I Took a Break from Social Media and Here’s What I Learned

Social media has incredible benefits, but it seems to be creeping into our everyday lives in such a way that could potentially be dangerous to the sanctity of our everyday life and the uniqueness that makes us, us.

People have lots of reasons for taking a break from social media but my reasoning was that I needed an actual break. I found myself always on Instagram and it was becoming too much but I had no idea what I would discover about myself and social media while on this break.

While I was gone, here’s what I noticed:  Our addiction to social media doesn’t really happen while we are on the actual social media applications. Isn’t that weird? Here’s what I mean by that. Throughout the day, we are living our lives – working, eating, working out, taking care of kids, going to school, reading, taking walks, praying, hanging with friends, and the list could go on. Life looks different for all of us but for many of us, the addiction to social media is while we aren’t on it. While we are in the middle of living life and doing what we are doing, when we hear something funny or see something amazing or just did something cool or have thought about something, many of the times, the immediate idea is to record it or take a picture so we can post it on social media.

While we are sitting with our Bible studying God’s word, the addiction moves us to maybe think of a caption to write or thought to share when perhaps the very thing you just learned in the Bible was just for you. While our baby is walking for the first time, we may just record it in the span of 15 seconds to be able to post it on a Insta-story when the video could have been longer than 15 seconds to preserve the amazing milestone that just happened and save it onto a USB for the future. We take pictures and videos on vacation to post and perhaps never save or print for actual memories.

Now if you feel any sort of shame because you’ve done or thought of some of these things, please don’t. This is a shame-free zone, sis! I just gave three examples that I specifically have experienced. So, brush that shame off and know that you may not be the only one that sometimes falls into this social media trap.

As a content creator and entrepreneur, I actually enjoy social media but the experience of being away taught me that I must be incredibly mindful of how social media affects me when I’m not actually on it. One thing is to want to share with others what you’re up to, thinking about, or planning so they can know, encourage you, and learn from you. Another thing is to do all of those things to get likes, shares, opportunities to go viral, or make your life seem a specific kind of way.

Social media has incredible benefits, but it seems to be creeping into our everyday lives in such a way that could potentially be dangerous to the sanctity of our everyday life and the uniqueness that makes us, us.

So, if you find yourself doing these things or thinking these thoughts – it’s okay. You can do something about it: take a social media break – whether a long one or just get off social media on the weekends. Create and set boundaries around your social media. Create a close friends list on Instagram for Instastories so it’s more about sharing certain things with close friends over trying to impress all your followers. Talk about it in therapy – it may be something you’ve never brought up to your therapist, but I did and I’m all the better for it too.

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