One Month Without Social Media. What Happened?

This post is also available in: Bulgarian

A month ago I dared myself to get out of social networks. I realized how much I am missing out while I am waiting for the next notification, so I decided that I won’t use Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter until the end of November. Hopefully, it will be easier than quit smoking which I did a year and a half ago.

To better understand my decision, let me describe you a random day in my life. I wake up at 7:30. Immediately after the alarm, I hit the phone and start scrolling through the Facebook feed. What if I accidentally missed something really really important in the 8 hours of sleep. I go into the bathroom and let the phone charge. Meanwhile, the coffee is done, and while I drink it, I am scrolling the Instagram feed. That is a little depressing to me – people are sunbathing under some palm tree while I have to go to work. Can I get paid to lie under the palm trees too? You can, Aneliya, you can, but don’t you see they are beautiful and young, and with gorgeous hair and hot bodies, and your hair is messy and you have black circles under your eyes, and your booty is not so good shaped. Who will pay you to show in swimsuits? Go to work, you have bills to pay.

While I’m on my way to work, I am browsing Twitter. I need some fresh jokes, which I then tell my colleagues so they will think I’m funny. At work, I leave the phone, but I don’t miss the free minutes to see if there is anything interesting online. During the lunch break in one hand I have a sandwich, and I’m scrolling through social media with the other. After work, I’m going back home and I let the phone charge, and the rest of the evening is all over with the phone in my hand again.

I was so used to these habits that the phone became an extension of my hand. I was terrified if my battery goes below 30%. My boyfriend wasn’t happy with my practice always to look at my phone and not listening to him. And I was spending more time online than in reality. I began to compare myself more often with others. How they travel more and post photos of beautiful places wearing designer clothes, while I spend all my money on rent, bills and possibly a dress from Zara or H&M on a sale. I even lost my motivation for blogging. So I decided to have a rest and to gather some inspiration offline. Because when something makes you feel bad you have to get rid of it. At least for a while.

During the first week, the reactions were mainly of surprise and skepticism. No chance! That will not last even for a week! A blogger without social media? People will forget about you and when you get back you will have to start from scratch… These are just some of the comments I received in response. Surprisingly, I found that I don’t miss Facebook and Installgam at all, and in fact, many more ideas for future blog posts and inspiration came while watching movies or browsing magazines, and while I was out, just because I was not constantly looking at my phone.

There were also many situations when I really needed Facebook. It turned out it is impossible to find the party program for some bar and you should ask someone to download it and send it to you. It’s not that I go out at bars a lot, but I want to be well-informed … just in case. When I wanted to show my new photos, I went to colleagues with the phone, and they nodded approvingly and lifted their thumbs up for a like. In the last week, I had to pause my experiment for about a minute. I urgently needed to find a shared transport for the next morning to Burgas. On the way back, I discovered Tripinfy, a platform for shared travel that seemed to be much more easier to use than the facebook groups.

For one month without social media, I had a good rest from all the negativity, hate and posing online, and it turned out that people were still finding a way to show me all sorts of funny crap and cat videos. My friends temporarily moved our chat group Messenger to a Viber, because I may be on a social media detox, but I can’t have a detox from them. That’s what they said. And yes, I was allowed to use Viber to communicate with my family and friends, because I thought the SMS texts were too old-school. Maybe you will be surprised, but it turned out that without a facebook I still have friends and the time with them is much funnier when my phone is in my bag.

In conclusion, here is the end result of a month without Facebook, Instagram and Twitter:
TV shows I watched: 2
Books I finished: 4
Instagram followers: -5
Facebook notifications: 99
Messages: 11
Blog Post Drafts: 8
Battery in the end of the day: 94%

Conclusion: Getting out of social networks is easier than quit smoking, and just as healthy.