How I Fared with a Social Media Cleanse

Being born into the decades of social media and online presence, it can be hard to separate your online identity from who you are in real life. “Doom scrolling” is a term that first emerged in 2016, it is the act of compulsively scrolling through social feeds almost expecting to see something upsetting causing you to continually search for more information. Many people can relate to the feeling of minutes going by while watching videos on Instagram or TikTok when in reality you have spent three hours staring at your screen.

It is easy for older people to say we are addicted to our phones when technology is really all we as Generation Z have experienced. Social media was developed as a tool to bring people from different parts of the world closer even through the distance.

“Excessive use of cell phones has been attributed to an increase in both physical and mental health issues including eye strain, neck pain, back pain, depression, loneliness, mood disorders, and sleep disturbances” based on research conducted by the University of Rochester’s Medical Center.

Upon hearing these issues that can begin springing up as early as your 20s I decided to take a close look at my own screen time. Luckily my phone is smart enough to track something like that without any effort on my part. At the beginning of January an average screen time for a day in my life was around seven hours across multiple screen platforms. Seven hours out of 24 might not seem like all that much but when you factor in the eight to nine hours of sleep I get per night most days, I am only left with nine hours to do things like cleaning, cooking, studying, hanging with friends, self-care, and strengthening my relationship.

I realized most of my days were centered around planning to sit and rot on my couch while endlessly scrolling through my phone.

Then I decided my life needed to change. I could not spend another hour practically merging my hand with my phone. There’s an indent on my pinky that fits it perfectly and that I find a tad disturbing. So taking matters of my own self indulgence into my own hands, I deleted every social media app from my phone.

As of Feb. 28, I have been social media free for an entire 30 days. Here’s how my life has changed.

Guided by URMC’s research, they highlighted certain aspects of phone addiction to keep your eye out for. Some of those things included feeling like your phone is buzzing when it is not, feeling panicked when your phone is not near, using your phone at extremely dangerous times like crossing the street or even driving, and your productivity decreases in both home life as well as work. Before my research, something as simple as checking my phone for notifications that did not exist was not harmful to me. Or so I thought. Having things like be pointed out as a sort of guideline was a relief because it no longer felt as if I was lost in the sea of video, like, scroll. Being given the knowledge on what to look out for made my transition from chronic phone user to only checking it every so often such a smooth transition.

In my first couple days, it was hard not knowing what was going on in the world because most of my news came from social media. With a yearly subscription to The New York Times, that problem was quickly resolved.

Now I did not go telling everyone in my life that I was taking a break so it was a bit concerning when people like my dad called me worried because I had not responded to his Snapchat of the day.

Talking on the phone was more fulfilling to me than just a quick picture so I took it as a sign to do my best to still communicate with my friends and family through the old ways of texts and calls. After the first few days it was starting to feel easier not knowing what was going on 24/7 around the world along with the random people I still followed from high school. Something even my husband would point to me as a problem was my absolute inability to keep myself out of pointless internet drama between either celebrities or online personalities.

Most of the time I spent doom scrolling was on videos surrounding scandals that were currently being put on blast by every gossip blog. It was useless information that in all reality I should not let affect me the way it did. Many nights I would get myself worked up over some form of drama and be so angered by it, it would have an impact on things like my sleep schedule and eating habits. Now I can proudly say I can go to sleep knowing the only conflict in my life is when my enemies become lovers in the novel I am enjoying currently.

One thing my limited screen time has helped me to enjoy more often is a good book. Just the act of placing my phone on silent across the room from me while crawling into bed has left the time that was spent on TikTok now to be used for my journey back into reading. I have no regrets in cutting myself off from social media because it gave me time to explore and enjoy several hobbies that I had not even considered before. This allowed me to not only challenge myself but to also enjoy my days away from blue light. My screen time has worked its way down to four hours a day which is improvement but not completion, with each day bringing new opportunities to do something outside of my normal.

Taking a break gives your eyes, hands, and brain some much needed time to recover. Give it a try and it just might change your life.

Jolene Bell is a Hutchinson freshman studying English. You can email her at thehutchinsoncollegian@gmail.com.

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