Social Media Detox: Day 2

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I cannot remember the last time I spent only forty minutes on my phone in a single day. Without social media there isn’t much for me to look at on my phone, it’s simply become a form of communication like it was originally designed to be.

However, the lack of communication I am having with anyone is actually kind of sad. When you’re on social media you’re seeing what other people are doing therefore you feel connected to them even if you’re not having any sort of communication with another person. When you remove that connection, suddenly you are depended on communicating with others in a much more direct way. 

The fact that I haven’t had much direct communication with others is quite sad and goes to show how little connection we actually have outside of social media. Social media has certainly taken away from the true meaning of deep connection. Instead of forming lasting relationships with others, we build them around likes and direct messages and things that really don’t last, because as soon as you get rid of the social media those forms of connection disappear. Reading someone's post about their life does not make you any more part of their life. We may feel as if there is some form of connection there from having seen their story or their post, but how honest is it going to truly be? Do we actually know anything meaningful about the people we would consider our friends? How deep are those relationships that we have built over online platforms? 

While there is a great benefit in being able to stay connected to others over social media, the true connection can be seen when it is taken off of the internet. We may feel connected, but there’s more to connection than staring at our phone. True connection comes when we put in the hard work to actually work towards relationships. It’s when we know the story behind a caption and what really went on the other day when they didn’t share anything to their story. Life might be lived incredibly digitally at the moment, but we cannot forget that there is a life taking place off of the world wide web. Life is passing you by each second, if you deleted social media right now how many people would you actually be communicating with? The answer is probably lower than you think. 

We may feel connected, but I have found that that connection is incredibly superficial. It has been quite sad to see how few people I actually talk to. My family of course is right within my house and I can have constant connection with them, but outside of that there hasn’t been a whole lot of connection. While it is so relieving to be off of social media, it’s sad to see how little I know about the people I truly care about. I don’t actually know what’s going on in their lives, and I won’t unless I reach out. Plus, half of the people I care about I don’t even have a way of connecting with them except through social media. 

How cruel it is to have something so useful at our fingertips yet so destructive. 

I feel so much better without social media. I’m starting to feel less drawn to my phone, although I am constantly going for it and then remembering that there’s nothing to connect. The meaningless scroll has been replaced by reading and a bit of aimless wandering. I’m still having a hard time concentrating or focusing on anything, but I’m hoping that will begin to change in the next couple of days. 

Today I worked on editing and image and was amazed at how it is turning out, even though Photoshop kept crashing and I felt like throwing my entire computer out a window. Besides church and editing my image, today was spent with family and watching an episode of “Downton Abbey” and the movie “Clue” all while staying off my phone. 

We don’t realize how much time we spend on social media until it’s gone. And when it’s gone we suddenly have more time to do things than we ever thought possible. I can feel excitement rising in me as I imagine the possibilities that could take place during the day. What would have once been filled with endless scrolling could now be filled with just about anything. I am so looking forward to getting back to myself and actually engaging my creativity and drive. In the past few weeks I have felt very blah and I’m starting to feel like that is lifting. 

This social media detox could really be the best thing for my life and while I don’t want to put too much pressure on this time away from the internet, I want to use it to the fullest possible extent. I will definitely not be returning to social media after this weekend, there is too much freedom and I have yet to see what all can be done in this new found time. I want to create away from the watchful eye of the world and the pressure to be perfect. Life has so much more to offer than social media can give it and boy am I ready to see what it has in store for me. 

Life is beautiful and I am ready to embrace it fully. 

Until Next Time,

Lillian Merritt

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Social Media Detox: Day 3

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Social Media Detox: Day 1