4 days Social media break; Hello world!

I decided to take a few days break from social media after realizing my mental health was being affected by the things I read and watched online.

Seemed everyone had their stuff together, it’s either someone’s launching a book on Instagram, getting married on Facebook or achieving a great feat on Twitter.

A few weeks back, I had a break down, I was overwhelmed and under a lot of pressure. Not pressure from work, but pressure from my social media feeds. Turns out I had been bottling the feelings of inadequacy and uncertainties and my mind couldn’t take it anymore.

Luckily for me, my family was there to listen to my cry, calm my nerves and talk me through the negative thoughts of suicide I had considered. They were able to get me out of the black hole I had unconsciously sunken into.

A recent study I read revealed that many 18–24 year olds suffer from depression resulting from social media use. I never thought I’d be one of the statistics.

You’d think that with all the pressure that comes from social, young people will reduce the time spent on these apps but the reverse is the case. Many youths are addicted to their phones, about 44% of 16–24year olds check their phones first thing every morning and spend roughly between 7–8 hours online.

You might wonder, why then do young people expose themselves to unnecessary pressure by spending so much time online?

1. The fear of missing out(FOMO): we live in a fast paced world, it only takes some minutes for a video to go viral or for a new meme to break the internet. Young people want to keep up with current trends and pop culture. In order to be young and cool, one has to be up to date with the latest. And that’s why taking a break from social media could mean missing out on a major thread on Twitter or a popular video on Instagram.
2. An exit: for most of us, social media is an opportunity to escape the realities of our world and even create a new one online. With social, you can be whoever you want to be. It’s that breath of fresh air keeps most of us online. Social serves as an escape from work when we’re having a stressful day or an escape from a heated argument with parents.
3. Sharing is caring: Social media makes the world really small. It helps us connect and keep in touch with the ones we care for. We’re able to keep up with what’s happening in each other’s lives without necessarily 'talking’. Features like story on Instagram and Status on WhatsApp makes it really easy for us to share what’s happening in our lives, as well as share content we feel others will love. Are you having bad day? A simple WhatsApp status can let everyone know that or maybe you visited an exotic location? An Instagram story can share this new adventure with your followers. At the end of the day, it’s about relevance, young people want to feel relevant and we do this by sharing on our social media pages.

These are some of the reasons why we would rather stay online at our own expense. I’m not saying social media is an evil, on the contrary it is neither good nor bad, it’s the way it’s being used that determines that.

It’s the way many young people use it that’s the problem; instant comparison, false perceptions and fake lifestyle.

The weird thing is that most people don’t realize the stress social is putting on their mental health. It’s a slow and gradual process and then one day you feel like your mind is about to blow up.

Back to my story, I took a break from social media for some days and suddenly realized there’s so much more I can do with my phone and life (Pun intended).

Mind you, this is not the first time I’m taking a break from social, the first time I did was sometime 2017 where I went M.I.A from all social media apps, I needed to re-channel my energy. However, this is the hardest break yet.

Here’s a brief summary of how I spent my days off:

Day one: I went off social media at some minutes past 5pm and was doing fine, read some articles on medium, and did some research online. By the time I woke up in the morning, I reached out for my phone as usual, turned on data and saw no notifications. That’s when I remembered I had freeze all my social apps. That morning was a drag.

Later in the day, I got my groove on, watched some movies and some more movies. By evening, my hands were itching to go online. I had to call my brother for some reinforcement, we spoke at length and he strengthened my resolve. I was able to scale through day one.

Day Two: I went to a co-working space where I was able to use the internet and stable power supply to send out three applications that had been on my desk for over 2 weeks. That alone, took the whole of my day.

Also, I received a couple of calls from people who had sent me online messages and had gotten no replies. They wanted to know if I was fine.

Day Three: I finally went running!

I joined the Nike run club and had my very first run. It was a struggle, my body is still sore (thanks fit Fam) but was worth it. Later in the day I went for a crash photo editing course. I spent the rest of my day there.

Day Four: The major highlight of my day was an almost missed business opportunity. I met someone who needed to go through my Instagram feed in order to know if I was fit for the job.

Problem was, I had archived every single post of mine before going off social media, so there was nothing on my Instagram page. I had to explain why and luckily he understood (phew!).

I also trained the staff members of a corporate organization on business writing. It was an overall productive day.

My break from social media taught me some important things:

1. It’s okay to not be okay. I accepted the fact that I needed a breather and social media wasn’t helping.
2. Social media is not an ill, it’s the use it being put to that determines that
3. Life is unpredictable. Live in the moment and make the best of every opportunity
4. Productivity is not dependent on the things around you but more on a decision to produce results
5. The mind can always unlearn whatever it has learnt.