My previous blog post was how I was going to completely shut off my social media accounts for a week (minus Instagram... because when I am relaxing on the beach I love looking at pictures) and enjoy a simple spring break. I deleted the Facebook app and Twitter app from my phone to begin the detox.
Day 1= Started off strong. I enjoyed not constantly checking my phone and wanting to know what everyone else was doing. I could just sit back and enjoy my time with my friends and chillin' on the beach. This day was a breeze for me.
Day 2= I woke up and had an urge to read Twitter but obviously couldn't because I deleted the app. Instead I made a bowl of cereal and sat on the porch and listened to the breaking of waves. Needless to say Twitter was off of my mind really quickly. Day 2 made me realize how much of a habit I have made checking my social accounts. I wake up, check Twitter then scroll through Instagram and then if I really don't want to get up yet I'll check Facebook.
Day 3= This day I had less of an urge to check Twitter. I got up and went straight to the beach and didn't even bring my phone with me. However, when I was getting ready to go out to dinner, I was ready before everyone else and really wanted to check Twitter. I slowly was beginning to realize that it was when I was not preoccupied with anything I wanted to turn to social media.
Day 4= Woke up to a text from a friend asking if I had seen this specific tweet... this was a killer. I wanted to hear about what was going on in the entertainment world; however, I had no access. I had to ask for the "low down" of the story and that I didn't check Twitter. She was surprised but quickly caught me up to speed. It is funny that my friends even know my daily social media schedule!
Day 5= I had a lazy day relaxing on the beach and never really had any thought about social media. This was starting to feel like a normal thing... no access to the social world. In all honesty, it felt pretty great not to have to check this or scroll through that!
Day 6= Last and final day of the social media detox. I was eagerly awaiting my arrival home andddd I caved. I was in a car for over 10 hours and really just wanted to check Twitter and Facebook. The only positive thing I thought about was seeing all of the notifications I had gotten during the week.... BUT I really only had a few favorites of a tweet and been tagged in some pictures on Facebook. Major let down because I thought I would have had so many comments and posts and tweets, to my surprise I didn't have hardly any.
To wrap up this whole social detox thing I will leave you with this insight...
Time is now and being with friends and family is precious time you can't take back. Engage in conversation with people OUTSIDE of social media. Relationships are what keeps me going and I took that for granted. This detox definitely brought me back down to earth to realize live in the moment, no really actual the physical moment.
