DIGITAL DETOX: MY JOURNEY SO FAR
On the 17th of September, 2019 at exactly 12:00 am, I joined over 30% of people who left social media. This article is about why I left social media, my challenges and what I hope to gain.
SOCIAL MEDIA HAS GIVEN US A LOT OF BENEFITS
To be honest, social media has benefited us in a whole lot of ways. Social media made it easy to communicate with people from diverse places all over the world at once. This has given us access to different cultural values and knowledge. We have also been given the privilege to know what is going on around us and far away. We also get to be enlightened on societal issues like racism and gender inequality. Social media has become the new trade route allowing you to reach your consumer directly, disrupting the ancient distribution channel.
WHY I LEFT SOCIAL MEDIA
Since it’s been only six days since I left social media (I wrote this post when I was only six days in), I can’t pinpoint all the reasons I left just yet. Let’s get into the two I can identify as of now.
Someone at work gave me this book, Attitude is Everything, to read. This is my first hardcopy book in a long time. The first few minutes I was reading mindlessly. It seems I have transferred mindless scrolling on social media to reading. This made me realize I needed to reset.
The second reason is that I felt unbalanced. Everyone seems to voice their opinions and in the process, I’m lost listening to everyone at once!!. I decided to leave to find my own voice. I think the issue is not about everyone speaking but rather imbalance because I was only listening but wasn’t speaking too. I would reach a balance when I release my voice too.
CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS
One of the major challenges so far is the difficulty in communicating with people. It’s got more difficult to reach out to people especially on a work basis. It’s gotten harder to send and receive documents, information… It’s also hard for my brain to adjust to no social media. Normally when I’m tired, I’ll reach out to my phone and just start scrolling mindlessly for a long time. It’s become a habit and I’m still trying to adjust.
The benefits have been massive. I’ve gotten more productive. My attention span has heightened. My brain has gotten more active by suggesting new activities that would take the place of social media. I’ve also been able to collect my thoughts, recognize my weaknesses and fears.
CONCLUSION
I do not intend to leave social media indefinitely. I would return once I’m aware and certain about what I want to get from using every social media platform. For now, I’m trying out new things to know more about myself, my strength, what I want and how I need to achieve it.
