posts went viral?
But it’s
almost always nothing.
## WHAT TO EXPECT
But before I started
this journey I asked myself: what do I want from this? And, more importantly
what have I lost from the last decade of my life in exchange for a whole bunch
of likes and memes that I came across obsessively checking my facebook and Instagram.
Have I failed myself
in other areas of my life as a consequence? Am I reading less, building fewer offline
connections, or even being too lazy because the pull of the social media status update felt too great?
Well, there are a few
ways to find out. Starting right now. I love to do experiments and learn more
about myself, my patterens and my habits. Im a guinea pig for things that teach
me more. Because at the end of the day, what’s the worst that can happen?
That I miss facebook??
C’mon I’ve missed far
many more things so much more greatful.
The most important thing I wanted to do this month was to live
with intention, I hadn’t had any kind of set routine before. So I wanted to use
all the time that I saved from this experiment to live and create my dream
morning routine. First I decided to wake up before I have to every single
morning by getting up before 6 am , I wanted to start my day watching the sun
rise, it always felt calming, something about sunrise being pure.
Okay, I struggled with that the first week, but I eventually
adjusted my body to it.
My goals were to reflect and journal every single day, keep
my room clean and organised, start the habit of working out and most
importantly to read more
So the first thing that I noticed when I started
this challenge was “Time”,
all the free time in the world, it felt unreal to
me how long a day actually lasted. I could see each minute passing
And the next thing
you realize is how you have built this need of constant need for checking your
phone and the first day was the hardest. I would grab my phone without even
thinking, unlock it and start to swipe through screens looking for something to
preoccupy my wandering mind.
Then I'd snap back to
reality and realize I had deleted all my social apps.
I started checking my phones data on my usage for
the past few months, it turned out I spent around 28 hours a week and 60 days a
year on average on my phone mostly on apps like Instagram, YouTube, is that
even possible?!?!?!
So I had to come up with a plan to do with all this
free time that I have now got,
I started listing things I’ve always wanted to try
Its pretty crazy to see that after already 3 days ive saved at least 3 hours of my day from my phone.
With the additional
hour every day,
I was able to be a
little bit more productive, which meant that I woke up early, did some running,
some meditating, started the habit of reading for the first time in my life,
along with the habit of maintaining a video journal of the whole 30 day period.
I even made time everyday to spend some time with my family.
The people in my life
definitely noticed the change in me, I was happy a lot, and went to bed evey
night feeling fulfilled as I had seemed to have replaced my free time with productive
tasks.
Since my 30 day challenge, I’ve found a few free
helpful tools (and had a few recommended) to keep you off social media if you
embark on a detox of your own:
· StayFocusd Chrome Extension –
This is the perfect tool if you use Google Chrome as your web browser and want
to remove the temptation of checking Facebook, Twitter, etc.
· Facebook News Feed Eradicator Chrome Extension – This is less about your full detox, and more just
keeping your usage of Facebook more sane by removing the News Feed and
replacing it with a quote.
· Self Control App – A Mac App that let’s you block certain websites
(similar to StayFocusd, but not just for Google Chrome).
· OurPact –
Block social media apps from your phone! Made for parents to control their
kid’s phone usage, but good for adults who can’t help themselves.
Also check out this video
My productivity, attention span and clarity of thought all
increased greatly with living without social media for a month. I felt like I broke
bad habits(refreshing feeds and checking notifications) in a short period of
time
Taking a break from social media frees up time and mental
space you didn't know you'd lost. Doing a social media detox puts you back in
control of how you use these platforms.
After weeks of not
using social media I wanted to get an even better understanding of what was
actually going on mentally so i decided to do a little research on the man who
actually
inspired this entire
idea Cal Newport
Cal is an associate
professor of computer science at Georgetown University and in addition to
researching cutting-edge technology
He's the author of
six books including the New York Times bestseller digital minimalism in his
book
He challenges the
audience to do what he calls a digital Decluttering which means deleting all
the optional apps off your phone for 30 days, which is exactly what I did He
argues that we should be much more selective about the technologies we adopt in
our personal lives
He says ” we're short-circuiting the drives
That are supposed to be pushing us into the discomfort”
It's been an incredible experience. I honestly don't really miss it, which is a little bit strange. I guess I thought I would miss it more at this point I'm like really not looking forward to it. Like I've saved so much time and it hasn't caused any Real inconveniences overall this month honestly changed my life
30 days ago. I was
honestly not in the best headspace at the start
of this challenge I was anxious on a daily basis I didn't feel like I was
actively pursuing any of the goals I had set for myself this year and I never
felt like I had any time for myself, but in this month that it first started as
an experiment I ended it feeling more alive more present and fulfilled than I
ever had in my entire life There were several times throughout the day where
I'd stop and catch a breath of fresh air just to appreciate How calm I felt?
Summary,
My productivity, attention span and clarity of thought all
increased greatly with living without social media for a month. I felt like I broke
bad habits(refreshing feeds and checking notifications) in a short period of
time. If all of that can be done in just 30 days? Its well worth trying.
I won’t be completely quitting social media and im not
suggesting anyone do that. But I do hope if you’re reading this you’ll think
about taking a break from social media to see how you feel. Start with a
weekend or a week, but aim for 30 days. Give yourself a chance to feel how I just
felt after just one month.
We all care what people think of us. We all want to
feel accepted. We all want to feel liked. Social media multiplies those
thoughts and feelings without us even realizing it. It’s not healthy to always
be under the knife of criticism. In a digital world we need a break from having
our lives judged and commented on (often times by complete strangers who we
don’t align with).
Have you ever given
the excuse "I don't have enough time to do ____". I know that I've
definitely done it in the past.
Whether you want to
start reading more, go to the gym or start a business, a lot of times
We think we just
simply don't have enough time to do it when in fact, maybe it's our priorities
that aren't really in check.
Maybe we need to think about where we're spending our time to begin with, like
social media.
Once you start to
identify the things that you value in your life, the things you really want to
bring into your life
you have to get rid
of those distractions. And for me, at least, it's become social media.
“There’s a sense of clarity that u get when you take a step away from the compulsive checking.
Its really hard to explain, its really hard to quantify but I
can tell you that I simply felt better by being away from it and it became much
harder for me to see the benefits of social media to begin with. The urge to
get back on Instagram and apps like it is mostly fuelled by the fear of missing
out
For some reason we’ve convinced ourselves that it’s
important, that It’s necessary, but once I got connected again, I realized one
simple truth. I didn’t miss a thing.”
So basically at the end of the 30 days ;
*I had read about 11 books.(for a guy who hasn’t read a book since his teacher asked him to read one in school)
*Had created the habit of waking up early and cooking
*Started a blog
*Created the perfect workout plan
It was the most productive 30 days of my life and I had never felt so happy.
I one thing I know for sure is that There's no freaking
way I'm going back to my old ways
and now I Challenge
you to make a list of all the things that you've been wanting to pursue
but just haven't had
time for then delete social media off your phone for Seven days to replace the
time you saved by pursuing one or several of those things for a week Coming
from someone who just did this. I promise you………….
It'll change your
life.
0 comments:
Post a Comment