I quit social media a few weeks ago, out of nowhere.
I’ve been feeling the slow, gradual decline of my mental health and contentedness after spending time on social media apps – Facebook and Instagram primarily, but I was also hooked on Reddit.
I found myself succumbing to mindless scrolling at various points throughout the day and eventually realized I’d had enough.
So about three weeks ago, I deleted every single app from my phone that I felt was not adding value to my life in a meaningful way. Everything that was becoming a distraction had to go.
This purge included Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and even Strava and Beachbody. Those last two are exercise apps where I post my workouts, but I decided to lump them into the mix in order to totally eschew myself from the world of likes and comments.
I Quit Facebook, I Quit Instagram, I Quit Them All
I was never on TikTok, SnapChat, or Twitter to begin with, so after quitting Facebook, deleting Instagram, and annihilating Reddit (pardon the drama), I’ve gone completely dark.
It’s only been a few weeks, but it’s been an interesting experience so far. I have caught myself reaching for my phone and swiping through my pages of apps, trying to find one to tap on and scroll through on more than one occasion.
Having deleted everything, last night I found myself scrolling through my Google newsfeed.
My Google newsfeed.
The desire to scroll is real. But I’m setting out to squelch that beast.
I’ve also found myself out and about, just living my life, then having the thought – I should post this on my Instagram story!
Then, after remembering a split second later that I’ve deleted Instagram, I ask myself – why do I feel the need to share this on Instagram? Is it really that important to me that other people know that I’m living a cool life?
Deleting social media is causing me to question some of my behaviors, and I love it.
While I do appreciate the ability to connect with people through social media, I’ve realized that most of the people I am “connecting with” are people that I rarely, if ever, see in real life.
Having a bunch of friends on social media is kind of like having a bunch of internet pen pals. Sure, it’s cool I guess, but does it really make any impact on your daily life?
I don’t mean to sound harsh, but those connections, likes, and comments aren’t really adding much to my real life.
So without further ado, here are my reflections on the benefits of quitting social media.
6 Reasons To Delete Social Media
1. You will gain back time.
Scrolling, posting, liking, and commenting take up a lot of time.
An average of 2.5 hours per day, to be specific. (source)
Imagine what you could accomplish each day with all that time back. By quitting social media, you could gain literally hours in your day to spend time on more meaningful activities, like reading, exercising, spending time with friends or spouse, or sleeping.
I don’t know about you, but I feel a heck of a lot better after an hour of exercise than after an hour of scrolling Instagram.
2. You will feel more content.
Imagine not knowing what your friends were doing every hour of the day.
Does that sound terrifying? Or possibly… liberating!?
When you don’t know what all your online friends are up to, you’re not in a constant game of comparison.
When I have challenging days with my kids full of tantrums, meltdowns, whining, and screaming, the last thing I need is to go on Facebook and see a friend sharing their happy, smiling family photo from their trip to the zoo that day.
It’s like, oh, great, I’m so happy to see how well-behaved and angelic your children are on your fun family outing while I’m over here cleaning Play-Doh out of the couch cushions.
The reality is, everybody has rough days and everybody has great days. But 96% of the content on social media is people just sharing their happy moments (I just made up that statistic).
You’ll feel a lot more content when you don’t subject yourself to a constant highlight reel of everyone you’ve ever met.
3. You will question why you were ever on social media to begin with.
This is where I’m at right now. Questioning everything.
I used to post an Instagram story every day on our evening beach walk. Now that I quit Instagram, how will anyone know that I walk on the beach everyday!?
Maybe they don’t need to know. Maybe I should focus more on being present with my family. Maybe I should soak in the sound of the waves and feel the sun on my skin, and not worry about sharing the moment with anyone on the internet.
We’re getting deep, y’all.
When you quit a habit that you used to engage in absentmindedly (oh I’m somewhere cool, let me put this on my story!), you start to question why you had that habit to begin with.
Why do I feel the need to share my life updates with the world? Why does everyone need to know? Can a life be well-lived if it’s not documented online!?
Be prepared for a mild existential crisis. But this is good.
Without questioning your behaviors, you’ll never grow.
4. You will find out who really matters to you.
The friends who matter will be ones you communicate with outside of social media apps.
They will be the ones who call you, text you, and make real life plans to hang out.
By quitting social media, you will remove all the fluff from your relationships.
It’s a little too easy to “stay in touch” with just about anyone these days, by passively watching their Instagram stories or liking their Facebook posts.
Once you’re off the apps, you’ll find out who you really care about keeping up with, and who cares about you. You’ll make an effort to see your loved ones and the ones who love you will make an effort to see you.
No more passive story viewing, post liking, or red-heart-emoji commenting. We’re talking about getting back to friendship basics with texts, phone calls, and real life hangouts.
5. You'll feel less anger and frustration.
When you’re not online, you’re not subjecting yourself to a barrage of angry internet people.
You’ll never see your cousin’s political posts or your friend-from-college’s opinion on a hot-button topic.
Social media thrives on controversy and online debates, and it’s a wonderful thing to take a step back from all of that heat.
It’s a beautiful thing to not know the political opinion of almost everyone you’re friends with on the internet. You’ll feel a lot less frustrated and angry with the world when you don’t subject yourself to viewing (or engaging with) everyone else’s opinions.
6. You become more present with your surroundings.
Without any social media apps vying for your attention, you will be more focused on the people you spend time with.
Rather than trying to snap the perfect boomerang at your ladies’ brunch, you can just focus on enjoying the conversation.
Rather than attempting to capture a snazzy photo of your #OOTD, you can just enjoy looking good for yourself.
By constantly sharing our moments with those who are not present, we are detracting from the experience with those who are present.
It’s extremely freeing to just hang out with your friends without trying to get a cute shot to share with everyone who wasn’t invited.
Should I Delete Social Media?
If you’re still asking yourself this question after reading this far, at least give it a try.
Delete the apps from your phone for a week and see how you feel.
Do you find yourself experiencing social media withdrawal symptoms (that desire to scroll I mentioned earlier)?
If so, a longer (or permanent) break may be in order for you.
Final Thoughts
I don’t have a life-changing reason for why I decided to quit social media, but rather I wanted to engage in a sort of social experiment (pun intended) to find out what I might learn about myself through this time without it.
I haven’t decided how long I’ll be off of the apps or if this is permanent, but at this point, I don’t feel a desire to go back anytime soon.
I’m trying to rid myself of mindless, time-wasting activities, and scrolling falls into that category. I don’t think my life is going to change in any meaningful way now that I’ve stopped posting.
In our world of hyper connectivity, there have been times where I felt like I have to post to stay relevant. Who am I if I’m not seen on the Internet?
A few weeks into going dark, I’m starting to remember what it was like before everybody had the ability to broadcast their life updates with the click of a button. When something happens to me now, I have to consciously choose which of my friends I want to text about it, rather than sharing an update for everyone who’s ever met me.
Obviously there are benefits to social media, otherwise nobody would use it. It can be nice to ‘see’ friends you haven’t seen in awhile, keep in the know of local events and activities in your town, and even using them as accountability when you’re trying to start a new habit, like working out every day.
But even when you’re using the apps for positive reasons, they can form a negative habit.
I’m on a mission to remove negative habits from my life and replace them with positive ones.
For now, every time I mindlessly reach for my phone to scroll (only to find there is nothing to scroll through), I’m taking that opportunity to ground myself in the present moment, and think of something I’m grateful for.
I think that will be a bigger value-add to my life than spending 15 minutes on Reddit.
I’d love to hear from other people who quit social media for good, or who quit for a time and ultimately decided to go back. What were your reasons for quitting? Why did you stay off, or why did you go back?
Let me know in the comments!